This year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards stayed ahead of the Oscar curve once more, announcing their winners on Sunday, February 25 in the usual chilly white tent on the Santa Monica beach (and on YouTube). With Oscar voting not over until the evening of February 27, the winners at the 39th Spirits could gain valuable Oscar momentum.
Host Aidy Bryant played to a warm crowd who chuckled at her jokes. The Spirits are “also known as the bisexual Oscars,” she said. Being an awards show host is tricky, she added, “I could be panned, considered out of touch, and sexist, and potentially be slapped. Worst case: nobody mentions me.”
When she tried roasting the celebrities, she called “May December” star Natalie Portman a “stupid bitch,” Sterling K. Brown “a Stupid K. Bitch,” and said of Charles Melton, “everyone wants to have sex with you, you stupid bitch” and Greta Lee, “you are a slob and a slut and a stupid bitch. I’m sorry, I am not a good roaster.” The room ate it up.
The A24 table was all smiles Sunday, winning Best Feature and Director for Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” which is also up for Academy Awards for Best Picture and Original Screenplay. Song wrote from her own experience, she said. “Now it’s everyone’s story. Thank you for letting me share what it is to be human, to love, and be loved.”
There’s some overlap between the Indie Spirit voters and Academy membership. Oscar nominees tend to win Spirits, and sometimes go on to win Oscars as well. Last year, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” rode its seven Spirit wins into its Oscar sweep. This year’s Oscar contenders cleaned up as well, but Film Independent voters spread the wealth among films under the $30-million budget cap: “Past Lives,” “American Fiction,” “The Holdovers,” and “Anatomy of a Fall.”
Not only did “Past Lives” win the top two awards (Best Feature and Best Director), but “The Holdovers” won three. Globe, CCA, BAFTA, SAG, and inevitable Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph beat a gender-free field of ten, including fellow Oscar nominee Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”). After shouting out her costars, director Alexander Payne, and writer David Hemingson, Randolph said, “Independent films are the beating heart of this industry, and they are worth fighting for.”
The “Holdovers” winners for Best Cinematography Eigil Bryld, and Breakthrough Performance Dominic Sessa, are not Oscar-nominated. College student Sessa thanked “The Holdovers” casting director and his new agency CAA. “I promise it’s not all downhill from here,” he added.
“American Fiction” won Best Screenplay yet again for rookie director Cord Jefferson (winner of the BAFTA and CCA awards) and Best Lead Performance for Jeffrey Wright, who are both up for Oscars. Wright was the only Oscar nominee in the lineup of ten. “I put so much of my life in this movie,” said Jefferson. “It’s probably the most vulnerable thing I have ever done.”
As for Wright, he’s changing his mind about the grinding awards circuit. “You go to these awards shows, you tire of them, you get one and it changes the vibe!,” he said, thanking MRC and Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman at T Street for backing their indie movie.
Oscar nominee Samy Burch, winner of Best First Screenplay for “May December,” brought a beaming smile from Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, who had been in the audience at Netflix’s live launch of the SAG Awards Saturday night. Burch thanked Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez Productions, Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler (also producers of “Past Lives”), and Natalie Portman, who brought the film to director Todd Haynes.
Justine Triet’s courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall,” which is not France’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar, beat Jonathan Glazer’s holocaust film “The Zone of Interest” for Best International Film at the Spirits. Both movies have five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. Triet said that her film was made in “absolute freedom,” breaking old models. Glazer is expected to win Best International Feature and Sound; Triet could win Original Screenplay, but Hemingson is a strong rival.
Best Documentary went to Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” a documentary Oscar nominee that shared the Best Documentary award at Cannes, won the Cesar and Lumiere Awards for Best Documentary.
When Sundance 2023 Grand Jury Prize winner “A Thousand and One” (Focus) won Best First Feature, director A.V. Rockwell tearfully shared the award with Hollywood consultant and “a dear friend of mine, Michael Latt. Michael believed in me. I share this award with my friend who I love and miss.”
A few folks on the stage signaled awareness of a pro-Palestinian protester with a blaster bullhorn (“Free Palestine”) behind the tent, which intruded noisily on the proceedings.
“And life goes on outside the tent,” said auteur Kelly Reichardt, accepting the Robert Altman casting award for “Showing Up.” (See the full list of winners right here.)
