Since “Sack Race with Knives: The Curious Art of Kevin Titzer” debuted in November 2023, the short documentary has been selected for 22 film festivals internationally and won seven awards. This was not the response director Jordan Barclay imagined.
“I didn’t expect that many official selections. I didn’t expect any wins,” says Barclay, who also served as the film’s cinematographer and producer.
When Evansville Living first wrote about the film in the September/October 2023 issue, Barclay was just starting to roll out the film, which chronicles Titzer’s 2018 quickly assembled sculpture installation at the University of Southern Indiana. The 25-minute film also features the work of editor Thomas Bernardin, musician Ryan Grisham of the indie punk rock band Mock Orange, director of graphics Aaron Tanner, and gaffer and additional cinematographer Mark Fischer.
The film began racking up wins in 2024. For his work on “Sack Race with Knives,” Barclay won Best Documentary Director at both the Atlanta (Georgia) Documentary Film Festival and Bare Bones International Film Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as well as Best First Time Filmmaker at the Beyond the Curve International Film Festival in Paris, France. The film earned Best Documentary Short awards at the Fine Arts Film Festival in Los Angeles, California, Sky Arts Film Festival in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Tennessee International Indie Film Festival in Franklin. At Evansville’s own Victory International Film Festival, it took home the prize for Best Documentary.
Barclay is most proud of being part of the official selection in the Indy Shorts International Film Festival for films that premiered in Indiana, an Academy Awards-qualifying film festival. “Just to be nominated to qualify for the Oscars is huge,” Barclay says. “My goal is to get into more Oscars-qualifying film festivals.”
