The 34th Film Independent Spirit awards honoring the best in independent film productions was held Saturday in Santa Monica with Ethan Hawke winning Best Male Lead for “First Reformed” and Oscar favorite Glenn Close taking Best Female Lead for “The Wife.”
“If Beale Street Could Talk” won Best Feature and its director Barry Jenkins won the Best Director honors. Regina King won Best Supporting Female Actor for her role in the film.
Richard E. Grant won Best Supporting Male Actor for his role in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and the film’s Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty won Best Screenplay.
“Sorry to Bother You,” won Best First Feature. Bo Burnham won Best First Screenplay for “Eighth Grade.”
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom won Best Cinematography for “Suspiria.” The horror film based on a 1977 Italian movie and starring Dakota Johnson, also received the Robert Altman Award, which honors a film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast, which also included Tilda Swinton and Chloe Grace Moretz.
Joe Bini won Best Editing for “You Were Never Really Here” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” about children’s show creator Fred Rogers won Best Documentary.
“Roma” from Mexico won Best International Film and “En El Septimo Dia” won the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made under $500,000.
Debra Granik won the Bonnie Award recognizing a mid-career female director, named after Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo, the first female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline when she joined American Airlines in 1973 at age 24.
Alex Moratto, director of Socrates, received the Someone to Watch Award recognizing talented film makers of singular vision. The award is in its 25th year and included a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Bing Liu, director of “Minding The Gap,” received the Truer Than Fiction Award presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features. The award is in its 24th year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
The winner of the Spirit Award for Best Feature Film has gone on to the win the Best-Picture Oscar in four of the past five years, however, none of this year’s Spirit Award feature nominees were nominated for the Academy Award.