Awards Season 2022: Independent Spirit Awards Winners

[As it turns out, I had enough time to put this update out before heading off to Brighton. Least you don't have to wait a week for these results.] 

Last night (Sunday 6th March) the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards took place. As I'm sure you all know by now, they recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system. 

The awards were handed out in an in-person event at the traditional beachside tent in Santa Monica, hosted by husband-and-wife team Nick Offerman (Parks And Recreation) and Megan Mullally (Will & Grace). Things almost feel back to how they were BC (Before COVID) with one exception: instead of one day before the Oscars, the Spirit Awards were being held three weeks before. Not sure whether this will be a permanent change or if it's just for this year. 

Here's a full list of winners. 

Best Feature: The Lost Daughter

Best Female Lead: Taylour Paige (Zola)

Best Male Lead: Simon Rex (Red Rocket)

Best Supporting Female: Ruth Negga (Passing)

Best Supporting Male: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Best Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)

Best Screenplay: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)

Best First Screenplay: Michael Sarnoski and Vanessa Block (Pig)

Best Cinematography: Passing

Best Editing: Zola

Best First Feature: 7 Days

Best International Film: Drive My Car

Best Documentary: Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

John Cassavetes Award: Shiva Baby

Robert Altman Award: Mass

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

The Lost Daughter leads the winners with three awards, whilst Zola and Passing each get two. 

Congratulations to all winners!

We've got an awards-heavy weekend coming up, with the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) on Saturday 12th March, followed by the BAFTA Film Awards AND the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday 13th March. 

Awards Season 2022: BAFTA Film Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 75th British Academy (BAFTA) Film Awards were announced this afternoon, by Tom Allen (Bake Off: The Professionals, Live At The Apollo) and A.J. Odudu (Big Brother's Bit On The Side, Strictly Come Dancing) at the organisation's newly redeveloped London headquarters, BAFTA195 Piccadilly.

Like last year's announcement, this year's took place at a much more agreeable time of 12:10pm. After a couple of technical issues, and a lot of cringy "banter", nominees in several major categories were announced. 

Here's a selection of the nominees:

BEST FILM

Belfast

Don't Look Up

Dune

Licorice Pizza

The Power of the Dog

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

After Love

Ali & Ava

Belfast

Boiling Point

Cyrano

Everybody's Talking About Jamie

House of Gucci

Last Night in Soho

No Time To Die

Passing

LEADING ACTOR

Adeel Akhtar (Ali & Ava)

Mahershala Ali (Swan Song)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up)

Stephen Graham (Boiling Point)

Will Smith (King Richard)

LEADING ACTRESS 

Lady Gaga (House of Gucci)

Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza)

Emilia Jones (CODA)

Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)

Joanna Scanlan (After Love)

Tessa Thompson (Passing)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mike Faist (West Side Story)

Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)

Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Woody Norman (C’mon C’mon)

Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)

Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Caitríona Balfe (Belfast)

Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)

Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Ann Dowd (Mass)

Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Ruth Negga (Passing)

DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)

Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Audrey Diwan (Happening)

Julia Ducournau (Titane)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)

Aleem Khan (After Love)

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

As they did last year, BAFTA had previously announced longlists for all categories, so you can see what was in contention for nominations here. 

Dune leads the field with 11 nominations across all categories, with The Power Of The Dog in second with 8.

Some interesting omissions- notably Olivia Colman, Andrew Garfield and Kirsten Dunst in the acting categories, and Kenneth Branagh in Best Director- although I don't think this will affect their Oscar chances too greatly. I was happy to see Aaron Sorkin's script for Being The Ricardos recognised in the Best Original Screenplay category, and Everybody's Talking About Jamie in Outstanding British Film. 

The nominees for the 2022 Rising Star award - the only BAFTA awarded by public vote- have also been announced: this year's nominees are Ariana DeBose, Harris Dickinson, Lashana Lynch, Millicent Simmonds, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Find out more about them, and cast your vote here.

The 75th BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out on Sunday 13th March 2022 in an in-person ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, with Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect, Bridesmaids) taking hosting duties. 

[Somewhat awkwardly, this is also the date that the rescheduled Critics Choice Awards will also take place.]

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 (7th February) and the Oscars on Tuesday (8th February).

I'll be making my Oscar nomination predictions as usual; expect them at some point on Monday.