Live from a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California (perhaps not as cozy as it sounds, as it is indeed still February), it’s the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards! This year’s ceremony, which kicked off this afternoon, was hosted by “Saturday Night Live” alum Aidy Bryant and feted the best in indie film and TV.
This year’s pack of nominees included a slew of Oscar contenders (“American Fiction,” “Past Lives,” and “The Holdovers,” to name a starry few) and a number of indie gems (“Passages,” “All of Us Strangers,” “Eileen,” “Earth Mama,” “A Thousand and One,” “Monica,” “Fremont,” and many more), all competing for the biggest prizes in the indie sphere.
Celine Song’s “Past Lives” won Best Feature (which the filmmaker picked up just minutes after winning Best Director as well), while “The Holdovers” and “American Fiction” also enjoyed multiple wins, including a Best Performance win for “American Fiction” star Jeffrey Wright and Best Screenplay for writer Cord Jefferson, and a Best Supporting Performance win for “The Holdovers” standout Da’Vine Joy Randolph and a Breakthrough Performance win for newbie Dominic Sessa.
Thanks to the Spirits’ various TV categories, small-screen series and talents also had time to shine. HBO’s big-budgeted “The Last of Us” tied for the most TV nominations with four alongside Boots Riley’s Amazon Prime series starring Jharrel Jerome, “I’m a Virgo.” Meanwhile, Netflix’s “Beef” got three nods, and Freevee’s “Jury Duty” two. Ultimately, both “Beef” and “The Last of Us” walked away with two wins each, including a Best New Scripted Series win for Netflix’s “Beef” (plus star Ali Wong).
For last year’s Indie Spirits, several changes were introduced: Gender-neutral acting prizes were inaugurated, and the budget cap for projects to qualify was raised to $30 million. And, in recent years, the Spirits have steadily moved further away from the annual Oscars ceremony. Traditionally, the Spirits played out the day before the Sunday evening Oscar show (what a weekend), but last year, they pushed back an entire week, and now they arrive a full 15 days before the Oscars (and three days before the close of Oscar voting).
Each category’s winner is marked below in bold and italics.
Best Feature
“All of Us Strangers”
“American Fiction”
“May December”
“Passages”
“Past Lives” (WINNER)
“We Grown Now”
Best Director
Andrew Haigh – “All of Us Strangers”
Todd Haynes – “May December”
William Oldroyd – “Eileen”
Celine Song – “Past Lives” (WINNER)
Ira Sachs – “Passages”
Best First Feature
“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”
“Earth Mama”
“A Thousand and One” (WINNER)
“Upon Entry”
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” (WINNER)
Teo Yoo, “Past Lives”
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” (WINNER)
Catalina Saavedra, “Rotting in the Sun”
Ben Whishaw, “Passages”
Breakthrough Performance
Marshawn Lynch – “Bottoms”
Atibon Nazaire – “Mountains”
Tia Nomore – “Earth Mama”
Dominic Sessa – “The Holdovers” (WINNER)
Anaita Wali Zada – “Fremont”
Best Screenplay
“American Fiction” (WINNER)
“Birth/Rebirth”
“Bottoms”
“Past Lives”
“The Holdovers”
Best First Screenplay
“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”
“May December” (WINNER)
“The Starling Girl”
“Theater Camp”
“Upon Entry”
Best Cinematography
“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”
“The Holdovers” (WINNER)
“Monica”
“We Grown Now”
Best Editing
“How to Blow Up a Pipeline” (WINNER)
“Rotting in the Sun”
“Theater Camp”
“Upon Entry”
“We Grown Now”
Robert Altman Award
“Showing Up” (previously announced WINNER)
Best Documentary
“Bye Bye Tiberias”
“Four Daughters” (WINNER)
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
“Kokomo City”
“The Mother of All Lies”
Best International Film
“Anatomy of a Fall” (WINNER)
“Godland”
“Mami Wata”
“Totem”
“The Zone of Interest”
Someone to Watch Award
Joanna Arnow
Laura Moss
Monica Sorrelle (previously announced WINNER)
Truer Than Fiction Award
Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli
Set Hernandez (previously announced WINNER)
Sierra Urich
John Cassavetes Award
“The Artifice Girl”
“Cadejo Blanco”
“Fremont” (WINNER)
“Rotting in the Sun”
“The Unknown Country”
Producers Award
Racheael Fung
Graham Swon
Monique Walton (previously announced WINNER)
Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court”
“Dear Mama” (WINNER)
“Murder in Big Horn”
“Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence”
“Wrestlers”
Best New Scripted Series
“Beef” (WINNER)
“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” (WINNER)
Steven Yeun, “Beef”
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” (WINNER)
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 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” (WINNER)
Kara Young, “I’m a Virgo”
Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
“Jury Duty” (previously announced WINNER)
SOURCE: IndieWire
