The Complete List of Winners at the 2016 Spirit Awards

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produced the Spirit Awards, the LA Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA, handed out top honors to Spotlight, Beasts of No Nation and Room at this afternoon’s 31st Film Independent Spirit Awards. Carol, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Krisha, The Look of Silence, Son of Saul and Tangerine also received awards at the 2016 Spirit Awards, which was held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

The 9th annual Robert Altman Award was given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight received this award, along with casting directors Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee and ensemble cast members Michael Cyril Creighton, Billy Crudup, Paul Giulfoyle, Neal Huff, Brian D’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamey Sheridan, John Slattery and Stanley Tucci.

The 2016 Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation Fellowship, which includes a cash grant of $10,000, was awarded to Zimbabwean filmmaker Sue-Ellen Chitunya. This annual award is given to a filmmaker currently participating in a Film Independent Artist Development program with the mission of diversity in mind. Chitunya, a participant in Project Involve, is currently in active development as a producer on her first narrative feature film, A Hard Place.

The Full List of 2016 Spirit Awards Winners: 

Best Feature: Spotlight (Open Road Films)


Producers: Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Michael Sugar

Best Director: Tom McCarthy, Spotlight (Open Road Films)

Best Screenplay: Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight (Open Road Films)

Best First Feature: The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)

Director: Marielle Heller; Producers: Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit

Best First Screenplay: Emma Donoghue, Room (A24)

John Cassavetes Award (For best feature made under $500,000): Krisha (A24)

Writer/Director/Producer: Trey Edward Shults; Producers: Justin R. Chan, Chase Joliet, Wilson Smith

Best Supporting Female: Mya Taylor, Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)

Best Supporting Male: Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation (Bleecker Street/Netflix)

Best Female Lead: Brie Larson, Room (A24)

Best Male Lead: Abraham Attah, Beasts of No Nation (Bleecker Street/Netflix)

Robert Altman Award: Spotlight (Open Road Films)

Director: Tom McCarthy

Casting Directors: Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee

Ensemble Cast: Billy Crudup, Michael Cyril Creighton, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamey Sheridan, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci

Best Cinematography: Ed Lachman, Carol (The Weinstein Company)

Best Editing: Tom McArdle, Spotlight (Open Road Films)

Best International Film: Son of Saul (Hungary – Sony Pictures Classics)

Director: László Nemes

Best Documentary: The Look of Silence (Drafthouse Films/Participant Media)

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer; Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen

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