The night before the festivities of its big brother Oscar, the Spirit Awards celebrated its 30th anniversary of recognizing the best of independent film.
Richard Linklater took home the Best Director bird for his work on the groundbreaking Boyhood, while Birdman claimed Best Feature, Cinematography, and Michael Keaton for Male Lead. Dan Gilroy took the Best Screenplay prize for his writing and directorial debut Nightcrawler, and hosts Kristen Bell and Fred Armisen starred in a pretty great Birdman spoof, along with Whiplash star Miles Teller.
See below for the full list of winners.
BEST FEATURE
Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash
BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Ava DuVernay, Selma
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
David Zellner Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
BEST SCREENPLAY
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, Big Eyes
J.C. Chandor, A Most Violent Year
Jim Jarmusch, Only Lovers Left Alive
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias, Love is Strange
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Nightcrawler
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Dear White People
Obvious Child
She’s Lost Control
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Desiree Akhavan, Appropriate Behavior
Sara Colangelo, Little Accidents
Justin Lader, The One I Love
Anja Marquardt, She’s Lost Control
Justin Simien, Dear White People
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji, The Immigrant
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Sean Porter, It Felt Like Love
Lyle Vincent, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Bradford Young, Selma
BEST EDITING
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Tom Cross, Whiplash
John Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Ron Patane, A Most Violent Year
Adam Wingard, The Guest
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton, Only Lovers Left Alive
BEST MALE LEAD
André Benjamin, Jimi: All Is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
John Lithgow, Love Is Strange
David Oyelowo, Selma
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo, Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Emma Stone, Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Alfred Molina, Love is Strange
Edward Norton, Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20,000 Days on Earth
CITIZENFOUR
Stray Dog
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Force Majeure (Sweden)
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Mommy (Canada)
Norte, the End of History (Philippines)
Under the Skin (United Kingdom)
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (best feature made for under $500,000)
Blue Ruin
It Felt Like Love
Land Ho!
Man From Reno
Test
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Inherent Vice
Paul Thomas Anderson (director), Cassandra Kulukundis (casting director), ensemble cast: Josh Brolin, Hong Chau, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Kenneth Williams
SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD
Foxcatcher
Bennett Miller (director/producer), E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman (writers), Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, and Jon Kilik (producers), cast: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum
21st ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition)
Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia, H.
Ana Lily Amirpour, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Chris Eska, The Retrieval
20th ANNUAL LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition)
Dan Krauss, The Kill Team
Amanda Rose Wilder, Approaching the Elephant
Darius Clark Monroe, Evolution of a Criminal
Sara Dosa, The Last Season
