The 2012 SXSW Film Festival awards were handed out last night at the Vimeo Theater in Austin, TX and Adam Leon’s GIMME THE LOOT won the grand jury award in the Narrative Feature Competition. Variety confirmed that director Jay Bulger’s BEWARE OF MR. BAKER won the Jury Prize in the Documentary Feature Competition.
Adam Leon made his feature-directing debut with Gimme the Loot, about two Bronx teenage graffiti artists, Malcom (Tysheeb Hickson) and Sofia (Tashiana R. Washington), who plot to tag a well-known New York City landmark. Leon last directed the short film Killer, which played at the New Directors/New Films Festival.
After directing videos and commercials, Jay Bulger made his feature-directing debut with Beware of Mr. Baker, a documentary about drummer Ginger Baker who relocates to Nigeria and discovers Afrobeat music after playing with bands like Cream and Blind Faith.
“It’s been amazing this year to hear over and over again about the high range of quality across the board,” Janet Pierson, SXSW film conference and film festival producer, told Variety. “I know I’m always going on about the great variety of our program but this year it seems to have been embraced in even wider measure and it’s very exciting.”
Click HERE for the full list of SXSW Jury and Audience Award-winning films. Screenings at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival continue through March 17.