I Love My Dad, Master Of Light lead 2022 SXSW Film Festival's list of winners

The winners of the SXSW Film Festival jury awards have been announced, with James Morosini’s Patton Oswalt-led feature I Love My Dad going home with the top award from the SXSW jury under the Narrative Feature Competition.

On the film, the jury writes:

“A bold, funny film that marks an impressive feature debut for writer-director-star James Morosini, I Love My Dad finely threads the needle with its tale of an estranged father (Patton Oswalt) who catfishes his son (Morosini) in an attempt to reconnect. Working from a screenplay based on his own real-life story, Morosini displays massive empathy as a filmmaker to get into the mind of the father he feels betrayed by, and also as an actor portraying the impact of that betrayal. He’s aided by a great cast, particularly Oswalt.”

Under the Documentary Feature Competition, the top prize goes to Rosa Ruth Boesten’s Master Of Light, which follows painter George Anthony Morton’s journey to paint a portrait of his mother. On Master Of Light, the SXSW jury writes:

“In both substance and form, Master of Light is a gift. The earnest and gifted painter George Anthony Morton embeds viewers in his world as he struggles to render his mother—both on the canvas and in his psyche. Boesten disabuses us of static tropes about America’s merciless drug war and about contemporary art. With astonishing intimacy, the film’s visuals build an artful bridge between two- and three-dimensional realms that are deeply rooted and utterly transcendent. Put this painting of a film in a museum, next to a Rembrandt and a Morton.”

Under the film design awards, HBO’s The White Lotus received “special recognition” for its opening title sequence, with Apple TV+’s Foundation taking the award for the Title Design Competition. Making its debut at the SXSW Film Festival, Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All At Once starring Michelle Yeoh earned the special award for editing from Adobe.

These awards do carry some weight for next year’s award season, as the winners of the Best Animated, Best Narrative, and Best Documentary Short Film categories become eligible for the Oscars. Additionally, any British film which screens during the film festivals becomes eligible for a BAFTA.

Here are the winners of the 2022 SXSW Film Awards:

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Winner: I Love My Dad

Director/Screenwriter: James Morosini, Producers: Bill Stertz, Patton Oswalt, Sean O’Grady, Dane Eckerle, Phil Keefe, Daniel Brandt, Sam Slater

Special Jury Recognition for Extraordinary Cinematic Vision:

Winner: Cast and Crew, It Is in Us All

Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Performance:

Winner: Elizaveta Yankovskaya, Nika

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Winner: Master of Light

Director: Rosa Ruth Boesten, Producers: Roger Ross Williams, Anousha Nzume, Ilja Roomans

Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling:

Winner: Bad Axe

Director: David Siev, Producers: Jude Harris, Diane Quon, Katarina Vasquez, David Siev

Special Jury Recognition for Acting in a Documentary:

Winner: Steve Glew, Pez Outlaw

SHORT FILM GRAND JURY AWARDS

NARRATIVE SHORT COMPETITION

Winner: All the Crows in the World,
Director/Screenwriter: Tang Yi, Producer: Haozheng Li

Special Jury Recognition for Directing and Community Filmmaking:

Winner: Glitter Ain’t Gold
Director/Screenwriter: Christian Nolan Jones, Producers: Maia Miller, T. Popps, O. Valerie Nicolas

Special Jury Recognition for Outstanding Performances:

Winner: Aphrodite Armstrong, Kyle Riggs, West by God

DOCUMENTARY SHORT COMPETITION

Winner: Long Line of Ladies
Directors: Rayka Zehtabchi, Shaandiin Tome, Producers: Garrett Schiff, Pimm Tripp-Allen, Rayka Zehtabchi, Sam Davis, Dana Kurth

Special Jury Recognition for Visual Reflection:

Winner: not even for a moment do things stand still
Director: Jamie Meltzer, Producers: Annie Marr, Jamie Meltzer, Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg

MIDNIGHT SHORTS

Winner: Moshari
Director/Screenwriter: Nuhash Humayun, Producers: Bushra Afreen, Nuhash Humayun

Special Jury Recognition for Powerful “Short Trip”:

Winner: Omi
Director: Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Screenwriters: Tamar Bird, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Producer: Tamar Bird

ANIMATED SHORTS

Winner: Bestia
Director: Hugo Covarrubias, Screenwriters: Martín Erazo, Hugo Covarrubias, Producers: Tevo Díaz, Hugo Covarrubias

Special Jury Recognition for Unexpected Emotion:

Winner: Les Larmes de la Seine
Directors/Screenwriters: Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Producer: Carlos De Carvalho

Special Jury Recognition for Visceral Storytelling:

Winner: Something in the Garden
Director/Screenwriter/Producer: Marcos Sánchez

MUSIC VIDEOS

Winner: Desirée Dawson – ‘Meet Me at the Light’
Director/Screenwriter: Alexander Farah

Special Jury Recognition for Going the Extra Mile:

Winner: Myd – ‘Let You Speak’
Director/Screenwriter: Dan Carr

TEXAS SHORTS

Winner: Folk Frontera
Directors: Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn

Special Jury Recognition for Vision:

Winner: Birds
Director/Screenwriter: Katherine Propper, Producer: Sophia Loffreda

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS

Winner: Honeybee
Director/Screenwriter/Producer: Emilio Vazquez Reyes

Special Jury Recognition for Artistic Expression:

Winner: It’s Getting Bad Again
Director/Screenwriter: Sarah Reyes, Producers: Sarah Reyes, Kenneth Rogers

EPISODIC PILOT COMPETITION

Winner: Something Undone
Director: Nicole Dorsey, Screenwriters: Michael Musi, Madison Walsh, Producers: Max Topplin, Jordan Hayes

Special Jury Recognition for Unique Vision in Writing and Directing:

Winner: Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir, My Year of Dicks

SXSW Film Design Awards

POSTER DESIGN COMPETITION

Winner: More Than I Remember
Designer: Yen Tan, Maya Edelman

Special Jury Recognition:

The Sentence of Michael Thompson
Designer: Juan Miguel Marin

TITLE DESIGN COMPETITION

Winner: Foundation Title Sequence
Designer: Ronnie Koff, Company: Imaginary Forces

Special Jury Recognition:

The White Lotus Title Sequence
Designers: Katrina Crawford, Mark Bashore, Company: Plains of Yonder

XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION

Winner: On the Morning You Wake (To the End of the World)
Directors: Dr. Jamaica Heolomeleikalani Osorio, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Pierre Zandrowicz, Arnaud Colinart, Screenwriters: Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Producers: Arnaud Colinart, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Jo-Jo Ellison

Special Jury Recognition for Immersive Storytelling:

(Hi)story of a Painting: The Light in the Shadow
Directors: Quentin Darras, Gaëlle Mourre, Screenwriter: Gaëlle Mourre, Producers: Charlotte Mikkelborg, Gaëlle Mourre

SXSW Special Awards

Fandor New Voices Award

Presented to: What We Leave Behind
Director: Iliana Sosa, Producers: Emma D. Miller, Iliana Sosa, Isidore Bethel (co-producer)

Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award

Presented to: Chee$e
Director/Screenwriter: Damian Marcano, Producer: Alexa Marcano

Adobe Editing Award

Presented to: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Editor: Paul Rogers

Louis Black “Lone Star” Award

Winner: What We Leave Behind
Director: Iliana Sosa, Producers: Emma D. Miller, Iliana Sosa, Isidore Bethel (co-producer)

ZEISS Cinematography Award

Winner: A Vanishing Fog
Cinematographer: Gio Park

Mailchimp Support the Shorts Award

Presented to: The Voice Actress
Director/Screenwriter: Anna J. Takayama, Producer: Joe Skinner