Austin Film Festival Announces Juried Competition Awards

Dax to the Max: First-time writer/director (and onetime Punk'd-ster) Dax Shepard (r) was on hand with with co-star and producer Nate Tuck for Saturday night's world premiere of faux documentary Brother's Justice. For more of our AFF coverage, visit the Screens blog, Picture in Picture, at austinchronicle.com/pip. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

One thing's for sure: The University of Texas Department of Radio-Television-Film will have no shortage of alumni news with which to fill its next newsletter. UT grads came up big at this year's Austin Film Festival awards luncheon on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Austin Club, with Jack Zagha Kababie and Ya'Ke taking home prizes for their narrative films, while Andrew Lanham's script The Jumper of Maine – which won a prestigious Nicholl Fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week – was picked for both Best Drama Screenplay and the Latitude Productions Screenplay Award, which is sponsored by Curtis Burch's L.A.-based production company.

Best Narrative Feature: Adiós Mundo Cruel (Writers: Jack Zagha Kababie, Enrique Chmelnik)

Narrative Feature Special Jury Mention: Dog Sweat (Writers: Maryam Azadi, Hossein Keshavarz)

Best Documentary Feature: Louder Than a Bomb (Directors: Greg Jacobs, Jon Siskel)

Best Narrative Short: "Katrina's Son" (Writer: Ya'Ke)

Narrative Short Special Jury Mention: "The Six Dollar Fifty Man" (Writer: Louis Sutherland)

Best Documentary Short: "Birthright" (Director: Sean Mullens)

Best Animated Short: "The Lost Thing" (Director: Shaun Tan)

Best Narrative Student Short: "Down in Number 5" (Writer: Kim Spurlock)