Sean Baker’s film Anora took home several awards at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Mikey Madison. The film, which follows the story of a Brooklyn sex worker and her passionate affair with the son of a Russian oligarch, has gained significant attention in recent weeks and could be a strong contender for next Sunday’s Oscars.
The Independent Spirit Awards, held in a beachside tent in Santa Monica, California, serve as a fun, laid-back counterpart to the Academy Awards, recognizing the best in independent film and television. Host Aidy Bryant humorously referred to the event as “Hollywood’s third or fourth biggest night.”
During his acceptance speech for Best Director, Baker shared his thoughts on the challenges of making independent films in today’s industry, expressing concern over the decreasing financial support for more daring projects. He highlighted the risk that indie films might turn into “calling card” films—movies created not for their own sake, but simply to help filmmakers land bigger jobs.
Sean Baker passionately stated that the current system in the film industry is unsustainable, urging for change. He emphasized that filmmakers shouldn’t have to struggle to survive, a sentiment that was met with enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Anora was up against several strong contenders for Best Film, including Jane Schoenbrun’s psychological horror I Saw the TV Glow, RaMell Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Nickel Boys, Greg Kwedar’s drama Sing Sing, and Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film The Substance.
This year’s Independent Spirit Awards saw several potential Oscar contenders celebrating their wins. Kieran Culkin, a strong Oscar favorite, won the Best Supporting Performance award for his role in A Real Pain. His director, co-star, and writer, Jesse Eisenberg, took home the Best Screenplay award for the film, which follows two cousins on a Holocaust tour in Poland.
Culkin wasn’t present to accept his award, as he was caring for a family member after missing his BAFTA win the previous weekend. However, other Oscar nominees like Mikey Madison and Demi Moore were in attendance. Madison, who won the top acting prize at the BAFTAs the previous weekend, stopped to pet Moore’s dog, Pilaf, on her way to the stage.
At the Spirit Awards, acting categories are gender-neutral, with 10 spots available for each. This meant that Madison and Moore were competing against Oscar nominees like Colman Domingo from Sing Sing and Sebastian Stan from The Apprentice.
The documentary award went to No Other Land, a highly praised film by a Palestinian-Israeli collective about the destruction of a village in the West Bank. Despite its critical acclaim, the film does not yet have distribution, but it remains a strong contender in the Oscar race for Best Documentary. The filmmakers were not present to accept the award.
Flow, a wordless animated film from Latvia about a cat, took home the award for Best International Film. It’s also in the running at the Oscars in both the International Film and Animation categories.
While the Spirit Awards don’t always align with the Academy, they can often highlight a growing consensus, as seen in the year Everything Everywhere All at Once triumphed. The Spirit Awards only allow films with budgets of $30 million or less, so big-budget Oscar contenders like Wicked and Dune: Part Two were excluded from the competition.
Sean Wang accepted the awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for Dìdi. He shared that it was a special moment to be on stage with Joan Chen, one of his stars, who was nominated for a similar award 25 years ago for Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.
The Netflix hit Baby Reindeer also took home several awards, with actors Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning, and Nava Mau being recognized for their performances. Mau, who is trans, spoke passionately about the importance of actors supporting one another as the industry evolves. She emphasized, “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we do know our power. We are the people, and our labor is everything.”
Other television winners included Shōgun, which won Best New Scripted Series, and How to Die Alone, which claimed the award for Best Ensemble.
Natasha Rothwell, the creator and star of How to Die Alone, became emotional while accepting the ensemble prize. The show, unfortunately, was recently canceled after its first season. Rothwell shared that the series was about the need to feel seen and valued for who you are. She made a powerful statement about the importance of visibility for Black stories, saying, “For Black stories, visibility isn’t a privilege: it is a necessity. We deserve to take up space, to be complex, to be hilarious, and to be fully human.”
The typically lighthearted event took a moment to recognize the devastating impact of the wildfires on Los Angeles. Host Aidy Bryant urged viewers, both in the audience and watching via livestream, to help in rebuilding the city. She pointed out a QR code on the livestream where donations could be made to the Film Independent Emergency Filmmaker Relief Fund, which provides grants to alumni affected by the wildfires.
The show also honored Josh Welsh, the longtime president of Film Independent, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 62 after battling colon cancer.
In her opening remarks, Bryant noted that while it had been a “great year for film,” it had also been “a bad year for human life.” The Saturday Night Live alum kicked off the evening with some playful jabs at a few of the nominees, including Emma Stone.
Aidy Bryant made a lighthearted comment about Emma Stone during the show, saying, “Emma was a producer on four nominated projects tonight. But even more importantly, her hair is short now.”
Stone was also mentioned in Jesse Eisenberg’s acceptance speech for Best Screenplay for A Real Pain. Eisenberg recalled how he and Stone met on the set of Zombieland in 2009, and how she has supported his writing ever since, despite being “the most famous person I know.” He described her as more than a producer, calling her a “fairy godmother,” joking that he’s been “riding the coattails of her goodwill.”
The camera then cut to Stone, visibly moved and teary-eyed in the audience. Stone and her husband, Dave McCary, produce through their company Fruit Tree, which was behind Problemista and Fantasmas, as well as Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow.
I Saw the TV Glow entered the evening tied with Anora with six nominations but only won one award, for producer Sarah Winshall.