Austin, TX - August 6, 2008 - The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce its  "Call for Entries" for the 2009 event, taking place March 13-21, 2009 in Austin, Texas. In addition, the SXSW Film Festival has announced  the winners for the 5th annual SXSWclick Festival, presented by Boston University Department of Film and Television.

The SXSW 2009 "Call for Entries" is now open. Filmmakers are invited to submit their new works to the annual festival, which has become an international destination for cinematic discovery. Submissions can only be entered via the official SXSW Web site: http://sxsw.com/film. Complete submission rules and regulations are available on that site. The early deadline for submissions is November 14, 2008 and the final deadline is December 12, 2008. SXSW considers any and all categories of filmmaking, from Narrative to Documentary, Experimental to Music Video, Short to Feature. The festival will announce its complete film lineup in early February 2009.

Audiences are invited now to register to attend SXSW Film 2009. A Film, Gold, or Platinum registration badge can be ordered online (with a discounted rate) at: http://sxsw.com/attend/. Registration for SXSW Film allows access to daytime film events at the Austin Convention Center including panels, interviews, one-on-one mentor sessions and mini-meetings; the Trade Show which opens on Saturday and runs through Monday; entry into official SXSW parties; and priority access into SXSW film festival screenings. In addition, registration will allow you to access the 2009 Online Registrants Directory, a great tool to aid in planning your SXSW meetings and networking throughout the year. As always, more information on all things SXSW, can be found at: http://sxsw.com.

The winners of all five SXSWclick categories can be viewed now, on the official SXSWclick site: http://sxswclick.com. The one Grand Jury Prize winner is  "Peter and Ben" by Pinny Grylls. The one Popularity Contest winner, decided by over 2,000 online voters, is  "Little Pumpkin" by Tiffany Bartok. The jury winners within each category are as follows: Peter and Ben by Pinny Grylls (Really Real Shorts), Visit by Gray Miller (Old School Shorts), Snake by Becky James (Animate-It), Temposhark, 'Blame"
by Motomichi Nakamura (Sound Checks), and Haunted House by Ross Wilsey (What the F*#!?). The jury included actor Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), comedians Eugene Mirman and Doug Benson (Super High Me), producers Anish Savjani (Old Joy) and Mary Sweeney (The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive), animator Don Hertzfeldt (Rejected), as well as many others. By winning SXSWclick, each of these shorts win a variety of prizes, and are automatically invited to screen at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival.