Molly Shannon Named Honorary Chair of 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards; Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michelle Yeoh, Patti LuPone and More Set to Present

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michelle Yeoh, Patti LuPone, and more to join Molly Shannon as presenters on February 22

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization dedicated to fostering independence and inclusivity in visual storytelling, announced this morning that Molly Shannon will serve as honorary chair at the 2025 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.

Joining Molly Shannon presenting the awards will be an iconic lineup headlined by Tadanobu Asano, Carrie Coon, Danielle Deadwyler, Mark & Jay Duplass, Walton Goggins, Kathryn Hahn, Alana Haim, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Patti LuPone, Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Lyonne, Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ruth Negga, Karen Pittman, Questlove, Edgar Ramirez, Hunter Schafer, Randy & Jason Sklar, Julio Torres, Jessica Williams and Michelle Yeoh, with more to be announced before the show.

The honorary chair and presenters will reveal the award recipients at the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 22 at 2pm PST. The Spirit Awards, this year celebrating its 40th anniversary, is Film Independent’s largest annual celebration, making year-round programming for filmmakers and film-loving audiences possible, while amplifying the voices of independent storytellers and celebrating their diversity, originality and uniqueness of vision.

40th Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations: ‘Anora,’ ‘I Saw the TV Glow,’ ‘Shōgun,’ ‘English Teacher’ Lead

A renowned actress and comedian of stage, television and film, Molly Shannon spent six seasons as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, for which she earned an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.” Recently on television she has also appeared in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Max’s The Other Two, Max’s The White Lotus and Showtime’s I Love that For You, for which she was nominated for a 2023 Film Independent Spirit Award for “Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series.” On screen she has been recently seen in Zach Braff’s A Good Person, opposite Carrey Mulligan in the Academy Award-winning Promising Young Woman and in the highly acclaimed drama Other People, for which she won a 2017 Spirit Award for “Best Supporting Actress.”
 
Past Honorary Chairs include Javier Bardem, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Jessica Chastain, Robert Duvall, Ava DuVernay, Jodie Foster, Lily Gladstone, Siân Heder, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, Julianne Moore, David Oyelowo, Martin Scorsese, Kerry Washington and Chloé Zhao.

Film Independent Spirit Awards are supported by Premier Sponsor Lavazza Coffee, Principal Sponsor IMDbPro and Official Partners Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, FIJI Water and Miraval. Easterseals Disability Services is the accessibility partner. Hotel Casa del Mar and The Georgian are the Official Hotels. Pentagram is the Visual Branding Partner. Getty Images is the Official Photographer. Vision Media is the exclusive screening partner. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Caffeine Post, Cast & Crew, eTech Rentals, Illuminar and Town and Country Event Rentals are Official Providers.

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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