Film Independent Spirit Award Winners Revealed

On the afternoon of Saturday, February 22, the 40th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards were held in Santa Monica, California. This year’s awards were hosted by Aidy Bryant, returning from last year, and parts of the ceremony were streamed live on the IMDB and Film Independent YouTube channels.

Anora took home the top prize, winning the Best Feature award. The film also won two other awards: Sean Baker won for Best Director and Mikey Maddison won Best Lead Performance.

Jessie Eisenberg’s A Real Pain won two awards. Jesse Eisenburg won Best Screenplay, while Kieren Culkin won Best Supporting Performance. Culkin was not present at the awards, as he was busy working on the Broadway revival of Glengarry Glenn Ross.

The Best Breakthrough Performance Award went to Maisy Stella for her lead performance in My Old Ass. The Best Cinematography Award went to Jomo Fray for Nickel Boys, while Best Editing went to Hansjörg Weissbrich for September 5.  The Best International Film Award went to the Latvian animated feature Flow.

Didi took home two awards: one for Best First Feature and another for Best First Screenplay. No Other Land took home the Best Documentary award. The John Cassavetes Award, given to features with a budget of less the $1 million, went to Girls Will Be Girls. The Robert Altman Award, given to a film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast, went to Anazel Jacob’s His Three Daughters.

The Producers Award, given every year at the Independent Spirit awards to emerging producers who managed to produce quality independent work with little resources, went to Sarah Winshall. The Someone to Watch Award, given to emerging filmmakers who hadn’t received recognition in other categories, went Sarah Friedland, director of the film Familiar Touch. The Someone to Watch Award, given to emerging documentary filmmakers, went to Rachel Elizabeth Seed, director of the documentary A Photographic Memory 

The full list of winners and nominees can be found below:

Best Feature:

Anora (WINNER)
Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow
Producers: Ali Herting, Luca Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys
Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing
Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton

The Substance
Producers: Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner

Best First Feature:

Dìdi (WINNER)
Director/Producer: Sean Wang
Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters

In the Summers
Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio
Producers: Janek Ambros, Lynette Coll, Alexander Dinelaris, Cynthia Fernandez De La Cruz, Cristóbal Güell, Sergio Alberto Lira, Rob Quadrino, Jan Suter, Daniel Tantalean, Nando Vila, Slava Vladimirov, Stephanie Yankwitt

Janet Planet
Director/Producer: Annie Baker
Producers: Andrew Goldman, Dan Janvey, Derrick Tseng

The Piano Lesson
Director: Malcolm Washington
Producers: Todd Black, Denzel Washington

Problemista
Director/Producer: Julio Torres
Producers: Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emma Stone

John Cassavetes Award (given to a feature made for less than $1 million):

Big Boys
Writer/Director/Producer: Corey Sherman
Producer: Allison Tate

Ghostlight
Writer/Director: Kelly O’Sullivan
Director/Producer: Alex Thompson
Producers: Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Chelsea Krant, Eddie Linker, Alex Wilson

Girls Will Be Girls (WINNER)
Writer/Director/Producer: Shuchi Talati
Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne

Jazzy
Writer/Director/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer/Producer: Lainey Shangreaux
Writers: Andrew Hajek, Vanara Taing
Producers: Miranda Bailey, Tommy Heitkamp, John Way, Natalie Whalen, Elliott Whitton

The People’s Joker
Writer/Director: Vera Drew
Writer: Bri LeRose
Producer: Joey Lyons

Best Director:

Best First Screenplay: 

Joanna Arnow
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Annie Baker
Janet Planet

India Donaldson
Good One

Julio Torres
Problemista

Sean Wang (WINNER)
Dìdi

Best Lead Performance: 

Amy Adams
Nightbitch

Ryan Destiny
The Fire Inside

Colman Domingo
Sing Sing

Keith Kupferer
Ghostlight

Mikey Madison (WINNER)
Anora

Demi Moore
The Substance

Hunter Schafer
Cuckoo

Justice Smith
I Saw the TV Glow

June Squibb
Thelma

Sebastian Stan
The Apprentice

Best Supporting Performance: 

Yura Borisov
Anora

Joan Chen
Dìdi

Kieran Culkin (WINNER)
A Real Pain

Danielle Deadwyler
The Piano Lesson

Carol Kane
Between the Temples

Karren Karagulian
Anora

Kani Kusruti
Girls Will Be Girls

Brigette Lundy-Paine
I Saw the TV Glow

Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin
Sing Sing

Adam Pearson
A Different Man

Best Breakthrough Performance: 

Best International Film:

All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Director: Payal Kapadia

Black Dog
China
Director: Guan Hu

Flow (WINNER)
Latvia, France, Belgium
Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Green Border
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium
Director: Agnieszka Holland

Hard Truths
United Kingdom
Director: Mike Leigh

Producers Award:

Alex Coco
Sarah Winshall (WINNER)
Zoë Worth

Someone to Watch Award:

Nicholas Colia
Director of Griffin in Summer

Sarah Friedland (WINNER)
Director of Familiar Touch

Pham Thien An
Director of Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Truer Than Fiction Award:

Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
Directors of Sugarcane

Carla Gutiérrez
Director of Frida

Rachel Elizabeth Seed (WINNER)
Director of A Photographic Memory