The 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards were held today, honoring the best in independent film. Taking place a day before the Academy Awards, the ceremony is very much the anti-Oscars – the jokes are cruder, the vibe looser, and the films much smaller and often far more unique. You can dive into highlights from the ceremony, including video from some of the major acceptance speeches and comedic bits, below.
Kumail Nanjiani and Kate McKinnon Get a Room
In an opening that felt like a much funnier version of those movie parodies that open your average Oscar ceremony, ceremony hosts Kumail Nanjiani and Kate McKinnon found themselves living out the harrowing events of Room. While waiting for the show to start, McKinnon and Nanjiani bide their time in a small room that becomes their prison and their home and, soon enough, things start to mirror the events seen in Lenny Abrahamson’s acclaimed drama. Watching the unhinged McKinnon try to mother her unwitting roommate set an awfully high bar of the show to follow. Although Nanjiani’s joke about this year’s nominees dealing with difficult subjects like “child abuse and even worse child abuse” did a find job of topping.
Beasts of No Nation Leaves an Impression
When Idris Elba won the statuette for Best Supporting Male for his performance in Beasts of No Nation, he justified each and every one of Nanjiani’s one-liners about wanting to be his best friend – few actors are as effortlessly charming as him and even fewer could get away with ending their acceptance speech with a James Brown riff. He even brought his young costar Abraham Attah up on stage with him, but that noble gesture turned out to be unnecessary, as Attah would take the stage a few hours later to claim his statuette for Best Male Lead. His shy, no-frills speech was refreshing after watching so many veteran Hollywood types do the same ol' thing.
Spotlight Sweeps
This year’s awards spread the love around, giving statuettes to many of the nominated films. However, Spotlight was the bigger winner, taking home awards for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editing. It also received the Robert Altman award honoring the entire ensemble cast. However, the highlight of the film’s wins came when Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer accepted their screenplay award. McCarthy, who would later return to the stage to accept Best Director, noted that the several of the real journalists and survivors who inspired the film were in the audience, leading to another round of thunderous applause.
Kate McKinnon and Kumail Nanjiani Step into Carol
Just when things were starting to slow down a bit, the show took an extended detour to riff on Carol. The sketch is inspired stuff, especially if you’ve seen Todd Haynes’ acclaimed LGBT romance. Through clever editing, McKinnon is spliced into the film in place of Cate Blanchett, allowing her to have an awkward lunch date with Rooney Mara. Meanwhile, Nanjiani shows up as waiter who cannot comprehend that the two women in front of him can be into each other because, well, it’s the 1950s. Hilarity ensues.
Room Wins Twice (but Jacob Tremblay Steals the Show)
Sure, Brie Larson deservedly won Best Female Lead for her stellar work in Room. Sure, screenwriter Emma Donoghue won Best First Screenplay for adapting her own novel (and hilariously called director Lenny Abrahamson the “Gandalf to her Bilbo”). And yet, Room’s young leading man Jacob Tremblay still managed to steal the show. When he took the stage to present an award alongside Anthony Mackie, he redefined adorable as he grilled his copresenter about his role as the Falcon in the Marvel movies. His cuteness even spilled into categories that had little to with him, like when presenter Michael Keaton informed the audience that Tremblay was actually 47 years old.
Tangerine Makes History
Spotlight, Room, and Beasts of No Nation may have taken home the most awards, but only Tangerine made history. When Mya Taylor won Best Supporting Actress, she become the first transgender woman in history to win a major film award. Her spirited acceptance speech was both charming and brutally honest – when director Sean Baker first told her that the film would be shot on an iPhone, she joked about thinking “This movie ain’t going to be s**t.” She concluded her speech on an empowering note, asking everyone in Hollywood to look deeper to find unique performers: “There is transgender talent. There is very beautiful transgender talent. You better get out there and put it in your next movie.”
The complete list of nominees are listed below, with winners in bold.
Best Feature
Anomalisa
Beasts of No Nation
Carol
Spotlight
Tangerine
Best Director
Sean Baker, Tangerine
Cary Joji Fukunaga, Beasts of No Nation
Todd Haynes, Carol
Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson, Anomalisa
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
David Robert Mitchell, It Follows
Best Screenplay
Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa
Donald Margulies, The End of the Tour
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
S. Craig Zahler, Bone Tomahawk
Best First Feature
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
James White
Manos Sucias
Mediterranea
Songs My Brothers Taught Me
Best First Screenplay
Jesse Andrews, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jonas Carpignano, Mediterranea
Emma Donoghue, Room
Marielle Heller, The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Magary, Russell Harbaugh, Myna Joseph, The Mend
Best Male Lead
Christopher Abbott, James White
Abraham Attah, Beasts of No Nation
Ben Mendelsohn, Mississippi Grind
Jason Segel, The End of the Tour
Koudous Seihon, Mediterranea
Best Female Lead
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Rooney Mara, Carol
Bel Powley, The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Tangerine
Best Supporting Male
Kevin Corrigan, Results
Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Richard Jenkins, Bone Tomahawk
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Best Supporting Female
Robin Bartlett, H.
Marin Ireland, Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon, James White
Mya Taylor, Tangerine
Best Documentary
(T)error
Best of Enemies
Heart of a Dog
The Look of Silence
Meru
The Russian Woodpecker
Best International Film
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Embrace of the Serpent
Girlhood
Mustang
Son of Saul
Best Cinematography
Beasts of No Nation
Carol
It Follows
Meadlowland
Songs My Brothers Taught Me
Best Editing
Heaven Knows What
It Follows
Manos Sucias
Room
Spotlight
John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Under $500,000)
Advantageous
Christmas, Again
Heaven Knows What
Krisha
Out of My Hand
Robert Altman Award (Best Ensemble)
Spotlight
Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award
Chloe Zhao
Felix Thompson
Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck
Piaget Producers Award
Darren Dean
Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smit
