Held on the beach in Santa Monica and honoring the kinds of small-scale films that often launch careers, the Independent Spirit Awards are often a welcome alternative to the pomp and circumstance of Oscar season. But this year there will almost certainly be one film ruling both: Everything Everywhere All at Once swept through all of Its categories at the awrds on Saturday, from best breakthrough performance for Stephanie Hsu to best feature. It was a dominant performance from a film on a seemingly unstoppable winning streak, one week before the Oscars wrap up the season.
Host Hasan Minhaj kicked off the event by joking “Look, of all the awards shows, this is… one of them,” but many attendees find the annual indie spirit awards to be a breath of fresh (ocean) air after months of attending stuffy, formal evening awards shows throughout the season. Held in a big white tent on the Santa Monica beach, the daytime awards show allows talent to have a more laid back day that kicks off with outdoor cocktails ahead of a show that is meant to celebrate independent film.
During the cocktail hour, attendees enjoyed some sunlight after the weeks of rain that have pummeled Los Angeles. Still, all eyes were on the nominees in attendance, and by the end of the event it was very clear that Everything Everywhere All at Once has cemented itself as the Oscar frontrunner in a very unpredictable season. The A24 film won every category that it was nominated in, for a total of seven wins. Some were more obvious, like Ke Huy Quan winning for supporting performer (he used his acceptance speech to thank members of the crew by name, including the PAs, stunt coordinator and his own wife, who served as the translator on the film). But EEAAO‘s other wins were not as assumed, especially in the lead performer category, where Michelle Yeoh was facing off against her strong Oscar competition, Tár’s Cate Blanchett. Yeoh was visibly overcome with emotion, as she joked “I promise, no swearing tonight,” after her profanity-filled, heartfelt acceptance speech at the SAG Awards last weekend. Directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert also won for both directing and screenplay, while Stephanie Hsu won her first individual acting award for the breakthrough performer category.
While there were other celebratory moments throughout the show (especially Ayo Edebiri‘s acceptance speech for her win for The Bear and Nathan Fielder‘s funny off-kilter speech when The Rehearsal won), the day belonged to Everything Everywhere All at Once— so much so that writer-director Daniel Scheinert started out his acceptance speech for best feature by saying “thank you guys, this it too many! We’re so lucky.” Will that luck bring them to the Oscars stage next week?
Below, find a complete list of nominees, with the winners indicated in bold.
MOVIES
Best Feature
WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Bones and All
Our Father, the Devil
Tár
Women Talking
Best Director
WINNER: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Todd Field, Tár
Kogonada, After Yang
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Halina Reijn, Bodies Bodies Bodies
Best First Feature
WINNER: Aftersun
Emily the Criminal
The Inspection
Murina
Palm Trees and Power Lines
Best Lead Performance
WINNER: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once v
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Dale Dickey, A Love Song
Mia Goth, Pearl
Regina Hall, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Aubrey Plaza, Emily the Criminal
Jeremy Pope, The Inspection
Taylor Russell, Bones and All
Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
Best Supporting Performance
WINNER: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Nina Hoss, Tár
Brian d’Arcy James, The Cathedral
Trevante Rhodes, Bruiser
Theo Rossi, Emily the Criminal
Mark Rylance, Bones and All
Jonathan Tucker, Palm Trees and Power Lines
Gabrielle Union, The Inspection
Best Breakthrough Performance
WINNER: Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Frankie Corio, Aftersun
Gracija Filipović, Murina
Lily McInerny, Palm Trees and Power Lines
Daniel Zolghadri, Funny Pages
Best Screenplay
WINNER: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Kogonada, After Yang
Lena Dunham, Catherine Called Birdy
Todd Field, Tár
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Best First Screenplay
WINNER: John Patton Ford, Emily the Criminal
Sarah Delappe and Kristen Roupenian, Bodies Bodies Bodies
K.D. Dávila, Emergency
Joel Kim Booster, Fire Island
Jamie Dack and Audrey Findlay, Palm Trees and Power Lines