Independent Spirit Awards

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    The Oscar Awards Columnist Shares What His Job Is Like

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    Last month, Kyle Buchanan was seated at a table at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., when, midway through the ceremony, a chant erupted outside.Mr. Buchanan could hear the chant — “Free Palestine” — humming in the background of acceptance speeches. He exited the tent to find two protesters behind a barricade, playing the recorded chant over a bullhorn, and began filming them with his phone. Security guards soon yelled at him for filming and threatened to oust him from the premises.Such is a day in the life of Mr. Buchanan, a pop culture reporter for The New York Times. As The Projectionist columnist, he covers Hollywood awards shows and the cultural moments unfolding both onstage and off.Since joining The Times in 2018, Mr. Buchanan has reported from film festivals at Cannes, France, and Venice; profiled buzzy actors like Emma Stone and Da’Vine Joy Randolph; and covered more than 50 awards ceremonies.His love of awards shows developed out of a childhood fascination. “Growing up, I was a kid with parents who had no particular affinity for indie films, foreign films or documentaries,” he said in a recent interview. “The Oscars felt like a portal into works of art that I didn’t know anything about. I was entranced.”Ahead of the 96th Academy Awards this Sunday, Mr. Buchanan, who will be in attendance, shared his hopes for this year’s ceremony and the secret to interviewing media-trained celebrities. This interview has been edited and condensed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Independent Spirit Awards Continue ‘Nomadland’ Winning Streak

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      Meanwhile, Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) and Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) won lead acting trophies.Three years ago, as she accepted a best-actress trophy for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” at the Independent Spirit Awards, Frances McDormand mentioned all the people she hoped to work with next. Then she peered at someone in the audience. “Chloé?” she said.Few knew it then, but she was singling out the director Chloé Zhao, who had been celebrated earlier at the ceremony for her second film, “The Rider.” At that time, McDormand had just met with Zhao about directing a small independent feature McDormand planned to produce and star in. And on Thursday night, the film they made together, “Nomadland,” won top honors at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards.That continues the gentle road drama’s juggernaut journey through awards season, where it has taken nearly every major award available, including top honors from the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, and the Golden Globes. It enters the Oscars on Sunday as the decided favorite.Zhao also won the Independent Spirit Award for best director, becoming the fourth woman ever to do so. If she wins at the Oscars, as she’s expected to, she will become only the second woman to take that trophy since “The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow in 2010.Some other Oscar favorites also triumphed at the Independent Spirit Awards. Supporting-actress front-runner Yuh-Jung Youn won for “Minari,” while “Promising Young Woman” filmmaker Emerald Fennell picked up another award for her screenplay.But some perpetually on-the-verge contenders finally got a high-profile victory here, including Carey Mulligan, who won the best-actress award for “Promising Young Woman” and dedicated it to the British actress Helen McCrory, who died this month. That Oscar category remains wide open: McDormand won the BAFTA award, Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) won the SAG award, and Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”) won the Golden Globe.“Sound of Metal” star Riz Ahmed triumphed in the best-actor category, where he was up against actor Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), who died last year. Ahmed’s costar Paul Raci earned a win in the supporting-actor category. That’s a major victory for Raci, a 72-year-old actor who had been working as a court interpreter for the deaf for decades before he found his breakthrough role.“I’ve been a day player for thirty years here in Hollywood,” Raci said in his acceptance speech, “and I have one little piece of advice I can give to all of you people who are struggling here: Don’t quit your day job. I never did. I still have it, too!”The ceremony was held virtually and hosted by comedian Melissa Villaseñor. For a full list of winners, click here. More

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      Indie Spirits Nominate a Diverse Group of Filmmakers

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe ProjectionistIndie Spirits Nominate a Diverse Group of FilmmakersMovies by women and people of color make up all of the contenders for best feature and best director.“Minari,” starring, from left, Alan S. Kim, Steve Yeun, Noel Cho and Yeri Han, is among the nominees for the top Indie Spirit.Credit…David Bornfriend/A24, via Associated PressJan. 26, 2021, 12:29 p.m. ETThe Oscars will be adopting new diversity guidelines soon, but the Independent Spirit Awards are already walking that talk.None of the nominees announced Tuesday for the best feature award at the Indie Spirits — “First Cow,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Minari,” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and “Nomadland” — were directed by white men, whose efforts are usually far overrepresented during awards season.All five nominees for best director are women and people of color, too. And of the directorial debuts nominated in the best first-film category (including “I Carry You With Me” by Heidi Ewing, “The Forty-Year-Old Version” by Radha Blank, “Miss Juneteenth” by Channing Godfrey Peoples and “Nine Days” by Edson Oda), only one was directed by a white man — Darius Marder’s “Sound of Metal.”For too many years, the Indie Spirits, handed out by the nonprofit Film Independent, could feel like they were following the Academy Awards’ lead, handing their trophies to whoever was deemed the Oscar front-runner. They were even accused of bending their own rules to let in bigger, starrier productions — in one memorable example, Harvey Weinstein successfully lobbied the organization to lift its $20 million budget threshold so that “Silver Linings Playbook” could be considered. It won four awards at the 2013 ceremony, including best feature.But the Indie Spirits work best as a corrective of the bigger, more prestigious ceremony. The last two winners of the best-feature Indie Spirit — “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “The Farewell” — weren’t even nominated for best picture at the Oscars and absolutely should have been. And though the Indie Spirits did nominate the film that some consider this year’s Oscar front-runner, Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” the race is still fluid.Chloé Zhao at work on “Nomadland” with Frances McDormand in the background.Credit…Searchlight Pictures, via Associated Press(The best feature nominees echoed other recent awards announcements. On Sunday, at the New York Film Critics Circle ceremony, “First Cow” won best film. And on Monday, the American Film Institute included several lower-budget films among its Movies of the Year: “Da 5 Bloods,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank,” “Minari,” “Nomadland,” “One Night in Miami,” “Soul,” “Sound of Metal” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”)At the Indie Spirits, nominees for best male lead are Steven Yeun (“Minari”), Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Adarsh Gourav (“The White Tiger”) and Rob Morgan (“Bull”). For best female lead, the contenders are Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”), Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”), Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”), Julia Garner (“The Assistant”) and Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”).Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” earned the group’s Robert Altman Award, which is given to a single film’s director, casting director and ensemble of performers.The ceremony will be broadcast live on the IFC channel on April 22. See the full list of nominations here.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More