SXSW Film Festival announces 2015 Audience Award winners

AUSTIN, Texas - The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced the Audience Award winners from the Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Headliners, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighters, Episodic, 24 Beats Per Second, SXGlobal, Festival Favorites and Design Award categories on March 21.

2015 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award Winners:

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Audience Award Winner: KRISHA

Director: Trey Edward Shults

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Audience Award Winner: Peace Officer

Directors: Scott Christopherson, Brad Barber

HEADLINERS

Audience Award Winner: Hello, My Name is Doris

Director: Michael Showalter

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT

Audience Award Winner: The Little Death

Director: Josh Lawson

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT

Audience Award Winner: A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story

Director: Sara Hirsh Bordo

VISIONS

Audience Award Winner: Uncle Kent 2

Director: Todd Rohal

MIDNIGHTERS

Audience Award Winner: Turbo Kid

Director: RKSS Collective

EPISODIC

Audience Award Winner: Mr. Robot

Director: Sam Esmail

24 BEATS PER SECOND

Audience Award Winner: Landfill Harmonic

Directors: Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley

SXGLOBAL

Audience Award Winner: Kings of Nowhere

Director: Betzabé García

FESTIVAL FAVORITES

Audience Award Winner: The Look of Silence

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer

SXSW Film Design Awards

EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN

Audience Award Winner: Pink Grapefruit

Designer: Simon Dargan for Musta Lunta

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN

Audience Award Winner: The Fitzroy

Designers: Chris Tozer, Marko Anstice

Over the course of nine days, the 2015 SXSW Film Festival screened over 150 features, consisting of 102 World Premieres, 14 North American Premieres and 11 U.S. Premieres with 62 first-time directors. 106 shorts screened as part of 10 curated shorts programs. The 257 films were selected from a record number of overall submissions, nearly 7500, comprised of approximately 2426 features and 4935 shorts, with an overall increase of 13% over 2014.