“Spotlight” was the big winner at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, as Hollywood’s debate over diversity also took center stage.
Tom McCarthy’sa tale of the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal and the newspaper investigation that uncovered it scored best feature, director, screenplay and editing prizes at the annual indie-movie ceremony in Santa Monica, as well as the previously announced ensemble-oriented Robert Altman Award.
“It is very rare to make a film that has impacted the world as significantly as this one has,” said “Spotlight” producer Michael Sugar upon accepting the feature prize. “By honoring it,” he added, “more lives can be spared from abuse.”
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Co-screenwriter Josh Singer, accepting the writing prize with McCarthy, paid tribute to abuse survivor Phil Saviano, who was given a huge standing ovation. Many of the real-life Boston Globe journalists portrayed in the film also were at the show and took the stage for the final prize.
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Idris Elba, hosts Kumail Nanjiani, left, and Kate McKinnon and Cate Blanchett at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica.
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Producer Michael Sugar (at podium) accepts the Feature award for “Spotlight” onstage with members of the film’s cast and crew, as well as some of the real people depicted in the film, during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Actress Brie Larson accepts the lead actress award for “Room.”
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Mel Eslyn accepts the Piaget producers award.
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Actor Abraham Attah accepts the lead actor award for “Beasts of No Nation.”
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Director Laszlo Nemes accepts the award for International Film for “Son of Saul.”
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Actress Mya Taylor accepts the award for supporting female for her role in “Tangerine.”
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“Carol” actresses Cate Blanchett, left, and Rooney Mara present an award.
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Producers Wilson Smith and Jonathan R. Chan, actresses Krisha Fairchild and Robyn Fairchild, and director Trey Edward Shults (at lectern) accept the John Cassavetes Award for “Krisha.”
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Mark Ruffalo speaks at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Tom McCarthy, center, and the cast and crew of “Spotlight” accept the Robert Altman award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Emilia Clarke and Nate Parker present the award for best first feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Marielle Heller, second from right, and the cast and crew of “Diary of a Teenage Girl” accept the award for best first feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Ken Jeong, left, and Keegan-Michael Key present the award for best cinematography.
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Ed Lachman is presented with the award for best cinematography for “Carol” at the Film Independent Spirit Awards by Ken Jeong, center, and Keegan-Michael Key.
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Musician Robert Schwartzman, left, and the band Rooney perform onstage during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Tom Mcardle accepts the award for best editing for “Spotlight” at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Marissa Tomei and Jay Duplass present the award for best editing at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Actress Patricia Arquette speaks onstage.
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Idris Elba, left, accepts the award for best supporting male for “Beasts of No Nation” with Abraham Attah, with Patricia Arquette in the background.
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Actresses Jessica Biel, left, and Bel Powley speak onstage during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
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Kumail Nanjiani and Kate McKinnon host the Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif.
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Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett and Paul Dano at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica.
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“Room” actress Brie Larson
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Actress Emilia Clarke
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Actor Michael Keaton
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Ben Mendelsohn, Jessica Chastain, and Jay Duplass are a few of the attendees to the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards.
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Actor Anthony Mackie
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Actress Patricia Arquette and Eric White
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The hosts, actress Kate McKinnon and comedian Kumail Nanjiani, arrive at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California.
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Rooney Mara at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica.
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Frieda Pinto
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Nikki Reed, from left, Retta and Mischa Barton
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From left, Ian Somerhalder; director Tom McCarthy with actress Wendy Merry; and Charlie Kaufman
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Jenni Lowe-Anker, left, Elizabeth Chan and climber Jimmy Chin
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“Mr. Robot” actor Rami Malek
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Alexis Mixter and Jason Segel
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Jessica Biel
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Film director Mark Duplass
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J.K. Simmons
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Marisa Tomei
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Jacob Tremblay
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Cynthia Nixon
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Blogger Kristina Bazan
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Netflix executive Ted Sarandos and Sarah Sarandos
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Katie Aselton
(Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) But it was the issue of diversity that was often on the minds of Spirit attendees. Presenters and hosts made a number of comments related to racial and sexual diversity, and “Beasts of No Nation” stars Abraham Attah and Idris Elba won the two male acting prizes.
“Maybe it’s not the old classic Hollywood, but it is damn straight the Hollywood of today,” said black trans star Mya Taylor of her L.A.-set film “Tangerine,” a streetwise buddy dramedy, as she presented a clip.
Later, Taylor won the prize for supporting female and exhorted filmmakers in the room to think more broadly in making their casting decisions.
“There’s very beautiful trans talent. You got to get out there and put it in your next movie,” she said.
Meanwhile, Elba, whose Academy Awards snub helped renew momentum for the #OscarsSoWhite movement, took the Spirit prize for supporting male, while Attah notched the win for male lead. The awards offered a validation of sorts for the movie, released by Netflix, and provided a sharp rebuff to the Oscars for overlooking films with black casts.
Attah, a Ghanaian teenager who had never acted in a film before, gave an endearing speech in which he earnestly thanked a list of people, including his agent and costume designer; he generated the warmest response of the day.
Elba did not reference #OscarsSoWhite in his acceptance speech -- he instead paid deference to Netflix and Attah. But others were less demure.
Spirit Awards co-host Kate McKinnon began the show by saying: “We’re going to cuss. We’re going to flash some nip. We’re going to nominate some people who aren’t white.”
Her fellow host Kumail Nanjiani added that the Spirit Awards were “more diverse than the brochure of a liberal-arts college.”
Film Independent president Josh Welsh hailed the awards for “talent on-screen and talent on-camera look[ing] somewhat like the world we actually live in.”
And Nate Parker, the director behind the Sundance race-themed phenom “Birth of a Nation,” presented the award for first feature, garnering an enthusiastic response from the room. “Birth” is expected to contend in a number of Spirit categories next year.
The Spirits are one of the preeminent independent-film awards ceremonies, honoring movies made for approximately $20 million or fewer. In recent years, winners have prefigured the Oscars, especially for best feature, which last year went to eventual Oscar winner “Birdman.” Though there is very little overlap between the Spirits and Oscars voting bodies, three of the past four best feature winners in Santa Monica on Saturday went on to take best picture at the Dolby on Sunday.
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The cast and crew of “Spotlight,” which won the Spirit Award for best feature.
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Brie Larson with her Spirit Award for female lead for her performance in “Room.”
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Abraham Attah with his Spirit Award for male lead for his performance in “Beasts of No Nation.”
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Idris Elba holds up his Spirit Award for supporting male actor.
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Mya Taylor of “Tangerine” won the Spirit Award for supporting female.
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“Spotlight’s” Tom McCarthy won the Spirit Award for director.
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The international film Spirit Award winners from “Son of Saul.”
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Tom McCarthy, left, and Josh Singer with their screenplay Spirit Awards for “Spotlight.”
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Piaget Producers Award winner Mel Eslyn.
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Emma Donoghue with her Spirit Award for first screenplay.
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Spirit Award for documentary winners Joshua Oppenheimer, left, Adi and Signe Byrge Sørensen of “The Look of Silence.”
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Director Tom McCarthy, third from the left, and the Robert Altman Award winners from “Spotlight.”
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Spirit Award for first feature winners from “The Diary of a Teenage Girl.”
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The John Cassavetes Award winners from the film “Krisha.”
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Ed Lachman with his Spirit Award for cinematography for his work on “Carol.”
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Idris Elba with his Spirit Award for supporting male actor.
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Emma Donoghue with her Spirit Award for first screenplay.
(Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) “Spotlight” is perceived to be in a heated battle with two other films, “The Revenant” and “The Big Short,” for Oscar best picture; neither of those movies were eligible for Spirits.
In keeping with the show’s history, a loose vibe permeated the room. The ceremony included a series of parodies from McKinnon and Manjiani of “Room” and “Carol,” and an extended conceptual bit in which McKinnon played a slovenly “Anomalisa” Kickstarter funder who just came to the show to kiss Paul Dano. (He played along, and then some.)
The day was also filled with a trademark Spirits mix of self-deprecating humor about indie film and sincere calls-to-action against Big Hollywood homogeneity.
“We need companies like this right now that will step up when other studios won’t tell stories like this,” McCarthy said of “Spotlight” distributor Open Road Film as he accepted the Altman prize.
Other winners Saturday included “Room” scribe Emma Donoghue for first screenplay; Marielle Heller’s “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” for first feature; Joshua Oppenheimer’s Indonesian massacre examination “The Look of Silence” for documentary; “Room” star Brie Larson for lead female; and Laszlo Nemes’ formally ambitious Holocaust movie “Son of Saul” for international film.
Nemes took a moment in accepting his prize to outline a forward-looking vision for independent cinema.
“The language of film, the grammar of film, is not something that’s stopped evolving,” the director said. “We want to explore.”
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