This past year has given us some pretty amazing indie films, and the Independent Spirit Awards celebrated their success on Sunday night. Past Lives was crowned as the best feature film at this ceremony, while The Holdovers topped the list of winners with three prizes.
Past Lives came into the night as one of the front-runners for the best feature award and defeated All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, May December, Passages, and We Grown Now to take it home. Celine Song brought the film’s win total to two after collecting the trophy for the best director.
The Holdovers was also among the night’s biggest winners with three trophies, including acting accolades for its stars Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa. American Fiction was right behind with two awards, including best lead performance (Jeffrey Wright) and best screenplay (Cord Jefferson).
Beef led the way in the television categories and won two of the night’s biggest awards – best new scripted series and best lead performance (Ali Wong). HBO’s The Last of Us also did pretty great, and its guest stars Nick Offerman and Keivonn Montreal Woodard both collected trophies for their respective performances.
The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards took place on February 25 at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, with Aidy Bryant hosting the festivities.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2024 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS:
BEST FEATURE
(Given to the producer)
Past Lives
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Jeffrey Wright
American Fiction
BEST DIRECTOR
Celine Song
Past Lives
BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to director and producer)
A Thousand and One
Director: A.V. Rockwell
Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Dominic Sessa
The Holdovers
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to best feature made for under $1,000,000; award given to writer, director and producer)
Fremont
Director/Writer: Babak Jalali
Writer: Carolina Cavalli
Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Eigil Bryld
The Holdovers
BEST EDITING
Daniel Garber
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
(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
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Ali Wong
Beef
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
(Award given to creator, executive producer, co-executive producer)
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
BEST SCREENPLAY
Cord Jefferson
American Fiction
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik
May December
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
(Given to the director)
Anatomy of a Fall
France
Director: Justine Triet
BEST BREAKTRHOUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Keivonn Montreal Woodard
The Last of Us
BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Given to the director and producer)
Four Daughters
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Nick Offerman
The Last of Us
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
(Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition)
Set Hernandez
Director: Unseen
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
PRODUCERS AWARD
(Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films)
Monique Walton
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
(Recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition)
Monica Sorelle
Director: Mountains
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
