by Nathaniel R
The Film Independent Spirit Awards were held today and The Lost Daughter emerged as the big winner with Maggie Gyllenhaal taking home three statues: Feature, Director, and Screenplay. Zola, our Bronze Medalist for Best Picture, also performed well winning Female Lead and Editing. On television Reservation Dogs was the big winner with two prizes. A complete list of winners and teary funny acceptance speeches after the jump...
BEST FEATURE
- A Chiara (NEON)
- C'mon C'mon (A24)
- ★ The Lost Daughter (Netflix)
- The Novice (IFC Films)
- Zola (A24)
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD - (essentially Best Feature on a microbudget)
- Cryptozoo (Magnolia)
- Jockey (Sony Pictures Classics)
- ★ Shiva Baby (Utopia)
- Sweet Thing (Distribrutor???)
- This is Not a War Story (HBOMax)
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (essentially best ensemble -- given to a film's director, casting director, and cast)
- ★ Mass Director: Fran Kranz; Casting Directors: Henry Russell Bergstein, Allison Estrin; Cast: Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Brenda Wool, Kagen Albright, Michelle N Carter
We interviewed Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, AND Fran Kranz here at TFE. So click on those names if you missed the interviews.
BEST DIRECTOR
- Mike Mills, C'mon C'mon
- ★ Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
- Lauren Hattaway, The Novice
- Ninja Thyberg, Pleasure
- Janicza Bravo, Zola
BEST FEMALE LEAD
- Isabelle Furhman, The Novice
- Brittany S Hall, Test Pattern
- Patty Harrison, Together Together
- ★ Taylour Paige, Zola
- Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One
Thrilled for Taylour Paige. We gave her a gold medal last season for "Breakthrough" Performer.
BEST MALE LEAD
- Clifton Collins Jr, Jockey
- Frankie Faison, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
- Michael Greyeyes, Wild Indian
- Udo Kier, Swan Song
- ★ Simon Rex, Red Rocket
Thrilled for Simon Rex. We were delighted to interview him earlier this season.
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
- Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
- Amy Forsyth, The Novice
- ★ Ruth Negga, Passing
- Revika Reustle, Pleasure
- Suzanna Son, Red Rocket
Ruth Negga gave the best performance of the year, any category, in Passing. Nice to see her recognized somewhere major. She is in rehearsals for "a play" and by a play she means MACBETH with Daniel Craig which starts previews March 29th on Broadway
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
- Colman Domingo, Zola
- Meeko Gattuso, Queen of Glory
- ★ Troy Kotsur, CODA
- Will Patton, Sweet Thing
- Chaske Spencer, Wild Indian
Shortly after his big SAG win Troy Kotsur also takes the Spirit. He's looking strong heading towards Oscar night. Kodi Smit-McPhee was the big critics winner this year as is still possible but, sadly, even when they're very deserving Oscar voters rarely go for young male actors for wins.
BEST SCREENPLAY
- C'mon C'mon - Mike Mills
- ★ The Lost Daughter - Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Swan Song - Todd Stephens
- Together Together - Nicole Beckwith
- Zola - Janicza Bravo & Jeremy O. Harris
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
- Cicada - Matt Fifer and Sheldon Brown
- Mass - Fran Kranz
- ★ Pig - Michael Sarnoski and Vanessa Block
- Test Pattern - Shatara Michelle Ford
- Wild Indian - Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- A Chiara - Tim Curtin
- Blue Bayou - Ante Chang and Matthew Chuang
- The Humans - Lol Crawley
- ★ Passing - Edu Grau
- Zola - Ari Wegner
So thrilled about this win. We had the pleasure of interviewing Edu earlier this season ICYMI
BEST EDITING
- A Chiara - Affonso Gonçalvez
- The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain - Enrico Natale
- The Novice - Lauren Hadaway and Nathan Nugent
- The Nowhere Inn - Ali Greer
- ★ Zola - Joi McMillion
So happy about this win. Joi McMillion is also nominated right here at our annual Film Bitch Awards.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
- Ascension (Paramount+)
- Flee (NEON)
- In the Same Breath (HBOMax)
- Procession (Netflix)
- ★ Summer of Soul (Searchlight)
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
- Compartment No 6 (Finland)
- ★ Drive My Car (Japan)
- Parallel Mothers (Spain)
- Pebbles (India)
- Petite Maman (France)
- Prayers for the Stolen (Mexico)
Drive My Car continues its amazing awards run.
BEST FIRST FEATURE
- ★ 7 Days - Roshan Sethi
- Holler - Nicole Riegel
- Queen of Glory - Nana Mensah
- Test Pattern - Shatara Michelle Ford
- Wild Indian - Lyle Mitchelle Corbine, Jr.
PRODUCERS AWARD (for creativity, tenacity, and vision producing indies)
- Brad Becker-Parton
- Pin-Chin Liu
- ★ Lizzie Shapiro
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (Director who has not yet received appropriate recognition)
- ★ Alex Camilleri, Luzzu
- Michael Sarnoski, Pig
- Gillian Wallace Horvat, I Blame Society
Luzzu was Malta's submission for the Oscars this seaso and the first Maltese film to compete at one of the big five festivals (Sundance in this case). Its young Maltese-American director Alex Camilleri (pictured above) signed with WME after Sundance so we expected to be hearing a lot more from him.
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (Emerging Documentary Filmmakers)
- ★ Jessica Beshir, Faya Dayi
- Debbie Lum, Try Harder!
- Angelo Madsen Minax, North by Current
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
NEW NON-FICTION SERIES
- ★ Black and Missing
- The Choe Show
- The Lady and the Dale
- Nuclear Family
- Philly D.A.
NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
- Blindspotting
- It's a Sin
- ★ Reservation Dogs
- The Underground Railroad
- The White Lotus
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A SCRIPTED SERIES
- Deborah Ayorinde, THEM: Covenant
- Jasmine Cephas Jones, Blindspotting
- ★ Thuso Mbedu, Underground Railroad
- Anjana Vasan, We Are Lady Parts
- Jana Schmieding, Rutherford Falls
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE IN A SCRIPTED SERIES
- Olly Alexander, It's a Sin
- Murray Bartlett, the White Lotus
- Michael Greyeyes, Rutherford Falls
- ★ Lee Jung-Jae, Squid Game
- Ashley Thomas, THEM: Covenant
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
- ★ Reservation Dogs (Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone)