Film Independent announces Spirit Awards $25,000 grant winners: Alex Camilleri, Lizzie Shapiro and Jessica Beshir

Film Independent has named the winners of three unrestricted $25,000 Spirit Awards cash grants – $75,000 total. The three Grant recipients from 2021, Ekwa Msangi, Gerry Kim and Elegance Bratton, made the announcement this morning in an online video, along with Film Independent President Josh Welsh.

The winners are:

Alex Camilleri (Luzzu) received the Someone to Watch Award. The award recognizes talented filmmakers of singular vision who have not yet received appropriate recognition. The award is in its 28th year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Finalists for the award were Michael Sarnoski (Pig) and Gillian Wallace Horvat (I Blame Society). 

Lizzie Shapiro received the Producers Award. The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The annual award, in its 25th year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Finalists for the award were Brad Becker-Parton and Pin-Chun Liu.

Jessica Beshir (Faya Dayi) received the Truer Than Fiction Award. The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award is in its 27th year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Finalists for the award were Angelo Madsen Minax (North By Current) and Debbie Lum (Try Harder!).

“We are truly thrilled to announce our 2022 Emerging Filmmaker Grant recipients,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “With the announcement of these three new Grant recipients, we celebrate some of the most talented emerging writers, producers and directors working today in fiction and non-fiction. We can’t wait to see what they do next!”

Winners for the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be revealed in-person on March 6th in Santa Monica and will air exclusively on IFC and stream on AMC+ at 5 PM ET. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity in the industry. For the full list of nominees go here.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are supported by Premier Sponsor IFC; the Official Spirit, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey; the Official Non-Alcoholic Spirit, Seedlip; Official Water, FIJI Water and Official Beer, Stella Artois. Getty Images is the Official Photographer.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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