39th Film Independent Spirit Awards: ‘Past Lives’ Takes Home Top Award, ‘Beef’ Continues Television Domination

This year’s Independent Spirit Awards found Celine Song’s Past Lives taking home two awards, including the top award for Best Feature, while The Last of Us and Beef both took home two awards on the television side. Aidy Bryant hosted the show, referring to it as the “bisexual Oscars” and, at one point, donning an oversized t-shirt dedicated to May December‘s Charles Melton.

Best First Screenplay went to Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik for May December, while Best Screenplay went to Cord Jefferson for his adaptation of American Fiction. Best First Feature was awarded to A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, for which Teyana Taylor was also nominated in the Best Lead Performance category (losing to American Fiction‘s Jeffrey Wright). Past Lives won the aforementioned Best Feature award, also taking home Best Director for Celine Song.

The Robert Altman Award, given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast, was awarded to Showing Up with Director Kelly Reichardt, Casting Director Gayle Keller and the Ensemble Cast of André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams receiving the honor. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honor of legendary director Robert Altman, known for populating his films with extraordinary ensemble casts.

The ensemble cast of Jury Duty was named Best Ensemble Cast for a New Series, a juried award, no less. The ensemble cast includes Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams.

New to the television categories is Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series, honoring actors making themselves known to wider audiences through noteworthy character portrayals. The nominees were Clark Backo for The Changeling, Aria Mia Loberti for All the Light We Cannot See, Adjani Salmon for Dreaming Whilst Black, Keivonn Montreal Woodard for The Last of Us and Kara Young for I’m a Virgo. Keivonn Montreal Woodard took home the award for his performance in HBO’s video game adaptation. Other television winners included Ali Wong for her performance in Beef, right after her SAG win just last night, and Nick Offerman in the Best Supporting Performance in a New Series category for his work in the third episode of The Last of Us. Beef took home the top television award of the night for Best New Scripted Series.

Lily Gladstone serves as the honorary chair at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The honorary chair position is given each year to an individual who exemplifies outstanding artistic achievement and embodies Film Independent’s mission. In addition to serving in this role, Gladstone is also nominated for a Spirit Award as a writer on the film The Unknown Country, for which she won the Gotham Award for Best Lead Performance in November.

Right outside the tent, protesting could be heard in favor of a “Free Palestine,” with Kyle Buchanon of the New York Times reporting that security attempted to block chants by moving a bus in front of the protestors. Film critic Tomris Laffly was able to speak to one of the protestors, Vivian Wiseman, about disrupting awards events to keep a light on the events happening in Palestine. Wiseman told Laffly, “We want everyone to know that the activists and the people who care are going to disrupt them wherever they go because we believe in love, we believe in peace, and we believe in liberation of the Palestinian people.”

This year paid special tribute to the 30^th anniversary of Film Independent’s innovative and influential Artist Development program, which supports creative voices and diverse perspectives in film and television by giving filmmakers the resources they need to advance their projects and build sustainable careers. Artists who have received support from the Artist Development program include Elegance Bratton (The Inspector), Siân Heder (CODA), Justin Simien (Dear White People), Lulu Wang (The Farewell) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland).

Here is the complete list of nominations for the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards.

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)
 
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
 
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
 
May December
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon
 
Passages
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd
 
Past Lives — WINNER
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
 
We Grown Now
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro
 
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)
 
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Director: Raven Jackson
Producers: Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski
 
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Director: Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Producers: Gewan Brown, Amanda Freedman
 
Earth Mama
Director/Producer: Savanah Leaf
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Shirley O’Connor, Medb Riordan, Cody Ryder
 
A Thousand and One. — WINNER
Director: A.V. Rockwell
Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston
 
Upon Entry
Directors: Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Producers: Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, Xosé Zapata
 
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer)
 
The Artifice Girl
Director/Writer: Franklin Ritch
Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead
 
Cadejo Blanco
Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Lerner
Producers: Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, Jack Patrick Hurley
 
Fremont — WINNER
Director/Writer: Babak Jalali
Writer: Carolina Cavalli
Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner
 
Rotting in the Sun
Director/Writer: Sebastián Silva
Writer: Pedro Peirano
Producer: Jacob Wasserman
 
The Unknown Country
Director/Writer/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer: Lily Gladstone
Writers/Producers: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Vanara Taing
Producers: Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, Tommy Heitkamp
 
BEST DIRECTOR 
 
Andrew Haigh
All of Us Strangers
 
Todd Haynes
May December
 
William Oldroyd
Eileen
 
Ira Sachs
Passages
 
Celine Song — WINNER
Past Lives
 
BEST SCREENPLAY 
 
David Hemingson
The Holdovers
 
Cord Jefferson — WINNER
American Fiction
 
Laura Moss, Brendan J. O’Brien
Birth/Rebirth
 
Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
Bottoms
 
Celine Song
Past Lives
 
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY 
 
Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik — WINNER
May December
 
Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt
Theater Camp
 
Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
 
Laurel Parmet
The Starling Girl
 
Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Upon Entry
 
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE 
 
Jessica Chastain
Memory
 
Greta Lee
Past Lives
 
Trace Lysette
Monica
 
Natalie Portman
May December
 
Judy Reyes
Birth/Rebirth
 
Franz Rogowski
Passages
 
Andrew Scott
All of Us Strangers
 
Teyana Taylor
A Thousand and One
 
Jeffrey Wright — WINNER
American Fiction
 
Teo Yoo
Past Lives
 
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE 
 
Erika Alexander
American Fiction
 
Sterling K. Brown
American Fiction
 
Noah Galvin
Theater Camp
 
Anne Hathaway
Eileen
 
Glenn Howerton
BlackBerry
 
Marin Ireland
Eileen
 
Charles Melton
May December
 
Da’Vine Joy Randolph — WINNER
The Holdovers
 
Catalina Saavedra
Rotting in the Sun
 
Ben Whishaw
Passages
 
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
 
Marshawn Lynch
Bottoms
 
Atibon Nazaire
Mountains
 
Tia Nomore
Earth Mama
 
Dominic Sessa — WINNER
The Holdovers
 
Anaita Wali Zada
Fremont
 
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 
 
Katelin Arizmendi
Monica
 
Eigil Bryld — WINNER
The Holdovers
 
Jomo Fray
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
 
Pablo Lozano
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
 
Pat Scola
We Grown Now
 
BEST EDITING 
 
Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz, Sofía Subercaseaux
Rotting in the Sun
 
Stephanie Filo
We Grown Now
 
Daniel Garber — WINNER
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
 
Jon Philpot
Theater Camp
 
Emanuele Tiziani
Upon Entry
 
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast
 
Showing Up
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Casting Director: Gayle Keller
Ensemble Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams
 
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
 
Bye Bye Tiberias
Director: Lina Soualem
Producer: Jean-Marie Nizan
 
Four Daughters — WINNER
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha
 
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Directors/Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
Producer: Tommy Oliver
 
Kokomo City
Director: D. Smith
Producers: Bill Butler, Harris Doran
 
The Mother of All Lies
Director/Producer: Asmae El Moudir
 
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
 
Anatomy of a Fall — WINNER
France
Director: Justine Triet
 
Godland
Denmark/Iceland
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
 
Mami Wata
Nigeria
Director: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
 
Tótem
Mexico
Director: Lila Avilés
 
The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom, Poland, USA
Director: Jonathan Glazer
 
PRODUCERS AWARD presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 27th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.
 
Rachael Fung
 
Graham Swon
 
Monique Walton — WINNER
 
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD  – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 30th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.
 
Joanna Arnow
Director of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
 
Laura Moss
Director of Birth/Rebirth
 
Monica Sorelle — WINNER
Director of Mountains
 
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 29th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.
 
Set Hernandez — WINNER
Director of unseen
 
Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli
Director of Lakota Nation vs. United States
 
Sierra Urich
Director of Joonam
 
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
 
Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court
Executive Producers: Vinnie Malhotra, Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, Dawn Porter
 
Dear Mama — WINNER
Executive Producers: Lasse Järvi, Quincy ‘QD3’ Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel ‘Future’ Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair
 
Murder in Big Horn
Executive Producers: Matthew Galkin, Vinnie Malhotra
Co-Executive Producers: Lisa Kalikow, Joshua Levine
 
Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence
Executive Producers: Mindy Goldberg, Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Zach Heinzerling, Krista Parris, Daniel Barban Levin, Felicia Rosario
Co-Executive Producer: Julie Gaither
 
Wrestlers
Executive Producers: Greg Whiteley, Ryan O’Dowd
Co-Executive Producers: Alejandro Melendez, Adam Leibowitz
 
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
 
Beef — WINNER
Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin
Executive Producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich
Co-Executive Producers: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper
 
Dreaming Whilst Black
Creator/Executive Producer: Adjani Salmon
Creators: Maximilian Evans, Natasha Jatania, Laura Seixas
Executive Producers: Tanya Qureshi, Dhanny Joshi, Bal Samra, Thomas Stogdon
 
I’m a Virgo
Creator/Executive Producer: Boots Riley
Executive Producers: Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Jharrel Jerome, Rebecca Rivo
Co-Executive Producers: Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski
 
Jury Duty
Creators/Executive Producers: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Executive Producers: David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Cody Heller, Todd Schulman, Jake Szymanski, Andrew Weinberg
 
Slip
Creator/Executive Producer: Zoe Lister-Jones
Executive Producers: Ro Donnelly, Dakota Johnson, Katie O’Connell Marsh, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg
 
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
 
Emma Corrin
A Murder at the End of the World
 
Dominique Fishback
Swarm
 
Betty Gilpin
Mrs. Davis
 
Jharrel Jerome
I’m a Virgo
 
Zoe Lister-Jones
Slip
 
Bel Powley
A Small Light
 
Bella Ramsey
The Last of Us
 
Ramón Rodríguez
Will Trent
 
Ali Wong — WINNER
Beef
 
Steven Yeun
Beef
 
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
 
Murray Bartlett
The Last of Us
 
Billie Eilish
Swarm
 
Jack Farthing
Rain Dogs
 
Nick Offerman — WINNER
The Last of Us
 
Adina Porter
The Changeling
 
Lewis Pullman
Lessons in Chemistry
 
Benny Safdie
The Curse
 
Luke Tennie
Shrinking
 
Olivia Washington
I’m a Virgo
 
Jessica Williams
Shrinking
 
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
 
Clark Backo
The Changeling
 
Aria Mia Loberti
All the Light We Cannot See
 
Adjani Salmon
Dreaming Whilst Black
 
Keivonn Montreal Woodard — WINNER
The Last of Us
 
Kara Young
I’m a Virgo
 
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
 
Jury Duty
Ensemble Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams