The Film Independent Spirit Awards were held this past Saturday, and the ceremony was memorable not just because of the nominees and winners but because of the honorees’ celebration of women in cinema. Again and again, the women — and some men — who took home trophies used their speeches to recognize women.
This spreading of the love began on a droll, but honest, note during host Aubrey Plaza’s opening monologue. “I’m very proud to say that 60 percent of our director nominees are women,” she declared, referencing Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”), Debra Granik (“Leave No Trace”), and Lynne Ramsay’s (“You Were Never Really Here”) nods. “Don’t get too excited,” Plaza added, “in this case, 60 percent just means three women. But calling it 60 percent makes it sound way scarier to your uncles, and that’s fun for me,” she quipped. “That’s right, Uncle Jeff, women are taking over! We’re remaking ‘Cannonball Run’ with the cast of ‘Big Little Lies’!”
Glenn Close was named Best Female Lead for her turn as a frustrated but devoted spouse in “The Wife.” Accepting her award with her dog by her side, she remarked that she was “so, so honored” to be nominated along with Toni Collette (“Hereditary”), Carey Mulligan (“Wildlife”), Regina Hall (“Support the Girls”), Elsie Fisher (“Eighth Grade”), and Helena Howard (“Madeline’s Madeline”).
Close also shouted out the women who helped make “The Wife” possible during its 14-year journey to the screen. “I thank [screenwriter] Jane Anderson … for her beautiful words based on Meg Wolitzer’s novel,” she said. “Thank you to all our producers, Rosalie Swedlin and Embankment. Rosalie was in the trenches with this movie for a long, long time.” Close made special mention of her daughter, Annie Starke, who co-starred in the film as the younger version of her character, and “The Wife’s” editor, composer, and producers, most of whom are women. “I’m here for all of you and I wouldn’t be here without you, so thank you so much,” Close concluded.
Regina King and Bo Burnham, who won Best Supporting Female and Best First Screenplay, respectively, spotlighted their films’ female leads during their acceptance speeches. New Oscar winner King, recognized for her role as a loving, fiercely loyal mother in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” thanked her movie daughter, KiKi Layne, for “leading us all on this charge.” Burnham dedicated his win to “Elsie Fisher, Elsie Fisher, Elsie Fisher. I mean, she’s the entire reason I’m up here,” he emphasized. Fisher portrayed the shy, awkward middle schooler protagonist in Burnham’s “Eighth Grade.” “Working with you is the greatest creative experience of my life,” he told her, “I’m so lucky you found me.”
Burnham, who credited his partner, writer-director Lorene Scafaria, for inspiring him to get into filmmaking, also stressed the importance of telling young women’s stories. During his standup career, he was told very often that he “was like a comedian only for 13-year-old girls.” He recalled. “I’m like, ‘Fuck, yeah, I am!’ I feel really proud of that … Really, they deserve to be paid attention to and to be taken seriously.”
Nicole Holofcener, accepting the Best Screenplay prize with Jeff Whitty for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”, called helmer Marielle Heller up to the stage. “She did this little thing called directing this movie,” Holofcener praised. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter added that Film Independent’s recognition of “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “just proves that outlier characters who you would rather not spend time with, who aren’t likable, can still be entertaining and worthy of our love.” She dedicated the win to Lee Israel, a biographer-turned-literary forger whose story is the basis for the film. “I wish [Israel] could’ve been here even though she wouldn’t have been very nice to anybody,” Holofcener joked.
All of the female Indie Spirit Award winners are below. List adapted from Film Independent.
Best Feature:
If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
Producers: Dede Gardner, Barry Jenkins, Jeremy Kleiner, Sara Murphy,
Adele Romanski
Best Screenplay:
Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Best First Feature:
Sorry To Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
Director: Boots Riley
Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jonathan Duffy, Charles D. King, George Rush, Forest Whitaker, Kelly Williams
John Cassavetes Award (For best feature made under $500,000):
En El Séptimo Día (The Cinema Guild)
Writer/Director/Producer: Jim McKay
Producers: Alex Bach, Lindsey Cordero, Caroline Kaplan, Michael Stipe
Best Supporting Female:
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
Best Female Lead:
Glenn Close, The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics)
Robert Altman Award:
Suspiria (Amazon Studios)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Casting Directors Avy Kaufman and Stella Savino
Ensemble Cast: Malgosia Bela, Ingrid Caven, Lutz Ebersdorf, Elena Fouina, Mia Goth, Jessica Harper, Dakota Johnson, Gala Moody, Chloë Grace Moretz, Fabrizia Sacchi, Renée Soutendijk, Tilda Swinton, Sylvie Testud, Angela Winkler
Best Documentary:
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features)
Director/Producer: Morgan Neville
Producers: Caryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma
