Can you use the Film Independent Spirit Awards to predict the Oscars? That's a risky endeavour, but when you consider that last year's Indie Spirit Best Feature Everything Everywhere All At Once went on to win big at the Oscars, hopes are certainly higher for Celine Song's Past Lives' Best Picture chances come 10 March (though no one is discounting Oppenheimer, which was ineligible for the Indie Sprits).
Song also picked up Best Director for her emotional tale of reconnection and regret, While AV Rockwell took Best First Feature for A Thousand And One and Co-writer/director Babak Jalali won the John Cassavetes Award for best feature made for under $1 million for Fremont.
The Holdovers took home the most film gongs, nabbing Best Cinematography for Eigil Bryld, a welcome Best Breakthrough Performance for Dominic Sessa and in what should probably this year be renamed the Da’Vine Joy Randolph Award, she won her latest trophy: Best Supporting Performance.
How To Blow Up A Pipeline's Daniel Garber won Best Editing, American Fiction's Jeffrey Wright nabbed Best Lead Performance (the Indie Spirits have been gender neutral for their acting awards for a while), and the latter also saw writer/director Cord Jefferson score Best Screenplay.
Best First Screenplay was given to May December's Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, with Anatomy Of A Fall named Best International Film. Four Daughters was Best Documentary and Dear Mama won Best New Non-Scripted Or Documentary Series.
With the Spirits also recognizing TV, The Last Of Us' Nick Offerman won another award, this time Best Supporting Performance In A New Scripted Series, with the show's Keivonn Montreal Woodard given Best Breakthrough Performance In A New Scripted Series. Best New Scripted series went to perennial winner Beef, while that show's Ali Wong took Best Lead Performance In A New Scripted Series.