AwardsWatch

Wednesday, March 14----Austin, Texas was the focus for the cutting-edge in cinema and music, as the South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) presented its parallel film festival and music conference to a record audience of filmmakers, musicians, industry suits and buffs of all stripes. The Festival, directed by Matt Dentler, is growing in influence and scope as a place for discovering new talents. The Festival came to a climax with its Gala Awards Ceremony held last evening at the Austin Convention Center.

Major winners at the the 2007 SXSW Film Festival included ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE, directed by Jamie Babbit, which won for Best Narrative Feature and BILLY THE KID, directed by Jennifer Venditti, won the Best Documentary prize. Audience awards were won by SKILLS LIKE US (a narrative feature directed by Monty Miranada) and RUN GRANNY RUN (a documentary directed by Marlo Poras).  The Festival's inaugural Eagle Pennel Award was given to Joe Swanberg, the director of one of the Festival's major discoveries, HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS.

ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE had its world premiere at last month's Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section and had its North American debut at the Festival. Produced by Power Up, the Los Angeles-based production company dedicated to works by and for lesbians, the film was produced by indie veterans Stacy Codikow and Andrea Sperling and written by Tina Mabry and Abigail Shafron. Melonie Diaz (RAISING VICTOR VARGAS) stars as an L.A. Latina who is lured into a radical group of feminists fighting the objectification of women. Director Jamie Babbit had an international arthouse hit with her earlier film BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, a satire on the attempt to alter a young lesbian's sexuality by sending her to "reassignment camp".

BILLY THE KID is a portrait of Billy Price, an unusually astute teenager from Maine, who is wise beyond his years and is destined for either great fame or infamy. Jennifer Vendetti, a former casting agent who discovered Billy while working on a feature film project, decided to make her directorial debut with this idiosyncratic portrait film. The film had its world premiere at SXSW, where it was one of the big "buzz" titles of the Festival.

Audience award winners were also among the Festival's most interesting offerings. SKILLS LIKE THIS, the directorial debut of commercials director Monty Miranada, is the story of a bad playwright who turns to bank robbery when his career is permanently stalled. In RUN GRANNY RUN, directed by Marlo Poras, a 90 year old woman decides to throw her hat into the ring for a US Senate seat.

For a full list of winners and other details of the South By Southwest Film Festival, log on to the Festival website: www.sxsw.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor