Awards Season 2023: Independent Spirit Awards Winners

Last night (Saturday 4th March) the 38th Film Independent Spirit Awards- recognising films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system- took place.

Last year's ceremony took place three weeks before the Academy Awards (rather than its traditional Oscar Eve date). This year, it is taking place eight days before but- crucially- whilst the final stage of Oscars voting is still open (it closes on Tuesday 7th March).  

Streaming live via YouTube, the awards were handed out in an in-person event at the traditional white beachside tent in Santa Monica, with comedian Hasan Minhaj (Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj, The King's Jester, Homecoming King) hosting. 

Here's a full list of film winners. 

Best Feature: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Lead Performance: Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Performance: Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Screenplay: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best First Screenplay: John Patton Ford (Emily The Criminal)

Best Cinematography: Tár

Best Editing: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best First Feature: Aftersun

Best International Film: Joyland

Best Documentary: All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

John Cassavetes Award: The Cathedral

Robert Altman Award: Women Talking

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1 million (increased this year from $500,000) whilst the Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast of the movie, its director, and its casting director(s). 

With an astounding seven wins, Everything Everywhere All At Once made Spirit Awards history by winning the most awards for a single film ever. It also swept every category it was nominated for (gaining two nominations in the gender-neutral Best Supporting Performance category, with both Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis recognised for their performances). A frankly phenomenal achievement. 

Congratulations to all winners!

We're almost there, the summit is in sight. Next weekend is the big one- the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday 12th March. Prior to that, of course, there's the fun of the Razzies which have remained at their traditional Eve of the Giving Out of the Naked Little Golden Men. You certainly won't be hearing Everything Everywhere All At Once mentioned there...

 

Awards Season 2023: Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) Winners and BAFTA Film Awards Winners

After a quiet couple of weeks, we are back on the awards trail with both the Directors Guild Awards and the BAFTA Film Awards being handed out this weekend. So who were the big winners? Let's find out together, shall we?

DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

On Saturday (18th February), the Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) were handed out. The film winners are:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Films: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director: Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Sara Dosa (Fire Of Love)

The Daniels' win is a bit of a surprise, as I felt the high-concept what-the-everloving-fuck-is-going-on-now vibe of Everything Everywhere All At Once might have been too rich for the blood of the DGA voters, with Spielberg's thoughtful elegy to cinema The Fabelmans a much more likely candidate. Worth saying that- whilst the DGA is a fairly reliable precursor to the Best Director Oscar- it's not got a 100% conversion record, so Spielberg might still nab the Oscar, although this has put the Daniels very much in contention.  

BAFTA

This evening (19th February 2022), the 76th British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony, hosted for the first time by Richard E. Grant. 

Jamie Lee Curtis, Julianne Moore, Florence Pugh, Eddie Redmayne, Ke Huy Quan. Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Cate Blanchett. Bill Nighy, Sir Patrick Stewart, Emma Thompson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Viola Davis were among some of the stars in attendance to celebrate the best in film for 2022. 

Usually, the event is broadcast on the BBC with a time delay but for this year, there's a weird kind of hybrid thing going on where the final four awards of the evening (EE Rising Star, Leading Actor, Leading Actress, and Best Film) were broadcast live, whilst the rest of the ceremony was shown on a delay. 

Here's a full list of BAFTA winners.

Best Film: All Quiet On The Western Front

Outstanding British Film: The Banshees Of Inisherin

Leading Actor: Austin Butler (Elvis)

Leading Actress: Cate Blanchett (Tár)

Supporting Actor: Barry Keoghan (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Supporting Actress: Kerry Condon (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Director: Edward Berger (All Quiet On The Western Front)

Original Screenplay: The Banshees Of Inisherin

Adapted Screenplay: All Quiet On The Western Front

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Charlotte Wells (writer/director) (Aftersun) 

Animated Film: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Documentary: Navalny

Film Not In The English Language: All Quiet On The Western Front

Cinematography: All Quiet On The Western Front

Costume Design: Elvis

Editing: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Make Up And Hair: Elvis

Original Music: All Quiet On The Western Front

Production Design: Babylon

Sound: All Quiet On The Western Front

Special Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way Of Water

Casting: Elvis

Short Animation: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse

Short Film: An Irish Goodbye

Rising Star: Emma Mackey

BAFTA Fellowship: Sandy Powell

The big winner of the night was All Quiet On The Western Front with seven awards (including, somewhat surprisingly, Best Picture), with The Banshees Of Inisherin and Elvis taking home four apiece. 

I'm happy to see The Banshees Of Inisherin doing well (especially with the two Supporting acting wins), although it's been reported that there was a bit of a La La Land moment with Best Supporting Actress. Last year's Best Supporting Actor winner Troy Kotsur (CODA) presented the award using sign language... and his interpreter mistakenly said Carey Mulligan (who had been nominated in the same category for She Said) instead of Kerry Condon. This didn't make the TV broadcast, but a lot of news outlets picked it up nonetheless.

Congratulations to all winners!

There's more awards news coming up next weekend (25th/26th February 2023) with Producers Guild Awards (PGA) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) being handed out. 

Awards Season 2023: BAFTA Film Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 76th British Academy (BAFTA) Film Awards were announced this afternoon, by Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger, Christopher Robin) and Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso, The French Dispatch). Here's a selection of the nominees:

BEST FILM

All Quiet On The Western Front

The Banshees Of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Tár

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Aftersun

The Banshees Of Inisherin

Brian And Charles

Empire Of Light

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

Living

Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical

See How They Run

The Swimmers

The Wonder

LEADING ACTOR

Austin Butler (Elvis)

Colin Farrell (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Daryl McCormack (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande)

Paul Mescal (Aftersun)

Bill Nighy (Living)

LEADING ACTRESS 

Cate Blanchett (Tár)

Viola Davis (The Woman King)

Danielle Deadwyler (Till)

Ana de Armas (Blonde)

Emma Thompson (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande)

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Barry Keoghan (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse)

Albrecht Schuch (All Quiet On The Western Front)

Micheal Ward (Empire Of Light)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

Hong Chau (The Whale)

Kerry Condon (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Dolly de Leon (Triangle Of Sadness)

Carey Mulligan (She Said)

DIRECTOR

Edward Berger (All Quiet On The Western Front)

Todd Field (Tár)

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Martin McDonagh (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Park Chan-wook (Decision To Leave)

Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King)

A full list of nominees in all categories can be found here.

BAFTA previously announced longlists for all categories, so you can see what was in contention for nominations here.

All Quiet On The Western Front received a record-equalling 14 nominations across the board (it ties with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), whilst The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once got ten apiece. 

Very interesting to note that, whilst The Fabelmans was longlisted in several categories (including Best Film, and Best Actress [although not for Best Director]), it only received one nomination: Best Original Screenplay. I think it may fare better when the Oscar nominations are announced next week. I was also surprised not to see Olivia Colman's name in the Best Actress category for Empire Of Light - BAFTA always tend to skew towards British talent, so I thought she may be included. There was also nothing for Sarah Polley's Women Talking.

The nominees for the 2023 Rising Star award - the only BAFTA awarded by public vote- have also been announced: this year's nominees are Naomi Ackie, Sheila Atim, Emma Mackey, Daryl McCormack, and Aimee Lou Wood. Find out more about them, and cast your vote here.

The 76th BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out in just a month's time (on Sunday 19th February) in a ceremony at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated actor Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Withnail & I) will be hosting. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

We are getting to the sharp end of the awards nominations now, with the Razzies due to announce theirs on Monday (23rd January) and the Oscars on Tuesday (24th January). As has become tradition, my Oscar nomination predictions will follow sometime on Monday.

Awards Season 2023: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Today (Tuesday 22nd November) saw the announcement of the nominees for the 38th Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced by Taylour Paige (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Zola) and Raúl Castillo (The Inspection, Army Of The Dead).  

As you're probably aware by now, these awards recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system. From this year, the budget for eligible films has been increased to $30 million. 

Also, from this year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are making their acting categories (for both film and television) gender neutral; for the film awards, the categories will be Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance (with up to ten nominees in each category). 

Below is a selection of nominations:

Best Feature

Bones And All

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Our Father, The Devil

Tár

Women Talking

Best Director

Todd Field (Tár)

Kogonada (After Yang)

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Sarah Polley (Women Talking)

Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies)

Best Lead Performance

Cate Blanchett (Tár)

Dale Dickey (A Love Song)

Mia Goth (Pearl)

Regina Hall (Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul)

Paul Mescal (Aftersun)

Aubrey Plaza (Emily The Criminal)

Jeremy Pope (The Inspection)

Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie)

Taylor Russell (Bones And All)

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Performance

Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway)

Nina Hoss (Tár)

Brian d'Arcy James (The Cathedral)

Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Trevante Rhodes (Bruiser)

Theo Rossi (Emily The Criminal)

Mark Rylance (Bones And All)

Jonathan Tucker (Palm Trees And Power Lines)

Gabrielle Union (The Inspection)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Everything Everywhere All At Once leads the field with eight nominations; Tár has seven, whilst Aftersun has five. 

The Film Independent Spirit Awards will be given out in a ceremony on the Santa Monica beachfront on Saturday 4th March 2023.  

Congratulations to all nominees!

So, we are off again on the awards trail. Next stop is in a couple of weeks with the Golden Globe nominations.