American Fiction, award shows, Beef, Film Independent, Film Independent Spirit Awards, movies, Past Lives, Santa Monica, Spirit Awards, The Holdovers, TV
February 25, 2024
The following is a press release from Film Independent:
Film Independent, the nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering independence and inclusivity in visual storytelling, handed out top honors o February 25 at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Hosted by beloved comedian Aidy Bryant, the awards ceremony was broadcast live on IMDb’s YouTube channel, as well as Film Independent’s YouTube and X (Twitter) accounts. The Spirit Awards are Film Independent’s largest annual celebration, making year-round programming for filmmakers and film loving audiences possible while amplifying the voices of independent storytellers and celebrating their diversity, originality and uniqueness of vision.
This year’s ceremony, the 39th in Film Independent’s history, celebrated a wide variety of films, television shows and artists, with no individual film or show walking away with more than three awards.
In the film awards categories, Past Lives won for Best Feature and Best Director for Celine Song, while The Holdovers came away with the most awards of the night with three, including Best Supporting Performance for Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Best Breakthrough Performance for Dominic Sessa and Best Cinematography for Eigil Bryld. Among the other films and artists honored, American Fiction won Best Actor for Jeffrey Wright and Best Screenplay for Cord Jefferson; A Thousand and One won Best First Feature; Best First Screenplay went to May December, written by Samy Birch with story by Samy Birch and Alex Mechanik; Anatomy of a Fall won Best International Film; Four Daughters won Best Documentary; and Daniel Garber won Best Editing for How to Blow Up a Pipeline.
For the fourth time in its history, this year’s Spirit Awards also honored exceptional content in television. This year’s major winners in the TV categories were Beef, which won Best New Scripted Series and Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series for Ali Wong; Dear Mama, which won Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series; Nick Offerman of The Last of Us, who won Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series; Jury Duty, which won Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series; and Keivonn Montreal Woodard of The Last of Us, who won the new this year Best Breakthrough in a New Scripted Series award.
The 16th annual Robert Altman Award, which was created in 2008 in honor of legendary film director Robert Altman, who was known for creating extraordinary ensemble casts, was awarded to Showing Up director Kelly Reichardt, alongside casting director Gayle Keller, as well as ensemble cast members André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez and Michelle Williams.
Also celebrated were Fremont, with the John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000; Monica Sorelle of Mountains with the Someone to Watch Award, recognizing a filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition; Set Hernandez of unseen with the Truer Than Fiction Award, presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has yet to receive significant recognition; and Monique Walton with the Producers Award, honoring emerging producers who demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films with limited resources.
The winners of the Film Independent Spirit Awards are voted on by Film Independent Members. Membership is open to the public.
Film Independent Spirit Awards are supported by Premier Sponsor Lavazza Coffee, Principal Sponsor IMDbPro and Official Partners Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, FIJI Water, Petite Fleur Champagne and Stella Artois. Easterseals Disability Services is the accessibility partner. Hotel Casa del Mar, Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows and The Georgian are the Official Hotels. Pentagram is the Visual Branding Partner. Getty Images is the Official Photographer. Vision Media is the exclusive screening partner. Caffeine Post, eTech Rentals, Illuminar and Town and Country Event Rentals are Official Providers.
Here is the complete list of nominees and winners for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards:
*=winner
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer.)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
May December
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon
Passages
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd
Past Lives*
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon*
We Grown Now
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Director: Raven Jackson
Producers: Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Director: Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Producers: Gewan Brown, Amanda Freedman
Earth Mama
Director/Producer: Savanah Leaf
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Shirley O’Connor, Medb Riordan, Cody Ryder
A Thousand and One*
Director: A.V. Rockwell*
Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston*
Upon Entry
Directors: Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Producers: Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, Xosé Zapata
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer)
The Artifice Girl
Director/Writer: Franklin Ritch
Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead
Cadejo Blanco
Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Lerner
Producers: Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, Jack Patrick Hurley
Fremont*
Director/Writer: Babak Jalali*
Writer: Carolina Cavalli*
Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner*
Rotting in the Sun
Director/Writer: Sebastián Silva
Writer: Pedro Peirano
Producer: Jacob Wasserman
The Unknown Country
Director/Writer/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer: Lily Gladstone
Writers/Producers: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Vanara Taing
Producers: Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, Tommy Heitkamp
BEST DIRECTOR
Andrew Haigh
All of Us Strangers
Todd Haynes
May December
William Oldroyd
Eileen
Ira Sachs
Passages
Celine Song*
Past Lives*
BEST SCREENPLAY
David Hemingson
The Holdovers
Cord Jefferson*
American Fiction*
Laura Moss, Brendan J. O’Brien
Birth/Rebirth
Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
Bottoms
Celine Song
Past Lives
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik*
May December*
Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt
Theater Camp
Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Laurel Parmet
The Starling Girl
Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
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
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*
Catalina Saavedra
Rotting in the Sun
Ben Whishaw
Passages
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Marshawn Lynch
Bottoms
Atibon Nazaire
Mountains
Tia Nomore
Earth Mama
Dominic Sessa*
The Holdovers*
Anaita Walizada
Fremont
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Katelin Arizmendi
Monica
Eigil Bryld*
The Holdovers*
Jomo Fray
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Pablo Lozano
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Pat Scola
We Grown Now
BEST EDITING
Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz, Sofía Subercaseaux
Rotting in the Sun
Stephanie Filo
We Grown Now
Daniel Garber*
How to Blow Up a Pipeline*
Jon Philpot
Theater Camp
Emanuele Tiziani
Upon Entry
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast
Showing Up
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Casting Director: Gayle Keller
Ensemble Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
Bye Bye Tiberias
Director: Lina Soualem
Producer: Jean-Marie Nizan
Four Daughters*
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania*
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha*
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Directors/Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
Producer: Tommy Oliver
Kokomo City
Director: D. Smith
Producers: Bill Butler, Harris Doran
The Mother of All Lies
Director/Producer: Asmae El Moudir
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Anatomy of a Fall*
France*
Director: Justine Triet*
Godland
Denmark/Iceland
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Mami Wata
Nigeria
Director: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
Tótem
Mexico
Director: Lila Avilés
The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom, Poland, USA
Director: Jonathan Glazer
PRODUCERS AWARD presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 27th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.
Rachael Fung
Graham Swon
Monique Walton*
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 30th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.
Joanna Arnow
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
Laura Moss
Birth/Rebirth
Monica Sorelle*
Mountains*
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 29th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.
Set Hernandez*
unseen*
Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli
Lakota Nation vs. United States
Sierra Urich
Joonam
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court
Executive Producers: Vinnie Malhotra, Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, Dawn Porter
Dear Mama*
Executive Producers: Lasse Järvi, Quincy ‘QD3’ Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel ‘Future’ Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair*
Murder in Big Horn
Executive Producers: Matthew Galkin, Vinnie Malhotra
Co-Executive Producers: Lisa Kalikow, Joshua Levine
Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence
Executive Producers: Mindy Goldberg, Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Zach Heinzerling, Krista Parris, Daniel Barban Levin, Felicia Rosario
Co-Executive Producer: Julie Gaither
Wrestlers
Executive Producers: Greg Whiteley, Ryan O’Dowd
Co-Executive Producers: Alejandro Melendez, Adam Leibowitz
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Beef*
Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin
Executive Producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich
Co-Executive Producers: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper
Dreaming Whilst Black
Creator/Executive Producer: Adjani Salmon
Creators: Maximilian Evans, Natasha Jatania, Laura Seixas
Executive Producers: Tanya Qureshi, Dhanny Joshi, Bal Samra, Thomas Stogdon
I’m a Virgo
Creator/Executive Producer: Boots Riley
Executive Producers: Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Jharrel Jerome, Rebecca Rivo
Co-Executive Producers: Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski
Jury Duty
Creators/Executive Producers: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Executive Producers: David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Cody Heller, Todd Schulman, Jake Szymanski, Andrew Weinberg
Slip
Creator/Executive Producer: Zoe Lister-Jones
Executive Producers: Ro Donnelly, Dakota Johnson, Katie O’Connell Marsh, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg
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
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*
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*
Kara Young
I’m a Virgo
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Jury Duty*
Ensemble Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams*
ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT
For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms, and to foster a culture of inclusion. We support a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision.
In addition to producing the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the organization supports creative professionals with Artist Development programs, grants and labs. Signature mentorship program Project Involve fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from underrepresented communities. Education events and workshops equip filmmakers of all ages and experience levels with tools and resources. Global Media Makers, a cultural exchange program produced in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, provides career-building opportunities for international film professionals. And year-round screening series Film Independent Presents offers a robust program of unique cinematic experiences, including screenings, conversations, Live Reads and Bring the Noise musical events.
For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org.