Maggie Gyllenhaal and “The Lost Daughter” took home best director, screenplay and best feature honors from 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the industry’s leading indie films. Another social detour due to the pandemic, the earlier than usual ceremony — which is historically held on the Saturday afternoon before the Oscars — returned to an in-person event held in Santa Monica after being virtual in 2021.
“Zola,” which led all nominees heading into the event, took home multiple awards, including editing and one for lead actress Taylour Paige. “Passing” also won multiple prizes (for Ruth Negga and cinematography) while “Red Rocket” actor Simon Rex took home lead actor honors.
Production budgets are the standard by which films are considered independent, and some of the Oscar-contending films that might normally fit the thematic tones of Spirit Awards nominees, including “Belfast,” “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog,” were not eligible because they cost more than $22.5 million to make.
With television as a relatively new category for the Spirit Awards, “Reservation Dogs” was awarded the new scripted series and ensemble cast prizes while “Black and Missing” took the new unscripted series honor. Here is the list of winners:
Best Feature
“The Lost Daughter” | WINNER
Producers: Charles Dorfman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler
“A Chiara”
Producers: Jonas Carpignano, Paolo Carpignano, Jon Coplon, Ryan Zacarias
“C’mon C’mon”
Producers: Chelsea Barnard, Andrea Longacre-White, Lila Yacoub
“The Novice”
Producers: Ryan Hawkins, Kari Hollend, Steven Sims, Zack Zucker
“Zola”
Producers: Kara Baker, Dave Franco, Elizabeth Haggard, David Hinojosa, Vince Jolivette, Christine Vachon, Gia Walsh
Male Lead
Simon Rex, “Red Rocket” | WINNER
Clifton Collins Jr., “Jockey”
Frankie Faison, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Michael Greyeyes, “Wild Indian”
Udo Kier, “Swan Song”
Someone to Watch Award
Alex Camilleri - Director, “Luzzu” | WINNER
Gillian Wallace Horvat - Director, “I Blame Society”
Michael Sarnoski - Director, “Pig”
International Film
“Drive My Car” (Japan) | WINNER
Director - Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“Compartment No. 6" (Finland/Russia)
Director - Juho Kuosmanen
“Parallel Mothers” (Spain)
Director - Pedro Almodóvar
“Pebbles” (India)
Director - P S Vinothraj
“Petite Maman” (France)
Director - Céline Sciamma
“Prayers for the Stolen” (Mexico)
Director - Tatiana Huezo
Female Lead
Taylour Paige, “Zola” | WINNER
Isabelle Fuhrman, “The Novice
Brittany S. Hall, “Test Pattern
Patti Harrison, “Together Together
Kali Reis, “Catch the Fair One”
Director
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter” | WINNER
Janicza Bravo, “Zola”
Lauren Hadaway, “The Novice”
Mike Mills, “C’mon C’mon”
Ninja Thyberg, “Pleasure”
Producers Award
Lizzie Shapiro | WINNER
Brad Becker-Parton
Pin-Chun Liu
Cinematography
Edu Grau, “Passing” | WINNER
Lol Crawley, “The Humans”
Tim Curtin, “A Chiara”
Ante Cheng, Matthew Chuang, “Blue Bayou”
Ari Wegner, “Zola”
Ensemble cast in a new scripted series
“Reservation Dogs” | WINNER
Ensemble Cast: Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone
Female performance in a scripted series
Thuso Mbedu, “The Underground Railroad” | WINNER
Deborah Ayorinde, “THEM: Covenant”
Jasmine Cephas Jones, “Blindspotting”
Jana Schmieding, “Rutherford Falls”
Anjana Vasan, “We Are Lady Parts”
Male performance in a new scripted series
Lee Jung-jae, “Squid Game” | WINNER
Olly Alexander, “It’s a Sin”
Murray Bartlett, “The White Lotus”
Michael Greyeyes, “Rutherford Falls”
Ashley Thomas, “THEM: Covenant”
New non-scripted or documentary series
“Black and Missing” | WINNER
Series By/Executive Producers - Soledad O’Brien, Geeta Gandbhir; Executive Producers - Jo Honig, Patrick Conway, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez
“The Choe Show”
Creator/Executive Producer: David Choe; Executive Producers - Matt Revelli, Christopher C. Chen, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson
“The Lady and the Dale”
Executive Producers - Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Allen Bain, Andre Gaines, Nick Cammilleri, Alana Carithers, Zackary Drucker, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
“Nuclear Family”
Series By - Ry Russo-Young; Produced By - Dan Cogan, Warren Fischer; Executive Producers - Liz Garbus, Julie Gaither, Jon Bardin, Leah Holzer, Peter Saraf, Alex Turtletaub, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Lauren Haber, Maria Zuckerman, Christine Connor, Ryan Heller, Barbara Dobkin, Eric Dobkin, Andrea Van Beuren, Joe Landauer
“Philly D.A.”
Creators - Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar; Produced By - Josh Penn, Michael Gottwald; Executive Producers - Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, Patty Quillin; Co-Executive Producers - Nion McEvoy, Leslie Berriman
New scripted series
“Reservation Dogs” | WINNER
Creators/Executive Producers - Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi; Executive Producer - Garrett Basch
“Blindspotting”
Creators/Executive Producers - Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs; Executive Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann
“It’s a Sin”
Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler
“The Underground Railroad”
Creator/Executive Producer - Barry Jenkins; Executive Producers - Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Richard Heus, Jacqueline Hoyt
“We Are Lady Parts”
Creator - Nida Manzoor; Executive Producers - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland
Robert Altman Award
“Mass” | WINNER
Director - Fran Kranz; Casting Directors - Henry Russell Bergstein, Allison Estrin; Ensemble Cast - Kagen Albright, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Breeda Wool
Supporting Female
Ruth Negga, “Passing” | WINNER
Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”
Amy Forsyth, “The Novice”
Revika Reustle, “Pleasure”
Suzanna Son, “Red Rocket”
Screenplay
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter” | WINNER
Nikole Beckwith, “Together Together”
Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris, “Zola”
Mike Mills, “C’mon C’mon”
Todd Stephens, “Swan Song”
Truer Than Fiction Award
Jessica Beshir - Director, “Faya Dayi” | WINNER
Debbie Lum - Director, “Try Harder!”
Angelo Madsen Minax - Director, “North By Current”
Editing
Joi McMillon, “Zola” | WINNER
Affonso Gonçalves, “A Chiara”
Ali Greer, “The Nowhere Inn”
Enrico Natale, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Lauren Hadaway, Nathan Nugent, “The Novice”
First Feature
“7 Days” | WINNER
Director - Roshan Sethi; Producers - Liz Cardenas, Mel Eslyn
“Holler”
Director - Nicole Riegel; Producers - Adam Cobb, Rachel Gould, Katie McNeill, Jamie Patricof, Christy Spitzer Thornton
“Queen of Glory”
Director - Nana Mensah; Producers - Baff Akoto, Anya Migdal, Kelley Robins Hicks, Jamund Washington
“Test Pattern”
Director/Producer - Shatara Michelle Ford; Producers - Pin-Chun Liu, Yu-Hao Su
“Wild Indian”
Director/Producer - Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.; Producers - Thomas Mahoney, Eric Tavitian
First Screenplay
Michael Sarnoski, Vanessa Block, “Pig” | WINNER
Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., “Wild Indian”
Shatara Michelle Ford, “Test Pattern”
Fran Kranz, “Mass”
Matt Fifer, Sheldon D. Brown, “Cicada”
Documentary
“Summer of Soul (… or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” | WINNER
Director - Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson; Producers - David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel
“Ascension”
Director/Producer - Jessica Kingdon; Producers - Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell
“Flee”
Director - Jonas Poher Rasmussen; Producers - Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen
“In the Same Breath”
Director/Producer - Nanfu Wang; Producers - Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Jialing Zhang
“Procession”
Director - Robert Greene; Producer - Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott, Douglas Tirola
John Cassavetes Award
“Shiva Baby” | WINNER
Writer/Director/Producer - Emma Seligman; Producers - Kieran Altmann, Katie Schiller, Lizzie Shapiro
“Cryptozoo”
Writer/Director - Dash Shaw; Producers - Tyler Davidson, Kyle Martin, Jane Samborski, Bill Way
“Jockey”
Writer/Director/Producer - Clint Bentley; Writer/Producer - Greg Kweder; Producer - Nancy Schafer
“Sweet Thing”
Writer/Director - Alexandre Rockwell; Producers - Louis Anania, Haley Anderson, Kenan Baysal
“This Is Not A War Story”
Writer/Director/Producer - Talia Lugacy; Producers - Noah Lang, Julian West
Supporting Male
Troy Kotsur, “CODA” | WINNER
Colman Domingo, “Zola”
Meeko Gattuso, “Queen of Glory”
Will Patton, “Sweet Thing”
Chaske Spencer, “Wild Indian”
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