2018 - Awards Season: Independent Spirit Awards - Winners

February 23, 2019

The Independent Spirit Awards nominations kicked off the 2018 Awards Season and the winners are announced just before the end. If Beale Street Could Talk only had three nominations, but it won all three awards. This could be a good Omen for tomorrow’s Oscar ceremony.

The categories and nominees are...

BEST FEATURE

• If Beale Street Could Talk

BEST DIRECTOR

• Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk

BEST FIRST FEATURE

• Sorry to Bother You

BEST FEMALE LEAD

• Glenn Close for The Wife

BEST MALE LEAD

• Ethan Hawke for First Reformed

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

• Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

• Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

• Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Suspiria

BEST EDITING

• You Were Never Really Here

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

• En el Séptimo Día

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

• Roma (Mexico)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)

• Suspiria

Also announced were the winners for the four Filmmaker Grant Awards.

The BONNIE Award

• Debra Granik

Piaget Producers Award

• Shrihari Sathe

Acura Someone to Watch Award

• Alex Moratto for Socrates

Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.

• Bing Liu for Minding the Gap

Notes and Reactions...

• If Beale Street Could Talk’s three wins could be a good sign for Regina King’s Oscar chances tomorrow.
• Glenn Close won tonight and should also win tomorrow.
• Likewise, this is very likely not the only award Roma will win this weekend.
• I wish I could say the same for Richard E. Grant winning for Can You Ever Forgive Me?. However, studio shenanigans means he’s up against a lead actor in the supporting actor category and lead actors tend to win there.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Awards Season, Suspiria, Roma, You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed, The Wife, Eighth Grade, En el Séptimo Día, Ethan Hawke, Glenn Close, Richard E. Grant, Regina King, Bo Burnham, Nicole Holofcener, Shrihari Sathe, Debra Granik, Barry Jenkins, Jeff Whitty, Bing Liu, Alexandre Moratto