“The Arbalest,” “Tower” win top prizes at SXSW Film Fest

PanARMENIAN.Net - “The Arbalest”, Adam Pinney’s droll, puzzle-like tale of unrequited obsession starring Mike Brune as a famed 1970s toy inventor, won the grand jury prize for narrative features at the SXSW Film Festival, Variety reveals.

The narrative jury, consisting of Lindsey Bahr, Richard Brody and Alonso Duralde, also handed acting awards to Andre Royo, who plays a wily ex-con in Josh Locy’s “Hunter Gatherer,” and to Lily Rabe, who stars as a high-school English teacher in Julia Hart’s “Miss Stevens.”

In the documentary competition, the grand jury prize went to Keith Maitland’s “Tower,” which uses interviews, archival footage and rotoscopic animation to reconstruct the sniper shootings that rocked the U. of Texas at Austin campus on Aug. 1, 1966. “Tower” also received the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, given annually to a Texas-produced film, from a separate jury.

“It is the professional privilege of my life to spend my last four years in the company of some of the most brave and resilient people on this planet,” Maitland said, accepting the grand jury prize.

Documentary competition jurors David Edelstein, Jen Yamato and Stephanie Zacharek presented a special recognition for portrait documentary to “Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America,” Matt Ornstein’s film about the eponymous musician and his controversial hobby of meeting and befriending KKK members.

“In an age when so much of our political dialogue is so coarse and so cynical … Daryl is endlessly optimistic and endlessly empathetic,” said producer Noah Ornstein.

A special jury recognition for visual design was given to “The Seer,” Laura Dunn’s look at the endangerment of agrarian life as seen from the perspective of the poet-activist Wendell Berry; it was shot by the cinematographer Lee Daniel.

The Gamechanger Award, presented to a female filmmaker, went to Sophie Goodhart for “My Blind Brother,” her love-triangle comedy starring Adam Scott, Nick Kroll and Jenny Slate. The Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship was given to Eileen Meyer, who edited the 2015 Gore Vidal-William F. Buckley documentary “Best of Enemies.”