Australian-Irish co-production Mix Tape has struck a chord at the SXSW Film and TV Festival in Texas, winning the Audience Award for the TV Spotlight thread.
The adaptation of Jane Sanderson’s romantic novel, which had its world premiere at the event, stars Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess as a couple who reconnect from opposite sides of the world through a song from their shared past.
Joining Palmer and Sturgess in the cast are Ben Lawson, Julia Savage, Jacqueline McKenzie, and Chika Ikogwe, as well as Irish talent, including Mark O’Halloran, Helen Behan, Conor Sánchez, Jonathan Harden, and Siobhan O’Kelly. There is also British actor Alexis Rodney and Finnish actress Sara Soulié.
Adapted for the screen by Jo Spain and directed by Australian director Lucy Gaffy, the Binge series was produced by Aquarius Films’ Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford, and Subotica’s Aoife O’Sullivan and Tristan Orpen Lynch. As yet, no premiere date has been set for Binge.
In congratulating the winners of this year’s Audience Awards, SXSW VP of Film & TV Claudette Godfrey paid tribute to the “filmmakers, audiences, and volunteers who made this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival exceptional”.
“We assembled another stellar program that puts independently made narratives, documentaries, TV series, and XR experiences on the same stage as studio films and TV shows,” she said.
“The magic of shared viewing experiences and a sense of community continued to define our festival, and we’re excited for all of this year’s projects to reach even wider audiences beyond SXSW!”
Mix Tape was one of ten Australian titles screening at this year’s event alongside The Surfer, Spreadsheet Champions, We Bury The Dead, Baggage, Together, One More Shot, Deeper, I’m The Most Racist Person I Know, and Make It Look Real.
The announcement of the Audience Awards follows the festival Jury and Special Awards last week, where Chinese-Australian filmmaker Amy Wang was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the narrative feature competition for her sci-fi dramedy Slanted, and Leela Varghese took home the Special Jury Award in the Narrative Short Competition for I’m The Most Racist Person I Know.