A24’s Past Lives won the top prize for best feature at the 39th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, with writer-director Celine Song also winning best director for her feature film debut.
American Fiction’s Jeffrey Wright won best lead performance for his role in the Amazon MGM Studios comedy, presented to him by his fellow Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. “It’s funny, you go to these award shows, and you kind of grow tired of them,” laughed Wright. “And then you get one. It changes the vibe a little bit.”
American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson also won best screenplay for his directorial debut. “Our film is so independent that one morning I woke up at our hotel to find out that there had been a triple stabbing the night before in the lobby,” said Jefferson. “They were cleaning up the blood. And I would not have it any other way.”
The Holdovers‘ Da’Vine Joy Randolph picked up the first award of the evening for best supporting performance, fresh off the heels of picking up a SAG Award on Saturday night for her role in the Focus Features film. “The Holdovers is a beautiful testament of what can happen when a small group of passionate people are given a chance to come together and tell the story,” said Randolph. “Independent films are the beating heart of this industry, and they are worth fighting for.” Randolph’s co-star Dominic Sessa won best breakthrough performance for his debut role in the film.
The John Cassavetes Award, which honors a film made for less than $1 million, went to Music Box Films’ Fremont, co-written and directed by Babak Jalali. Jalali was the first winner of the night to acknowledge the protesters outside the tent in Santa Monica, whose shouts of “ceasefire now” and “free Palestine” began disrupting the ceremony in its first hour. “There are people speaking outside, and whatever they’re saying, I think it’s far more important than what I’m about to say,” said Jalali, who noted that the protest was a distraction: “I’m so inspired by what they’re saying outside, I can’t think of what I’m about to say.” (“We’re at the beach, and people are practicing their freedom of speech,” said host Aidy Bryant shortly after the shouting became audible in the tent and on the livestream.)
Filmmaker Kelly Reichardt accepted the Robert Altman Award for A24’s Showing Up, presented to the film’s creatives and cast by Lily Gladstone, whose breakthrough role came in Reichardt’s 2016 Western drama Certain Women. She noted that the last time she saw Altman was in 2003 at a lifetime achievement event honoring the director. “America was dropping bombs on Iraq at that time, and he was pissed,” said Reichardt. “And I think he’d have a lot to say — just this weirdness of us being here and celebrating each other and our work. Life goes on outside the tent.”
Kino Lorber’s Four Daughters won the award for best documentary, while Anatomy of a Fall won best international film. May December won best first screenplay, with writers Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik collecting the award. How to Blow Up a Pipeline took best editing, while The Holdovers won best cinematography. A.V. Rockwell won the best first feature award for Focus Features’ A Thousand and One.
In the TV categories, which honor new scripted series that premiered in 2023, Netflix’s Beef won for best new scripted series, while Ali Wong collected another win for her lead role in the limited series. FX’s Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur won best new non-scripted/documentary series.
Nick Offerman won best supporting performance for his role in HBO’s The Last of Us. “Thanks to HBO for having the guts to participate in this storytelling tradition that is truly independent — stories with guts,” said Offerman, referencing the acclaimed episode of the series that depicted a love story between characters played by Offerman and fellow nominee Murray Bartlett. “When homophobic hate comes my way, and [someone] says, ‘Why did you have to make it a gay story?’ We say, because you ask questions like that. It’s not a gay story — it’s a love story, you asshole.” The Last of Us‘ Keivonn Montreal Woodard also won an award for the HBO zombie drama, picking up the prize for breakthrough performance.
Freevee’s Jury Duty won the award for best ensemble cast, with Alan Barinholtz (father to actors Ike and Jon) and James Marsden accepting the award on behalf of their co-stars.
Bryant kicked off the ceremony to celebrate — and lightly roast — the independent film community. “I have to say, I first became aware of many of you independent filmmakers because my high school boyfriend talked about you all the time while we dry-humped,” said Bryant. “I am married now, so I learn less about cinema.
“Today we celebrate the resilience and the ingenuity of your work,” continued Bryant, closing her opening remarks. “It is so hard to get something made — not to mention, this town can be kind of harsh, but that’s Hollywood, baby. But not here. In this tent, we say: That’s indie, baby. If you’re an actress and you are wearing your own shoes in the movie, that’s indie, baby. When the script story spans 10 years and you shoot it in two weeks, that’s indie, baby. And when the solidarity from the WGA, SAG, the Teamsters and IATSE shows us the collective power of our labor? That’s indie, baby.”
