Independent Spirit Awards: 'Moonlight' Takes the Top Honors

Moonlight topped the winners at Film Independent’s Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, taking home a total of six statuettes, including best feature on eve of Oscars!

The full list of nominees is listed below. The winners are noted in bold.

Spirit Awards are given out in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best International Film, Best Documentary and Best Editing.

The Filmmaker Awards include the Piaget Producers Award, the Truer Than Fiction Award and the Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award.

Of note, with respect to this blog’s interest: “Moonlight” took home the most wins for any film nominated this year, and the most wins for any nominated film this decade, with 6 total, including the Robert Altman Award for Ensemble Cast, as well as Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Cinematography, and Editing; essentially, every category it was nominated!

Also of note, Ezra Edelman’s epic “OJ: Made in America” won for Best Documentary.

Both films are also Oscar nominees, so we’ll certainly be watching to see how well they each perform on Oscar night.

The full list of Spirit Awards nominees follows below. The winners are noted in bold. Also you will find acceptance speeches accompanying a few on the winners.

Best Feature
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”

Best Director
Andrea Arnold – “American Honey”
Barry Jenkins – “Moonlight”
Pablo Larrain – “Jackie”
Jeff Nichols – “Loving”
Kelly Reichardt – “Certain Women”

Best Screenplay
Barry Jenkins – “Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan – “Manchester By The Sea”
Mike Mills – “20th Century Women”
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias – “Little Men”
Taylor Sheridan – “Hell Or High Water”

Best First Feature
“The Childhood Of A Leader”
“The Fits”
“Other People”
“Swiss Army Man”
“The Witch”

Best First Screenplay
Robert Eggers – “The Witch”
Chris Kelly – “Other People”
Adam Mansbach – “Barry”
Stella Meghie – “Jean of the Joneses”
Craig Shilowich – “Christine”

Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck – “Manchester By The Sea”
David Harewood – “Free In Deed”
Viggo Mortensen – “Captain Fantastic”
Jesse Plemons – “Other People”
Tim Roth – “Chronic”

Best Female Lead
Annette Bening – “20th Century Women”
Isabelle Huppert – “Elle”
Sasha Lane – “American Honey”
Ruth Negga – “Loving”
Natalie Portman – “Jackie”

Best Supporting Male
Ralph Fiennes – “A Bigger Splash”
Ben Foster – “Hell Or High Water”
Lucas Hedges – “Manchester By The Sea”
Shia LaBeouf – “American Honey”
Craig Robinson – “Morris From America”

Best Supporting Female
Edwina Findley – “Free in Deed”
Paulina Garcia – “Little Men”
Lily Gladstone – “Certain Women”
Riley Keogh – “American Honey”
Molly Shannon – “Other People”

Best Documentary
“13th”
“Cameraperson”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“OJ: Made in America”
“Sonita”
“Under The Sun”

Best International Film
“Aquarius” (Brazil)
“Chevalier” (Greece)
“My Golden Days” (France)
“Toni Erdmann” (Germany/Romania)
“Under The Shadow” (Iran/UK)

Best Cinematography
“Free in Deed”
“The Childhood Of A Leader”
“The Eyes of My Mother”
“Moonlight”
“American Honey”

Best Editing
“Swiss Army Man”
“Manchester By The Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Hell or High Water”
“Jackie”

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Under $500,000)
“Free in Deed”
“Hunter Gatherer”
“Lovesong”
“Nakom”
“Spa Night”

Robert Altman Award (Best Ensemble)
“Moonlight”

23rd ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Andrew Ahn – Director of “Spa Night”
Claire Carre – Director of “Embers”
Anna Rose Holmer – Director of “The Fits”
Ingrid Jungermann – Director of “Women Who Kill”

20th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Lisa Kjerulff
Jordana Mollick
Melody C. Roscher & Craig Shilowich

22ND TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Kristi Jacobson – Director of “Solitary”
Sara Jordan – Director of “Kiki”
Nan Wang – Director of “Hooligan Sparrow”