39th Spirit Awards set late February 2024 show date

The 39th annual Spirit Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 25, 2024 in Los Angeles it was announced today by Film Independent.

The date is a full week earlier than last year’s March bow, which marked a big move for the show which had traditionally held its ceremony on the Saturday before the Oscars. The move, like last season’s, puts the Spirit Awards directly in the middle of Oscar voting once again, making it a serious precursor in the awards race.

Another break from tradition last year was the loss of IFC as the awards’ live television presentation, which was instead streamed on YouTube. The move was met with running jokes by 2023 host Hasan Minhaj, including skits involving Abbott Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson watching the Will Ferrell-starrer Semi-Pro on an iPad, the film IFC chose to air instead of running the Spirit Awards.

Last season’s Spirit Awards was packed with more firsts, including a switch to gender neutral acting categories, as well as the introduction of a Best Breakthrough Performance award and Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series award. 

A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once went on to break Spirit Awards records, the studio’s biggest box office hit ever, was the best in field with eight nods including Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay (The Daniels) and three acting nominations: Michelle Yeah in Lead plus Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis in Supporting. The film made Indie Spirits history by sweeping and taking home seven wins (the only loss being Curtis losing to Quan in the Supporting Performance category). The film would then go on to win the Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.