Spirit Awards: ‘Anora’ Takes Best Feature, Director & Lead Performance; Three Wins For ‘Baby Reindeer’ & Two Each For ‘A Real Pain’ & ‘Didi’ – Full List – Deadline
By Erik Pedersen, Fred Topel, Anthony D’Alessandro
It’s on to the Oscars for Anora.
The sex-worker dramedy continued its awards-season run as the big winner at the 40th anniversary Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were handed out Saturday afternoon at the Santa Monica Pier. The Neon pic took Best Feature, Director for Sean Baker and gender-neutral Lead Performance for Mikey Madison.
In his acceptance speech for Best Director, self-described “indie lifer” Baker said indie film is “struggling more than ever” with little pay for those who provide a cultural zeitgeist for Hollywood and cinema. “The system has to be changed, it’s completely unsustainable. We shouldn’t be barely getting by.”
Backstage after the ceremony hosted by Aidy Bryant, Baker said: “We’re still processing Cannes. We’re back there — at least I am. Every festival and every award show has meant so much, but of course being here at Film Independent, at the Spirit Awards — when I introduce myself, I say, ‘I’m Sean Baker. I’m an independent filmmaker.’ I’ll always be one.”
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Madison added: “It’s been a really interesting year since May. I’ve not expected any of it. Even just going to Cannes Film Festival was a dream of mine, a career-long dream. Everything that’s followed has been a lovely surprise. I continuously go into these things not expecting anything. I’m really grateful for the love that people have shown Anora.”
Searchlight’s buddy comedy A Real Pain was a double winner today, for writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg’ Best’s Screenplay and the gender-neutral Supporting Performance for Kieran Culkin. Eisenberg praised his co-star from the stage, saying: “Kieran is a very spontaneous person but he doesn’t improvise dialogue. That’s not the way we work. Kieran’s main love is theater as an actor and you don’t improv in theater. … It was a dream to work with him because he’s so great.”
Sean Wang’s Focus Features coming-of-age dramedy Didi also won twice, picking up Best First Feature and First Screenplay.
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Sideshow/Janus Films’ dialogue-free animated pic Flow from Latvia won Best International Feature, and fellow Oscar nominee No Other Land, about the destruction of a village in the occupied West Bank, won Best Documentary.
Jomo Fray for Best Cinematography for Amazon MGM Studios’ Best Picture Oscar nominee Nickel Boys, and Hansjörg Weissbrich took Best Editing for Paramount’s September 5. The first award of the day went to Maisy Stella, who won Best Breakthrough Performance for My Old Ass.
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Past Lives won Best Feature and Best Director for Celine Song at last year’s Spirit Awards but lost the Best Picture Oscar to Oppenheimer. Today’s Spirit winners won’t influence the Academy Award race because Oscar voting ended on February 18.
A movie’s threshold for qualification at the Spirits is that its production cost can’t exceed $30M. Hence, such major awards-season titles as Netflix’s Emilia Perez, Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown and Focus Features’ Conclave are not eligible.
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Girls Will Be Girls won the John Cassavetes Award for best feature made for under $1 million.
Netflix’s Baby Reindeer is today’s only multiple winner on the TV side, taking three prizes. Richard Gadd won for Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Jessica Gunning took Breakthrough Performance right after Nava Mau scooped Supporting Performance.
“I just can’t believe how much this show has resonated, reached so many people and touched so many people,” Gadd said backstage. “I thought it might be artistically celebrated. I never thought it would be watched my this many people. … It’s crazy when I think about all the darkness I was going through that it led to that.”
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FX’s Shōgun, which came into the day co-leading the TV nominations with five, won Best New Scripted Series.
Here are the winners the 2025 Spirit Awards, including those that were revealed in December:
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)AnoraProducers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCEMikey MadisonAnora
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIESRichard GaddBaby Reindeer
BEST DIRECTORSean BakerAnora
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)FlowLatvia, France, BelgiumDirector: Gints Zilbalodis
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCEKieran CulkinA Real Pain
BEST EDITINGHansjörg WeissbrichSeptember 5
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHYJomo FrayNickel Boys
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAYSean WangDìdi
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the creator, executive producer and co-executive producer)Hollywood BlackExecutive Producers: Shayla Harris, Dave Sirulnick, Stacey Reiss, Jon Kamen, Justin Simien, Kyle Laursen, Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jeffrey Schwarz, Amy Goodman Kass, Michael Wright, Jill BurkhartCo-Executive Producers: David C. Brown, Laurens Grant
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the creator, executive producer and co-executive producer)ShōgunCreators/Executive Producers: Rachel Kondo, Justin MarksExecutive Producers: Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, Michaela ClavellCo-Executive Producers: Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
BEST SCREENPLAYJesse EisenbergA Real Pain
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)DìdiDirector/Producer: Sean WangProducers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIESJessica GunningBaby Reindeer
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIESNava MauBaby Reindeer
BEST DOCUMENTARYNo Other LandDirectors/Producers: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel SzorProducers: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCEMaisy StellaMy Old Ass
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Previously announced)How to Die AloneEnsemble Cast: Melissa DuPrey, Jaylee Hamidi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Arkie Kandola, Elle Lorraine, Michelle McLeod, Chris “CP” Powell, Conrad Ricamora, Natasha Rothwell, Jocko Sims
PRODUCERS AWARD (Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films; previously announced)Sarah Winshall
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition; previously announced)Rachel Elizabeth SeedDirector of A Photographic Memory
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Best feature made for under $1 million; award given to the writer, director and producer)Girls Will Be GirlsWriter/Director/Producer: Shuchi TalatiProducers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast; previously announced)His Three DaughtersDirector: Azazel JacobsCasting Director: Nicole ArbustoEnsemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (Recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition; previously announced)Sarah FriedlandDirector of Familiar TouchGet our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
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Source: http://deadline.com/2025/02/spirit-awards-2025-winners-list-1236297955/
