Austin Film Festival Announces 2020 Award Winners

Tragic diving documentary Dave Not Coming Back, and family drama Paper Tiger took the top honors in the freshly-announced Austin Film Festival audience awards.

Jonah Malak's documentary, Dave Not Coming Back, about how the Boesmansgat cave system in South Africa took two lives won the audience award for marquee feature, while Paul Kowalski's Paper Tiger a multigenerational tale of loss in an immigrant family, took the popular vote for narrative feature.

There was a brace of Austin-related titles in the winners list. First, Anne Rapp's long-gestating biography of a Lone Star great, Horton Foote: The Road to Home, took the audience award for best Texas Independent Feature. Over in the Dark Matters category, Blinders may have been shot in Los Angeles but is packed with Austin talents, including former Chronicle staffer Vincent van Horne.

The audience awards follow after gamechanging Iranian thriller The Badger lead the way in the AFF jury awards last week. Here are both lists in full, including the script awards. Congrats to all the winners.

And don't forget to check out all our coverage at www.austinchronicle.com/austin-film-festival.

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Audience Awards

Marquee Feature: Dave Not Coming Back written and directed by Jonah Malak (read our review here)
Narrative Feature: Paper Tiger written and directed by Paul Kowalski (read our review here)
Documentary Feature: The Book Keepers written and directed by Phil Wall
Dark Matters Feature: Blinders written by Tyler D. Savage and Dash Hawkins, directed by Tyler D. Savage (read our interview with star Vincent van Horne here)
Comedy Vanguard Feature: Reboot Camp written and directed by Ivo Raza (read our interview with star Chaz Bono here)
Texas Independent Feature: Horton Foote: The Road to Home directed by Anne Rapp (read our interview with the filmmaker here)
Narrative Short: "The Yellow Dress" written and directed by Alex Ko (read our interview with the filmmaker here)
Documentary Short: "Little Rink" written and directed by Lisa Melmed
Animated Short: "To: Gerard" written and directed by Taylor Meacham
Narrative Student Short: "Molly Robber" written and directed by Austin Hall and Zach Visviks
Produced Digital Series Presented by Stage 13: Break In created by Justin Gallaher and Samuel Roseme

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Jury Awards

Narrative Feature: The Badger written and directed by Kazem Mollaie (read our review here)
Documentary Feature: The Book Keepers written and directed by Phil Wall
Comedy Vanguard Feature: Standard written and directed by Fernando González Gómez
Dark Matters Feature: The Blue Orchid written by Carl Marott and Hans Frederik Jacobsen, directed by Carl Marott (read our review here)
Narrative Short: "The Recordist" written by Indianna Bell, directed by Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen (read our interview with the filmmakers here)
Narrative Student Short: "Home" written and directed by Adewale Olukayode
Documentary Short: "Blood on our Side" written by Rodrigo Hernandez, Elpida Nikou and Gino Moreno, directed by Rodrigo Hernandez and Elpida Nikou
Animated Short: "To The Dusty Sea" written and directed by Héloïse Ferlay
Produced Digital Series Presented by Stage 13: #martyisdead created by Pavel Soukup
Enderby Entertainment Fellowship Award: 1,2,3, All Eyes On Me written by Emil Gallardo and Derek Ho, directed by Emil Gallardo

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Script Competition

Drama Feature Screenplay Award presented by Writers Guild of America, East: The Young Woman by Edward Drake
Comedy Feature Screenplay Award presented by Sony Pictures Animation: Harold Doesn’t Die by Stephen Sloot
Sci-Fi Feature Screenplay Award: Chupacabra by Mark Ellis
Horror Feature Screenplay Award: Open House by Sean J.S. Jourdan and John Ingle
Drama Teleplay Pilot Award: Richmond Underground by Melissa Turkington and Ben Samuels
Comedy Teleplay Pilot Award: Lemonlight by M. Rowan Meyer
Drama Teleplay Spec Award: Pose: "Different Dances" by Casey Bischel
Comedy Teleplay Spec Award: What We Do In The Shadows: "The Lamp: by Ethan Von Zamft
Enderby Entertainment Award: King Of Rio Barro by Jonathan Easley
Scholastic Entertainment Fellowship For Kids And Family Content Award: Space Kids by Joshua Losben and Scott Gabriel
Rooster Teeth Fellowship Award: The Mclean Ladies' Foundation For Modern Literary Appreciation by Alexis Perkins
Rooster Teeth Development Deal Award: Please Don’t Hate Me by Nina Kim
Josephson Entertainment Fellowship Teleplay Pilot Award: The World Famous Maxine Is Arriving Now by Joseph McMahon
Josephson Entertainment Fellowship Feature Screenplay Award: Company Man by Nancy Duff
AMC One-Hour Pilot Award: IRIS by Natasha M. Hall
HUMANITAS ORIGINALS Award: The Bridge to Ossabaw Island by Kieran A. Gallagher
Scripted Digital Series Award Presented by Stage 13: Lady Mozart by Michelle Sarkany
Short Screenplay Award: Like You Think You Know Me by Stephen Schuyler
Playwriting Award: Wake The Body by Matt Ackels
Fiction Podcast Award: Curtains by Kareem Badr and Mike D’Alonzo