The Lost Daughter has won Best Feature at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards. The film also picked up wins for Best Director and Best Screenplay for Maggie Gyllenhaal. Elsewhere, Simon Rex (Red Rocket) and Taylour Paige (Zola) took home Best Male Lead and Best Female Lead, respectively, while Troy Kotsur (CODA) and Ruth Negga (Passing) scored wins for Best Supporting Male and Best Supporting Female, respectively.
Fran Kranz’s Mass was honoured with the Robert Altman Award, which goes to a film’s director, casting directors, and cast, while Shiva Baby won the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for under $500,000. Summer of Soul and Drive My Car continued their awards season dominance with wins for Best Documentary and Best International Film, respectively.
Winners in bold below.
Best Feature
- A Chiara
- C’mon C’mon
- The Lost Daughter
- The Novice
- Zola
Best First Feature
- 7 Days
- Hollers
- Queen Glory
- Test Pattern
- Wild Indian
Best Director
- Mike Mills – C’mon C’mon
- Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
- Lauren Hadaway – The Novice
- Ninja Thyberg – Pleasure
- Janicza Bravo – Zola
Best Male Lead
- Clifton Collins, Jr. – Jockey
- Frankie Faison – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
- Michael Greyeyes – Wild Indian
- Udo Kier – Swan Song
- Simon Rex – Red Rocket
Best Supporting Male
- Colman Domingo – Zola
- Meeko Gattuso – Queen Glory
- Troy Kotsur – CODA
- Will Patton – Sweet Thing
- Chaske Spencer – Wild Indian
Best Female Lead
- Isabelle Fuhrman – The Novice
- Brittany S. Hall – Test Pattern
- Patti Harrison – Together Together
- Taylour Paige – Zola
- Kali Reis – Catch the Fair One
Best Supporting Female
- Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
- Amy Forsyth – The Novice
- Ruth Negga – Passing
- Revika Anne Reustle – Pleature
- Suzanna Son – Red Rocket
Robert Altman Award:
Mass
(Director: Fran Kranz; Casting Directors: Henry Russell Bergstein and Allison Estrin; Cast: Kagen Albright, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton and Breeda Wool)
Best Screenplay
- C’mon C’mon
- The Lost Daughter
- Swan Song
- Together Together
- Zola
Best First Screenplay
- Cicada
- Mass
- Pig
- Test Pattern
- Wild Indian
John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
- Cryptozoo
- Jockey
- Shiva Baby
- Sweet Thing
- This is Not a War Story
Best Editing
- A Chiara
- The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
- The Novice
- The Nowhere Inn
- Zola
Best Cinematography
- A Chiara
- Blue Bayou
- The Humans
- Passing
- Zola
Best Documentary
- Ascension
- Flee
- In the Same Breath
- Procession
- Summer of Soul
Best International Film
- Compartment No. 6 (Finland)
- Drive My Car (Japan)
- Parallel Mothers (Spain)
- Petite Maman (France)
- Prayers for the Stolen (Mexico)
Producers Award (Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films)
Brad Becker-Parton
Pin-Chun Liu
Lizzie Shapiro
Someone to Watch Award
Alex Camilleri, Luzzu
Michael Sarnoski, Pig
Gillian Wallace Horvat, I Blame Society
