Another important awards show is in the books, with this evening marking the 41st Film Independent Spirit Awards, an important precursor to the Oscars. Netflix’s Train Dreams, a movie they acquired at Sundance last year, dominated many of the top categories, including Feature, Director, and Cinematography, while A24’s Sorry, Baby, which was also acquired at Sundance, took the Screenplay and Supporting Performance awards.
In fact, Sundance was very well represented, with Rose Byrne’s Lead Performance win coming for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which also premiered at the festival, as did Best First Feature winner Lurker, which was released by Mubi last summer. With this year’s Sundance acquisitions being pretty quiet, one has to wonder whether the festival will be as well represented next year.
As far as TV went, no surprises here, with Netflix’s breakout hit Adolescence dominating most of the major categories. Here are all the winners:
Best Feature – Train Dreams
Best Director – Clint Bentley, Train Dreams
Best Screenplay – Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby
Best Lead Performance – Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Best Supporting Performance – Naomi Ackie, Sorry, Baby
Best First Feature – Lurker
Best First Screenplay – Alex Russell, Lurker
Best International Film – The Secret Agent (Brazil)
Best Documentary – The Perfect Neighbor
Best Breakthrough Performance – Kayo Martin, The Plague
Best Cinematography – Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams
Best Editing – SofÃa Subercaseaux, The Testament of Ann Lee
John Cassavetes Award – Esta Isla (This Island)
Robert Altman Award – The Long Walk
Someone to Watch Award – Tatti Ribeiro
Truer Than Fiction Award – Rajee Samarasinghe
Producers Award – Tony Yang
Best New Scripted Series – Adolescence
Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series – Pee-wee as Himself
Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series – Stephen Graham, Adolescence
Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series – Chief of War
Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series – Erin Doherty, Adolescence
Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series – Owen Cooper, Adolescence
