Protesters disrupt Spirit Awards as 'Past Lives' prevails.

In what could be a sign of upcoming awards shows, the Spirit Awards were severely disrupted on Sunday afternoon by pro-Palestinian protesters.

About 40 minutes into the daytime ceremony, which took place in a tent near the beach in Santa Monica, guests present could hear loud sounds. A small group of protesters had gathered on a public sidewalk in front of the store, holding a loudspeaker that played a looped pre-recorded chant of “Free Palestine, Free,” “Long Live Palestine,” and “Cease Fire Now” that could be heard. . during the rest of the show.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, left, and Anne Hathaway at the Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

However, the ceremony continued and awards were presented, with writer-director Celine Song's “Past Lives” winning in the feature film and director categories.

“Past Lives” is also nominated for best picture and screenplay at the Academy Awards. In an interview with The Times before the Spirit Awards ceremony began, Song said, “At its heart, 'Past Lives' is an independent film. It was made independently and then we also premiered it at Sundance, which is really the heart of independent film. For me this is like being at home. Walking in here, I already felt like this is where the movie belongs.”

As is often the case, Spirit Awards voters chose films that were also nominated for the Academy Awards; Along with “Past Lives,” Oscar-nominated films like “American Fiction,” “The Holdovers,” May December,” “Four Daughters” and “Anatomy of a Fall” took home Spirit Awards.

“American Fiction” won for the screenplay by Cord Jefferson, who also directed the film, as well as the lead performance by Jeffrey Wright. This was the second year that the Spirit Awards gave genderless acting awards with 10 nominees, including men and women, for each award in the lead and supporting categories.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, of Alexander Payne's “The Holdovers,” won for supporting performance, as did her co-star, Dominic Sessa, for featured performance. Eigil Bryld's cinematography also won.

But as the awards ceremony continued despite the chants that could be heard at the acceptance speeches, the disparity became a dominant factor. The protesters were located outside on a sidewalk adjacent to the beach, on the other side of the tent from where the stage was set up. Event organizers moved a bus back and forth in front of protesters to try to block out the sound of its speaker. Depending on where one was located within the store, they were either loud or unclear. The ceremony was broadcast live on YouTube, where it was reported that muffled and confusing noise could be heard in the broadcast.

The protest was watched several times from the stage, often with a note of confusion about what was happening. Host Aidy Bryant was starting a comedy segment shortly after the protest broke out, noting, “We're on the beach and people are practicing their freedom of speech.”

Comedian Jimmy O. Yang, while presenting another award, referred to the “switch” outside and joked that people in the independent film community are “used to being yelled at.”

Upon winning the John Cassavetes Award for a film made for less than a million dollars, “Fremont” filmmaker Babak Jalali said: “There are people talking outside and whatever they say, I think is much more important than what I'm going to say. “His words were received with applause.

Ahead of the ceremony, Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent, which organizes the Spirit Awards, said last year's switch from a streaming partner to live streaming on YouTube actually doubled the show's audience and made it available internationally. .

“This is where the community comes together,” Welsh said. “And I think people need that now and really value it.”

Accepting the Robert Altman Award for the cast of “Showing Up,” filmmaker Kelly Reichardt summed up the afternoon by recalling watching filmmaker Robert Altman receive a lifetime achievement award in 2003, as the war in Iraq broke out. “And he was angry.” Reichardt added, pointing to the riots outside, “I think it would have a lot to say, just this weirdness of us being here and celebrating each other and our work, and also, you know: life goes on outside the store. Peace.”

Here's a complete list of today's Spirit Award winners.

MOVIE CATEGORIES

Best feature
“Past Lives”
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

Director
Celine song, “Past Lives”

Script
Cord Jefferson, “American Fiction”

First characteristic
“Thousand and one”
Director: A. V. Rockwell
Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston

The actors greet each other at an awards ceremony.

First script
Samy Burch, “May December”

Juan Cassavetes Award
(for a feature made under $1,000,000)
“Fremont”
Screenwriter and director: Babak Jalal
Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner

Discovery performance
Dominic Sessa, “The Remains”

Secondary performance
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, “The Remains”

Lead performance
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction

Robert Altman Award
(for an ensemble cast, director and casting director)
“Appearing”
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Casting Director: Gayle Keller
Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams

Cinematography
Eigil Bryld, “The Remains”

Edition
Daniel Garber, “How to Blow Up an Oil Pipeline”

International Fmovie
“Anatomy of a fall” (NEON)
Director: Justine Triet

Documentary film
“Four Daughters”
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha

someone to look at
Monica Sorelle, “Mountains”

Truer than fiction
Conjunto Hernández, “invisible”

Producers Award
Monica Walton

TELEVISION CATEGORIES

New yesencryption yesseries
“Beef”
Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin
Executive producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich
Co-executive producers: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper

New No-yesencrypted or ddocumentary film yesseries
“Dear Mama”
Executive producers: Lasse Järvi, Quincy 'QD3' Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel 'Future' Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson , John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair

Secondary performance in a new scripted series
Nick Offerman, “The Last of Us”

Lead performance in a new scripted series
Ali Wong, “Beef”

Discovery performance in a new scripted series
Keivonn Montreal Woodard, “The Last of Us”

Set thrown in a new scripted series
“Jury service”
Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O'Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams

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