39th Spirit Awards: My Personal Ballot

by Cláudio Alves

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are almost here! While one waits away the hours before the ceremony starts retrieving a tradition from the Film Experience past feels like a good idea. So, here goes my ballot as a Spirit Awards voter, but only in the film categories since I'm much more unsure in the TV categories – evaluating only from submitted episodes of shows I don't watch feels tricky, especially when it doesn't look like folks submitted their best option. Even in film, many of the nominees were unfamiliar to me, making the voting process an experience marked by discovery. 

There were a lot of beautiful surprises, resulting in a varied ballot. At least, I hope it reads that way, though my absolute favorite contender is easy to suss out…

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Review: Two Incredible Performances Galvanize "Our Father, the Devil"

by Cláudio Alves

For those following the awards season as a celebration of cinema rather than just a long trail to the Oscar stage, the Film Independent Spirit Awards can represent a treasure trove of delightful surprises. Last year, no choice caused more shock than one lone nomination for Our Father, the Devil in Best Feature. For most, this directorial debut by Cameroonian filmmaker Ellie Foumbi came out of nowhere. At the time, it was an oft-forgotten title with scant hopes of a commercial release that had been making the festival rounds since 2021, winning some juried prizes along the way. In retrospect, the Spirit nomination did its magic, and now, Our Father, The Devil is enjoying a limited release in American theaters. 

There's reason to rejoice, for Foumbi's film is nothing short of an acting showcase. It contains two of the year's most fascinating performances, a pair of galvanizing turns ready to shake viewers to their core…

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"Everything Everywhere..." wins every Spirit Award it's up for

by Nathaniel R

"Everything Everywhere All At Once" was a sweeper

Everything Everywhere All At Once has turned into a steamroller late in awards season, winning guild prizes, recently snatching up all available Dorian Awards, taking all of the SAG awards it was eligible for, and now sweeping again at the Spirits. The Spirits are traditionally the final prize before Oscar (they used to even be held the day before Oscar!) though they don't always align with Hollywood's big night given their more indie-focused love. This time though there will surely be some overlap. The Daniels sci-fi-comedy-action-queer-family drama has won every single one of its seven categories at the annual Film Independent Spirit Awards and that's getting to be a habit, poor BAFTA showing as the exception. Given its dominance at the Spirits, no other film was able to win more than one prize. Despite an impressive showing in the nominations, for example, TÁR only took Best Cinematography since EEAAO wasn't nominated.

After the jump the winners and all the acceptance speeches...

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'Everything Everywhere' and all over the Spirit Award Nominations

by Nathaniel R

A24's restless inventive sleeper hit Everything Everywhere All At Once continues to win. It's now the leader at the 38th annuel Independent Spirit Awards with 8 nominations and all four of its principal actors were nominated. In second place is Tár with seven nominations. Aftersun missed a couple categories we thought it might hit but it still did very well with five nominations overall.  Love for the rest of the eligible movies was more measured but Bones and All, The Inspection, The Cathedral, and Women Talking also showed up in a few places. 

Since the Spirit Awards have a budget cap ($30 million now) many key potential Oscar players weren't eligible including most Netflix titles as well as presumed Oscar players like The Fabelmans, Banshees of Inisherin, Empire of Light   and naturally all of the spectacle blockbusters. The Spirit Awards rule also deny international cinema the chance to compete in major categories, relegating them to a single "international" category... 

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'The Lost Daughter' and 'Zola' are multiple Spirit Award winners

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...

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