As awards season heats up in the race to the Oscars finish line, the 41st Film Independent Spirit Awards — taking place today at the Hollywood Palladium — recognizes the best in this year’s indie projects across film and television.
Hosted by Saturday Night Live alumna Ego Nwodim, the televised fete is, in a rarity given today’s ever-expanding platform offerings, available to stream online on YouTube. The ceremony will begin promptly at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and will stream live on both IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels, and across the organization’s social platforms.
Nominees to watch for include Oscar Best Picture nominee, Netflix’s Train Dreams, which will compete against Janus Films’ Peter Hujar’s Day (leading all nominees this year with five); IFC’s The Plague; A24’s Sorry, Baby and Roadside Attractions’ Twinless.
Watch on Deadline
Netflix leads all platforms with 18 nominations, followed by last year’s noms leader A24 with 10.
Other top contenders featuring an Academy Award-Spirits crossover include: Rose Byrne in Best Performance for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Adolpho Veloso in Cinematography for Train Dreams, Come See Me in the Good Light and The Perfect Neighbor in Documentary and The Secret Agent (Brazil) and Sirāt (Spain) in International Film.
Last year’s buzzy title, Sean Baker’s Anora, won a trio of Spirit Awards — Best Feature, Best Director and Best Actress for Mikey Madison — all categories in which the pic would end up repeat winning at the Oscars. If the pattern holds up here, today’s Spirits winners could be major contenders at film’s biggest night March 15.