SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards gives nod to musicians. Feature doc, Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free, tops headliner category.

The audience members have spoken. 

That’s right, after five days of wall-to-wall screenings, the 2021 SXSW Film Festival is one for the books.

The SXSW jurors have already made their favorites known – and it’s quite an impressive list.

Now, the audience members weigh in. What movies inspired them, made them laugh, or brought them to tears? 

Moviegoers were in lockstep with SXSW jurors when it came to picking several top spots. Specifically, both groups honored the same narrative feature, narrative short and episodic pilot as category winners. 

2021 was also the year of musicians among audience members. True, SXSW is considered the “live music capital of the world.” But, not this past year. So the nod toward music-related films can be expected, welcomed, and certainly deserved.

Now for the SXSW 2021 Audience Award winners.

2021 SXSW Audience Awards

Headliners

Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free
Director: Mary Wharton

Narrative Feature Competition

The Fallout
Director: Megan Park

Documentary Feature Competition

Not Going Quietly
Director: Nicholas Bruckman

Narrative Spotlight

Language Lessons
Director: Natalie Morales

Documentary Spotlight

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Directors: Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler

Visions

Inbetween Girl
Director: Mei Makino

Midnighters

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Director: Kier-La Janisse

Global

Ninjababy
Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke

24 Beats Per Second

Soy Cubana
Directors: Jeremy Ungar and Ivaylo Getov

Festival Favorites

In The Same Breath
Director: Nanfu Wang

2020 Spotlight

We Are The Thousand
Director: Anita Rivaroli

Narrative Shorts Competition

Play It Safe
Director: Mitch Kalisa

Documentary Shorts Competition

Joe Buffalo
Director: Amar Chebib

Animated Shorts Competition

Opera
Director: Erick Oh

Midnight Shorts Competition

Stuffed
Director: Theo Rhys

Texas Shorts Competition

Learning Tagalog with Kayla
Director: Kayla Abuda Galang

Texas High School Shorts Competition

Beyond the Model
Director: Jessica Lin

Music Videos Competition

Kuricorder Quartet – ‘Southpaw’
Director: Sawako Kabuki

Episodic Premieres

Them
Showrunner: Little Marvin

Episodic Pilot Competition

4 Feet High
Directors: Maria Belen Poncio and Rosario Perazolo Masjoan

Virtual Cinema Competition

Biolum
Director: Abel Kohen

Virtual Cinema Spotlight

Finding Pandora X
Director: Kiira Benzing

Excellence in Title Design

Birds Of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn Title Sequence
Creative Director and Illustrator: Michael Riley