Film Independent's big awards show, the Independent Spirit Awards, has come to a close, but not without honoring the best work in independent film.
Cinema legend Angés Varda and JR won Best Documentary for Faces Places, while newcomer Matt Spicer won Best First Feature for his film Ingrid Goes West. To honor her outstanding ensemble cast, Dee Rees accepted the Robert Altman Award for her film Mudbound, and Antonio Méndez Esparza's Life and Nothing More took the John Cassavetes Award, which honors features made for under $500K.
Several major Oscar contenders took home big awards, including Call Me by Your Name's Timothée Chalamet for Best Male Lead and DP Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for Best Cinematography, Lady Bird's Greta Gerwig for Best Screenplay, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri's Frances McDormand for Best Female Lead and Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Male.
But tonight's big winner for Best Feature went to Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, who also won for Best Director. And if the last four years of Independent Spirit Awards history has taught us anything, it's that this film has a really good chance of going on to win the Oscar.
Without further ado, here is the list of winners of the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards. (Winners in bold.)
Best Feature
- Call Me by Your Name (Producers: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory, Howard Rosenman)
- The Florida Project (Producers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Duncan, Alex Saks, Francesca Silvestri, Shih-Ching Tsou)
- Get Out (Producers: Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele) [WINNER]
- Lady Bird (Producers: Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill, Scott Rudin)
- The Rider (Producers: Mollye Asher, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Chloé Zhao)
Want to know more about these nominees?
- 'The Florida Project': Sean Baker on Why You Need to Invest in Yourself When No One Else Will
- How Werner Herzog-Approved 'The Rider' Director 'Got Creative' Financing Her Exquisite Cannes Premiere
- 'Lady Bird': Greta Gerwig on Why a Screenwriter's Job is to Listen as Much as to Write
- 'Get Out': Jordan Peele Reveals How to Get from Sketch Comedy to Knockout First Feature
'Call Me by Your Name': Luca Guadagnino on Finding a New Take on the World's Oldest Story
'Get Out'
Best Director
- Sean Baker, The Florida Project
- Jonas Carpignano, A Ciambra
- Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name
- Jordan Peele, Get Out [WINNER]
- Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie, Good Time
- Chloé Zhao, The Rider
Want to know more about these nominees?
'Get Out'
Best First Feature
- Columbus (Director: Kogonada)
- Ingrid Goes West (Director: Matt Spicer) [WINNER]
- Menashe (Director/Producer: Joshua Z. Weinstein
- Oh Lucy! (Director/Producer: Atsuko Hirayanagi
- Patti Cake$ (Director: Geremy Jasper)
Want to know more about these nominees?
- 'Columbus': Video Essayist Kogonada on His Stunning Feature Debut and Why Critics Should Make Movies
- Why Making a Film is the Only Thing That Can Ever Really Prepare You For Your First Film [PODCAST]
- How an Unlikely Yiddish Indie Became A24's First Foreign Language Acquisition [PODCAST]
'Ingrid Goes West'
Best Female Lead
- Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
- Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [WINNER]
- Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
- Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
- Shinobu Terajima, Oh Lucy!
- Regina Williams, Life and Nothing More
Best Male Lead
- Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name [WINNER]
- Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats
- James Franco, The Disaster Artist
- Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
- Robert Pattinson, Good Time
Want to know more about these nominees?
- 'Realize What You Want to Accomplish': Tommy Wiseau Has (Some) Incredibly Sane Advice
- 'Beach Rats': Sundance-Winning Director Eliza Hittman on Shooting Her Sexy, Controversial 16mm Movie
Timothée Chalamet in 'Call Me By Your Name'
Best Supporting Female
- Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
- Allison Janney, I, Tonya [WINNER]
- Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
- Lois Smith, Marjorie Prime
- Taliah Lennice Webster, Good Time
Want to learn more about these nominees?
- How Michael Showalter Turned Rejection Into a Successful Directing Career
- Discover How 'Crown Heights' Director Matt Ruskin Went From IFP to Winning Sundance
Allison Janney in 'I, Tonya'
Best Supporting Male
- Nnamdi Asomugha, Crown Heights
- Armie Hammer, Call Me by Your Name
- Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
- Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [WINNER]
- Benny Safdie, Good Time
Want to know more about these nominees?
Best Screenplay
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird [WINNER]
- Azazel Jacobs, The Lovers
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
- Mike White, Beatriz at Dinner
Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig on 'Lady Bird' set
Best First Screenplay
- Kris Avedisian (Story By: Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman), Donald Cried
- Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick [WINNER]
- Ingrid Jungermann, Women Who Kill
- Kogonada, Columbus
- David Branson Smith & Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West
Want to learn more about these nominees?
- How to Turn a Short into a SXSW Feature: Kris Avedisian's 'Donald Cried'
- How to Make Comedy Cinematic: Ingrid Jungermann's 'Women Who Kill'
'The Big Sick'
Best Cinematography
- Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name [WINNER]
- Thimios Bakatakis, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
- Elisha Christian, Columbus
- Hélène Louvart, Beach Rats
- Joshua James Richards, The Rider
Best Editing
- Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Good Time
- Walter Fasano, Call Me by Your Name
- Alex O’Flinn, The Rider
- Gregory Plotkin, Get Out
- Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya [WINNER]
'Call Me By Your Name'
John Cassavetes Award
- Dayveon (Writer/Director/Producer Amman Abbasi)
- A Ghost Story (Writer/Director: David Lowery)
- Life and Nothing More (Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza) [WINNER]
- Most Beautiful Island (Writer/Director/Producer: Ana Asensio)
- The Transfiguration (Writer/Director: Michael O’Shea)
Want to know more about these nominees?
- How 3 First-Time Directors Took Different Paths to Sundance
- Take a Break from Super Wide — Portrait Film 'Dayveon' Shows 4:3 is Still Relevant
- Why David Lowery Almost Killed 'A Ghost Story,' Summer 2017's Best Movie
- SXSW Grand Jury Prize Winner 'Most Beautiful Island': Shooting a Gripping Low-Budge Thriller on Super 16
- 'The Transfiguration': How Michael O'Shea Went from Cab Driver to Neo-Realist Vampire Horror Auteur
'Life and Nothing More'
Robert Altman Award
Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan
Want to know more about Mudbound? Check out our coverage of the film here.
Mary J. Blige and Dee Rees on the set of 'Mudbound'
Best Documentary
- The Departure, Director/Producer: Lana Wilson
- Faces Places, Directors: Agnés Varda & JR [WINNER]
- Last Men in Aleppo, Director: Feras Fayyad
- Motherland, Director/Producer: Ramona S. Diaz
- Quest, Director: Jonathan Olshefski
Want to know more about these nominees?
- 'The Departure': When Film is a Life-and-Death Experience
- New Wave Crash Course: Agnès Varda’s Personal Film School
- Sundance-Winning 'Last Men in Aleppo': Making Cinema Amid Chaos and War
- 'Motherland': Ramona Diaz on the Many ‘Leaps of Faith’ That Got Her Film Into Sundance and Theaters
- 'QUEST': How a Director Shepherded His 10-Year Production Into Theatrical Release
'Faces Places'
Best International Film
- BPM (Beats Per Minute), Director: Robin Campillo, France
- A Fantastic Woman, Director: Sebastián Lelio, Chile [WINNER]
- I Am Not a Witch, Director: Rungano Nyoni, Zambia
- Lady Macbeth, Director: William Oldroyd, U.K.
- Loveless, Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia
Want to know more about these nominees?
'A Fantastic Woman'
Truer Than Fiction Award
- Shevaun Mizrahi, Distant Constellation
- Jonathan Olshefski, Quest [WINNER]
- Jeff Unay, The Cage Fighter
Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award
- Amman Abbasi, Dayveon
- Justin Chon, Gook [WINNER]
- Kevin Phillips, Super Dark Times
Want to learn more about these nominees?
'Gook'
Piaget Producers Award
- Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim
- Ben LeClair
- Summer Shelton [WINNER]
Bonnie Award
- So Yong Kim
- Lynn Shelton
- Chloé Zhao [WINNER]
Seattle Story Award
- Matty Brown [WINNER]
