Wow.  Looks like the festival is now halfway finished.  Actually, it's officially over as of tonight, while the music festival is just kicking off.  I'm not seeing a ton of movies like I did at Sundance, because I've been trying to do press for a few films.  I've got reviews coming tonight, but the big news right now is that the festival has just announced its awards.

I wish I could offer more perspective here, but at a festival like this, it's such a crap shoot, and this time, I think I completely had a different festival than these juries.

[more after the jump]

SXSW ANNOUNCES WINNERS AT 2009 FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS

Austin, Texas - March 17, 2009 - The jury and audience award-winners of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced tonight at the Festival's closing Awards Ceremony hosted by comedian Jimmy Roulette in Austin, Texas. Films receiving jury awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories. Films in these categories, as well as the Emerging Visions, 24 Beats Per Second and Lone Star States categories were also eligible for the 2009 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards. 24 Beats Per Second and Lone Star States Audience Awards will be announced separately on Friday, March 20.

SXSW also announced the jury prizes in shorts filmmaking, and special jury awards SXSW & AIGA Movie Poster Award, the SXSW Chicken and EGG Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award and the SXSW Wholphin Short Film Award. Details can be found at the official Festival website www.sxsw.com/film, as well as highlights from the Awards Ceremony at www.youtube.com/sxsw starting Friday, March 20.

"Going into the festival, we knew we had a strong lineup to be proud of, filled with some of the smartest and most talented filmmakers working at the studio level down to the tiniest of micro budgets," said Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson, "but audiences, industry and press are all saying this is their favorite batch of movies in years. It's great to feel the overwhelming embrace of the SXSW attendees who love what they're watching, and even better, seeing our filmmakers enjoying each other's work! The creative interchange is not just rhetoric, here at SXSW, it's at the heart."

The 2009 SXSW Film Festival Juries consisted of:

Narrative Feature Competition: Scott Foundas, Ted Hope, Kim Voynar; Documentary Feature Competition: Anne Thompson, Basil Tsiokos, Lois Vossen; Reel Shorts: Emma Gray Munthe, Dan Nuxoll, Caspar Sonnen; Experimental Shorts: Spencer Parsons, Luke Savisky, Sean Williams; Animated Shorts: Chris Eska, Steve Mack, Lars Nilsen; Music Videos: Stefan Arni, Siggi Kinski, Francis Preve, Adam Yauch; Texas High School Shorts: Bob Ray, Garret Savage, Bart Weiss.

For the 2009 SXSW Film Festival, 133 feature-length films were selected including 57 world premieres, selected 1,511 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,220 U.S. and 291 international feature-length films. The 2009 SXSW Film Festival Awards was hosted by Film in North Carolina. Film in North Carolina is a partnership between Creative Commerce Commission of Asheville NC, North Carolina Film Office and the Piedmont Triad Film Commission.

The 2009 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners:

Feature Jury Awards

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner - 45365
Director: Bill Ross
An inquiring look at everyday life in Middle America, the film explores the congruities of daily life in an American town Sidney, Ohio.

Honorable Mention - The Way We Get By
Director: Aron Gaudet
On call 24/7 for the past 6 years, a group of senior citizens transform their lives by greeting nearly one million U.S. troops at a tiny airport in Maine.

NARRATIVE FEATURE
Winner - Made in China
Director: Judi Krant
Lost in Shanghai, an inventor discovers that it takes more than a bright idea to succeed.

Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast - That Evening Sun
Director: Scott Teems
A ruthless grudge match between two old foes. Lines are drawn, threats are made, and the simmering tension under the Tennessee sun erupts, inevitably, into savagery. Cast: Hal Holbrook, Mia Wasikowska, Ray McKinnon, Walton Goggins, Carrie Preston

Audience Awards

EMERGING VISIONS
Winner - Motherland
Director: Jennifer Steinman
Six grieving mothers journey to Africa in order to test the theory that "giving is healing."

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner - MINE
Director: Geralyn Pezanoski
After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of pets were rescued and adopted by families around the country, leading to many custody battles. Through these stories, the film examines issues of race, class and animal welfare in the U.S.

NARRATIVE FEATURE
Winner - That Evening Sun
Director: Scott Teems
A ruthless grudge match between two old foes. Lines are drawn, threats are made, and the simmering tension under the Tennessee sun erupts, inevitably, into savagery.

24 BEATS PER SECOND
Winner - To Be Announced on Friday, 3/20

LONE STAR STATES
Winner - To Be Announced on Friday, 3/20

Special Jury Awards

SXSW & AIGA AUSTIN MOVIE POSTER AWARD
Best in Show - The Dungeon Masters
Director: Keven Macalester
Designer: David Plunkert, Spur Design, LLC

SXSW / CHICKEN & EGG EMERGENT WOMAN AWARD
Winner - Made in China
Director: Judi Krant
Lost in Shanghai, an inventor discovers that it takes more than a bright idea to succeed.

SXSW WHOLPHIN SHORT FILM AWARD
Winner - Sister Wife
Director: Jill Orschel
In a time when the practices of Mormon fundamentalism offer sensational fodder for the evening news, Sister Wife offers a rare glimpse into the cloistered lifestyle.

Shorts Jury Awards

REEL SHORTS
Winner - Thompson
Director: Jason Tippet
Since second grade Matt and Ryan have shared the bond of speech impediments, weapons, and things that go fast. But as their last days of high school speed by, the two friends find that their go-carts, dirt bikes, and RC cars can't outrun adulthood.

Special Jury Award - Happy 95 Birthday Grandpa
Director: Gary Huggins
A fleeting memory in five minutes.

ANIMATED SHORTS
Winner - Shaman
Director: Luc Perez
Waiting for the bus on a rainy day in Copenhagen, the old shaman Utaaq sees a rare bird from his past. This makes him reminisce his youth, and a beautiful tale about the forces of nature begins.

Special Jury Award - Sweet Dreams
Director: Kirsten Lepore
A Stalwart cupcake escapes from his native land to discover what lies beyond the sugar skyscrapers and candy-condos. His violent shipwreck on a foreign shore forces him to adapt to a new lifestyle.

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS
Winner - Cattle Call
Director: Matthew Rankin & Mike Maryniuk
A high-speed animated documentary about the art of livestock auctioneering.

Special Jury Award - The Idiot Stinks
Director: Helder Sun
Animation, Angst, Media, Martians and Miscommunication.

MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner - Thunderheist, "Jerk It"
Director: That Go-Noel Paul & Stefan Moore

Special Jury Award - Fleet Foxes, "White Winter Hymnal"
Director: Sean Pecknold

Jury Special Mention - New Pornographers, "Myriad Harbor"
Director: Fluorescent Hill

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION
Winner - Performance Evaluation
Director: Breannah Gibson

Special Jury Award - TIE
Fresh Fruit
Director: Edward Kelley & Brenden Cicoria

AND

A Hospital Bathroom
Director: Miguel Johnson

Okay... I feel like a total gimp now.  I haven't seen a single film on that list.  But since I'm here through Saturday, I plan to try to catch up with some of the award winners.  In a way, it's strange to announce awards halfway through, but it helps because some of those films might get audiences now that they wouldn't have in the second half of the fest.  That's the plan for me, anyway.  Tomorrow's my last interview, with the oh-so-cool Kathryn Bigelow, and I just got out of the screening of her new film, "The Hurt Locker."  Later tonight, it's a midnight screening of "The Haunting In Connecticut" as part of the Fantastic Fest at SXSW program, and then it's home to get my "Observe and Report" review up for you guys, as well as looks at a few more films I've really enjoyed at the fest so far.

And if you're reeeeeeeeeeeeeeal lucky, I've got a set visit piece I'll share with you that just might KICK... your ASS.

Okay.  Time to wolf down this burrito and bolt.