While certain other awards shows during the ever-busy awards season tend to focus on the big-name hits from the big-name studios, with a whole “classy, professionalism” thing, the Film Independent Spirit Awards—celebrating its 39th anniversary this year—always has a more freewheeling indie bent (host Aidy Bryant called it the “bisexual Oscars” in a funny opening monologue). To the extent that an awards show can be cool, this one (which highlights the best in independent film and television) is generally pretty cool. It’s just a nice, friendly vibe.
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Early winners included Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers (locking up a competitive category, but they’re all pretty competitive without being separated by gender), Nick Offerman for The Last Of Us (who called out the “assholes” who had a homophobic reaction to his big episode of the show), and the documentary Four Daughters (director Kaouther Ben Hania specifically told Natalie Portman she should see it, which was cool).
Past Lives ended up getting some big ones at the end of the evening, with director Celine Song winning Best Director and the film itself winning Best Feature. Best Lead Performance, meanwhile, went to Jeffrey Wright (who quipped that awards season can get pretty boring until you win a trophy) for American Fiction.
Here’s the full list of winners and nominees from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, with winners in bold.
Best Feature
Past Lives
All Of Us Strangers
American Fiction
May December
Passages
We Grown Now
Best Lead Performance
Jessica Chastain, Memory
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Trace Lysette, Monica
Natalie Portman, May December
Judy Reyes, Birth/Rebirth
Franz Rogowski, Passages
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
Teo Yoo, Past Lives
Best Director
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Todd Haynes, May December
William Oldroyd, Eileen
Ira Sachs, Passages
Celine Song, Past Lives
Truer Than Fiction Award
Set Hernandez, Unseen
Best First Feature
A Thousand And One
Upon Entry
Earth Mama
Chronicles Of A Wandering Saint
All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt
Robert Altman Award
Kelly Reichardt, Showing Up
Producers Award
Monique Walton
Best Breakthrough Performance
Marshawn Lynch, Bottoms
Atibon Nazaire, Mountains
Tia Nomore, Earth Mama
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Anaita Wali Zada, Fremont
Someone To Watch Award
Monica Sorelle
John Cassavetes Award
Fremont
Best Cinematography
The Holdovers
Monica
All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt
Chronicles Of A Wandering Saint
We Grown Now
Best Editing
How To Blow Up A Pipeline
Rotting In The Sun
We Grown Now
Theater Camp
Upon Entry
Best New Scripted Series
Beef
Dreaming Whilst Black
I’m A Virgo
Jury Duty
Slip
Best Lead Performance In A New Scripted Series
Emma Corrin, A Murder at the End of the World
Dominique Fishback, Swarm
Betty Gilpin, Mrs. Davis
Jharrel Jerome, I’m a Virgo
Zoe Lister-Jones, Slip
Bel Powley, A Small Light
Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us
Ramón Rodríguez, Will Trent
Ali Wong, Beef
Steven Yeun, Beef
Best New Non-Scripted Or Documentary Series
Dear Mama
Deadlocked
Murder In Big Horn
Stolen Youth: Inside The Cult At Sarah Lawrence
Wrestlers
Best Ensemble Cast
Jury Duty
Best Screenplay
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Laura Moss and Brendan J. O’Brien, Birth/Rebirth
Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott, Bottoms
Celine Song, Past Lives
Best First Screenplay
Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, May December
Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt, Theater Camp
Tomás Gómez Bustillo, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Laurel Parmet, The Starling Girl
Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez, Upon Entry
Best Supporting Performance
Erika Alexander, American Fiction
Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
Noah Galvin, Theater Camp
Anne Hathaway, Eileen
Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry
Marin Ireland, Eileen
Charles Melton, May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Catalina Saavedra, Rotting in the Sun
Ben Whishaw, Passages
Best Supporting Performance In A New Scripted Series
Murray Bartlett, The Last of Us
Billie Eilish, Swarm
Jack Farthing, Rain Dogs
Nick Offerman, The Last of Us
Adina Porter, The Changeling
Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry
Benny Safdie, The Curse
Luke Tennie, Shrinking
Olivia Washington, I’m a Virgo
Jessica Williams, Shrinking
Best Documentary
Four Daughters
Bye Bye Tiberias
Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Kokomo City
The Mother Of All Lies
Best Breakthrough Performance In A New Scripted Series
Clark Backo, The Changeling
Aria Mia Loberti, All the Light We Cannot See
Adjani Salmon, Dreaming Whilst Black
Keivonn Montreal Woodard, The Last of Us
Kara Young, I’m a Virgo
Best International Film
Anatomy Of A Fall
Godland
Mami Wata
Tótem
The Zone Of Interest