'The Arbalest' and 'Tower' win top prizes at SXSW film fest - Los Angeles Times
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‘The Arbalest’ and ‘Tower’ win top prizes at SXSW film fest

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Though attention out of the event this year has largely been on larger studio movies such as “Everybody Wants Some,” “Keanu” and “Sausage Party,” the South by Southwest Film Festival has also long been a vital launching pad for new talent. Past competition wins have been important moments of discovery for filmmakers and performers in films such as “Tiny Furniture,” “Short Term 12” and last year’s winner “Krisha.”

This year, the festival’s narrative feature grand jury award went to Adam Pinney’s “The Arbalest,” a dry, offbeat story of obsession. The documentary feature grand jury winner was Keith Maitland’s “Tower,” a multimedia look at the mass school shooting at the University of Texas in 1966.

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“It’s something that I don’t understand,” said Maitland in accepting the documentary award. “But what I’ve come to understand over the last four years of working on this film is the resilience of the human spirit and the opportunity to grow and learn from just talking.”

In accepting the narrative prize, Pinney said, “In filmmaking you have to surround yourself with a lot of people who support you and you support them and you try to make each other’s dreams come true. And that’s happening right now.”

The evening at Austin’s Paramount Theatre was hosted by comedian Mike Birbiglia, who was at the festival premiering his new film as director, writer, producer and actor, “Don’t Think Twice.”

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In his opening remarks, Birbiglia noted that, regardless of who won or lost, this was a room full of people who had all managed to make something, and that “It’s important to remember that art is not a competition; but if it were, tonight we would be celebrating the winners.”

Special jury prizes for the narrative competition were given to Lily Rabe for best actress for her performance in “Miss Stevens” and Andre Royo for best actor for his performance in “Hunter Gatherer.”

A special jury prize for portrait documentary was given to Matt Ornstein for “Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race and America.” The documentary jury also gave a special jury prize for visual design to Laura Dunn’s “The Seer,” shot by cinematographer Lee Daniel.

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Three special awards were also announced. The SXSW Gamechanger award for female directors went to Sophie Goodhart for “My Blind Brother.” The Louis Black “Lone Star” award for Texas film went to Maitland’s “Tower.” The Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, given to documentary film editors, was given to Eileen Meyer, who edited the recent doc “Best of Enemies.”

Damien O’Donnell’s “How Was Your Day?” won the narrative short award, while Dan Taberski’s colorfully titled “These ... Tears” won the documentary short prize. Simon Cartwright’s “MANOMAN” won for midnight short and Alexa Lim Haas and Bernardo Britto’s “Glove” won for animated short.

A prize for excellence in poster design went to Miss Me for “The Artful Vandal.” The excellence in title design prize went to Aimée Duchamp for “Sunstone.”

The 2016 SXSW Film Festival ends Saturday, when audience award winners will be announced.

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