- The Film Independent Spirit Awards are traditionally held the night before the Academy Awards.
- There is more and more ‘overlap’ between the Independent Spirit Awards and the Oscars every year.
- The 35th Independent Spirit Awards will be held on February 8, 2020 and broadcast live on IFC.
The last of the so-called ‘precursor’ awards to the Academy Awards really isn’t supposed to be a ‘precursor’ at all. The Film Independent Spirit Awards (that’s now the official name, changed from ‘Independent Spirit Awards‘) has historically recognized films that might have been too far out of the mainstream for the Oscars. Whether that’s the case anymore is debatable but more about that in a moment. Since 1999, the Film Independent Spirit Awards have been held on the night before the Academy Awards. Before that, they took place the a week before the ‘main event’. The Film Independent Spirit Awards are a project of Film Independent, a non-profit organization that also produces the Los Angeles Film Festival. Their mission statement is “to champion creative independence in visual storytelling and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision”.
In many ways, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are now struggling to find their place in the digital era of filmmaking. The reality today is that anyone with a decent cellphone can start shooting video and that has lowered the ‘barrier to entry’ for would be movie makers. The Academy Awards have become more inclusive of independent films but the Independent Spirit Awards have had difficulty trying to recalibrate their selection process to stay on the ‘cutting edge’. To their credit, they’ve started to show some improvement from the past few years when many of the nominees in some categories were identical to the Academy Awards. This year, for example, there’s only one film nominated here for ‘Best Feature Film’ that is also up for the Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’.
2020 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS BETTING ODDS
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE
Marriage Story -250 Uncut Gems +300 The Farewell +500 A Hidden Life +1500 Clemency +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST FIRST FEATURE
Booksmart -200 The Mustang +350 The Last Black Man in San Francisco +500 Diane +1500 See You Yesterday +1500 The Climb +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie/Uncut Gems -200 Robert Eggers/The Lighthouse +250 Lorene Scafaria/Hustlers +500 Alma Har'el/Honey Boy +1500 Julius Onah/Luce +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY
Marriage Story -450 Uncut Gems +300 High Flying Bird +1500 To Dust +1500 Clemency +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
See You Yesterday -350 Driveways +250 Greener Grass +500 The Vast of Night +1500 Blow the Man Down +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST MALE LEAD
Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems -500 Robert Pattinson/The Lighthouse +300 Matthias Schoenaerts/The Mustang +1500 Kelvin Harrison, Jr/Luce +1500 Chris Galust/Give Me Liberty +2500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE LEAD
Renee Zellweger/Judy -500 Alfre Woodard/Clemency +450 Elisabeth Moss/Her Smell +750 Mary Kay Place/Dianne +1500 Hong Chau/Driveways +2500 Karen Allen/Colewell +3500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Willem Dafoe/The Lighthouse -450 Shia LaBeouf/Honey Boy +300 Noah Jupe /Honey Boy +1500 Jonathan Majors/The Last Black Man in San Francisco +1500 Wendell Pierce/Burning Cane +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jennifer Lopez/Hustlers -450 Zhao Shuzhen/The Farewell +500 Taylor Russell/Waves +1000 Octavia Spencer/Luce +1000 Lauren 'Lolo' Spencer/Give Me Liberty +1000
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Lighthouse -1000 Midsommar +500 Hustlers +1500 Honey Boy +1500 The Third Wife +1500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST EDITING
Uncut Gems -650 The Lighthouse +300 Give Me Liberty +1500 Sword of Trust +2500 The Third Wife +2500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Parasite -1500 Portrait of a Lady on Fire +750 The Invisible Life +1500 Les Miserables +1500 The Souvenir +2500 Retablo +2500
TO WIN FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY
American Factory -150 Apollo 11 +250 Honeyland +450 For Sama +700 Island of the Hungry Ghosts +1500
