Movies starring Walking Dead alums receive Audience Awards at SXSW

South By Southwest (SXSW), an annual festival featuring film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences, has recently wrapped its 31st event. This Audience Award winners were presented, which included two films, one starring Walking Dead's Sonequa Martin-Green and a second starring Fear the Walking Dead's Colman Domingo.

According to Deadline, Tracie Laymon’s dramedy Bob Trevino Likes It won the Narrative Feature Competition, with Monkey Man, an action thriller, taking away the Headliner section. A24's Colman Domingo-led Sing Sing won Festival Favorite, and My Dead Friend Zoe, starring Martin-Green, won Narrative Spotlight.

My Dead Friend Zoe is the directorial debut of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, a story he co-wrote with A. J. Bermudez. The film is based on Hausmann-Stokes' short film, Merit x Zoe. The film stars Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Thom Tan.

The movie follows the story of Merit and her best friend Zoe, who served in the Army together. Merit continues a strange relationship with Zoe, due to the fact that Zoe is dead. Merit is aware that the relationship is dysfunctional but she doesn't want to let her friend go. When her grandfather and hero, who is also a Veteran, becomes in need of a caretaker, Merit comes to his aid, determined to mend things between them.

Martin-Green shared her excitment about the SXSW honor on social media.

Directed by Greg Dwedar, Sing Sing is based on the actual Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing, a maximum secruty prison in New York State. The film premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where A24 picked it up and will release the movie in North American theaters. Sing Sing was featured at SXSW, where it won the Festival Favorite Audience Award.

Sing Sing chronicles a group of inmates who participate in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program and desire to create an original stage production, "Breakin' The Mummy's Code." Joining Domingo and actor Paul Raci are several real-life formerly incarcerated alumni of the program, including Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin and Sean San José.

Domingo shared his excitement of the SXSW win on social media.

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT Audience Award Winner - My Dead Friend Zoe

Director: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
Producers: Paul Scanlan, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, Terri Lubaroff, Ray Maiello, Mike Field, Richard Silverman, Robert Paschall Jr.
Screenwriters: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, AJ Bermudez

FESTIVAL FAVORITE Audience Award Winner: Sing Sing

Director: Greg Kwedar
Producers: Monique Walton, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
Screenwriters: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar

Follow Undead Walking on Twitter and sign up for the once-daily Undead Walking newsletter to avoid missing out on everything in The Walking Dead universe.