Jury and Audience Award-winners of the 2012 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced last night at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony; although only Narrative and Documentary Feature Audience Awards were handed out.

Also announced were the Jury Award-winners in Shorts Filmmaking and winners of SXSW Film Design Awards, as well as Special Awards, including the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, the SXSW Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award and the SXSW Wholphin Award. 

The stats – the 2012 SXSW Film Festival hosted a total of 132 features, consisting of 74 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 11 U.S. Premieres, with 58 films from first-time directors. The nearly 275 films were selected from a record number of overall submissions, over 5,300, comprised of approximately 2,000 features and 3,300 shorts. This was a 7% increase over 2011 despite moving submission deadlines a month earlier than in previous years.

The 2012 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners:

Feature Film Jury Award

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Grand Jury Winner: Beware of Mr. Baker Director: Jay Bulger

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION Grand Jury Winner: Gimme The Loot Director: Adam Leon

Special Jury Recognition for Performance: Jamie Chung – Eden; Besedka Johnson – Starlet; Nico Stone – Booster

Feature Film Audience Awards

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Winner:

Bay of All Saints Director: Annie Eastman

NARRATIVE FEATURE Winner: Eden Director: Megan Griffiths

Short Film Jury Awards

NARRATIVE SHORTS Winner:

The Chair Director: Grainger David

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS Winner: CatCam Director: Seth Keal

MIDNIGHT SHORTS Winner: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Directors: Rebecca Sloan & Joseph Pelling

SXGLOBAL SHORTS Winner: The Perfect Fit Director: Tali Yankelevich

ANIMATED SHORTS Winner: (notes on) biology Director: Danny Madden