Spotlight, the Oscar Best Picture front runner about The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Roman Catholic Church’s cover-up of child sex abuse by priests, also won Spirit Awards for Best Director, Screenplay and Editing.
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The spotlight on diversity at the Spirit Awards comes amid a furore in Hollywood over the 20 all-white acting nominees for this year’s Oscars, fuelling the #OscarsSoWhite debate.
The movie, which has picked up a string of honors on its way to Oscars glory, beat rivals “The Big Short“, “Bridge of Spies”, “Brooklyn”, “Mad Max: Fury Road“, “The Martian”, “Room”, and “The Revenant“.
Brie Larson took home the prize for best lead female for her performance in A24’s “Room” while Abraham Attah won the best actor prize for his portrayal of a child soldier in the Netflix drama “Beasts of No Nation” – his first acting role.
The film had only taken one other award – best original screenplay – and Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre gasped as a stunned cast and crew headed onstage to accept the trophy. Hosting are Kate McKinnon from “Saturday Night Live” and the comedian Kumail Nanjiani. “You got to get out there and put it in your next movie”, she said.
Whereas the Oscars are dealing with a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, the Spirit Awards which celebrate films made for $20 million or less have five non-white acting nominees out of 20.
The best supporting actress award went to Mya Taylor, the first trans woman to win at the awards, having starred in the iPhone-shot movie Tangerine.
Female writers and directors traditionally are responsible for about a third of the films that debut at Sundance, the biggest independent film market in the USA where the audience and jury prizes this year went to a black filmmaker, Nate Parker, for The Birth of a Nation.
“Quite honestly, we need studios like this who are going to step up when the other studios won’t”, said McCarthy, with several of the reporters the films is based on in the crowd. Neither Elba, Attah nor Taylor was even nominated for Oscars.
The 31st annual Spirit Awards will kick off at 5 p.m. EST Saturday from its customary seaside tent in Santa Monica, California.
“[Independent film] is what helped me grow up”, she said.
“I came from nearly nothing”, a beaming Taylor said from the stage following a standing ovation. “The Look of Silence” was announced the best documentary.
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At the Spirit Awards, indie-hood can be a badge of honor.
