How to watch the 35th Film Independent Spirit Awards This Weekend.
Tuxedos, tears and collegial golf claps are all fine and good. But for awards season pomp and circumstance, nothing beats (in our sober, unbiased opinion) the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which last year kicked off with major witchy coven vibes courtesy of host Aubrey Plaza and continued with Fyre Festival parodies, drag queen medleys and a welcome appearance by Best Female Lead winner Glenn Close’s totally adorable, totally spotlight-stealing canine sidekick, Pip. And guess what? We’re ready to do it all again—this Saturday!
And if things aren’t currently broken, then why endeavor to fix such things? Ms. Plaza will once again assume emcee duties with her disquieting comedic stylings beginning at 2pm PST / 5pm EST sharp this Saturday, February 8 and broadcast exclusively on IFC. Presenters are set to include Zazie Beetz, Jim Gaffigan, Laura Dern, Elisabeth Moss, Bob Odenkirk, St. Vincent, Beanie Feldstein, Don Cheadle, Rachel Brosnahan and Nicolas Cage (!!!)—plus plenty more.
But you don’t need to take our word for it. Just listen to our two favorite wickies—Plaza and ace Willem Dafoe impersonator Bill Murray—extol the awards in this pitch-perfect spoof of quintuple 2020 Spirit Award nominee The Lighthouse:
In other exciting news, this year’s awards will be preceded by a special Spirit Awards Arrivals Show, hosted by Catt Sadler and streaming live, exclusively on Twitter, starting at 3:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm PT and presented by American Airlines.
What’s that, you say? You’re a cord-cutter for whom basic cable is but a mythical legend spread by the word of nomadic paladins? Well, you’re in luck! Just like the official arrivals show, the 2020 Spirit Awards will be streaming live on Twitter, so go ahead and bookmark that page right now. (If you’re a neighbor to the north, take a peek at our Watch the Show page for how to watch in Canada.)
Watch acceptance speeches and other exclusive Spirit Awards content on Film Independent’s YouTube, posting immediately after they air live on TV (don’t forget to like and share!) and keep up with us on all the usual social platforms for exclusive behind-the-scenes content, winner announcements, special segments and more. Here’s our Instagram and Facebook. Want to vote for next year’s winners—as well as avail yourself of great film-related events and resources—all year long? Become a Film Independent Member today.
Lastly, 2020 marks the Spirit Awards 35th anniversary. To celebrate this very special and easily-divisible-by-five milestone, we dug into the archives to remind ourselves all the places we’ve been—and the many incredibly talented filmmakers we’ve been honored to recognize along the way. Here’s a quick look back at all of our Spirit Award Best Feature, First Film, Male Lead, Female Lead, Supporting Female and Supporting Male winners.
BEST FEATURE
This year’s nominees: A Hidden Life (Producers: Elisabeth Bentley, Dario Bergesio, Grant Hill, Josh Jeter), Clemency (Timur Bekbosunov, Julian Cautherley, Bronwyn Cornelius, Peter Wong), The Farewell (Anita Gou, Daniele Melia, Andrew Miano, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Lulu Wang, Chris Weitz, Jane Zheng), Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach, David Heyman) and Uncut Gems (Producers: Eli Bush, Sebastian Bear-McClard, Scott Rudin.)
BEST DIRECTOR
This year’s nominees: Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse), Alma Har’el (Honey Boy), Julius Onah (Luce), Benny & Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems) and Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers.)
BEST FEMALE LEAD
This year’s nominees: Karen Allen (Colewell), Hong Chau (Driveways), Elisabeth Moss (Her Smell), Mary Kay Place (Diane), Alfre Woodard (Clemency) and Renée Zellweger (Judy.)
BEST MALE LEAD
This year’s nominees: Chris Galust (Give Me Liberty), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Luce), Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems) and Matthias Schoenaerts (The Mustang.)
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
This year’s nominees: Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), Noah Jupe (Honey Boy), Shia LaBeouf (Honey Boy), Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) and Wendell Pierce (Burning Cane.)
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
This year’s nominees: Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers), Taylor Russell (Waves), Zhao Shuzhen (The Farewell), Lauren “Lolo” Spencer (Give Me Liberty) and Octavia Spencer (Luce.)
BEST FIRST FEATURE
This year’s nominees: Booksmart (Director: Olivia Wilde; Producers: Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfeld, Jessica Elbaum, Megan Ellison, Katie Silberman), The Climb (Director/Producer: Michael Angelo Covino; Producers: Noah Lang, Kyle Marvin), Diane (Director: Kent Jones; Producers: Luca Borghese, Ben Howe, Caroline Kaplan, Oren Moverman), The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Director/Producer: Joe Talbot; Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Khaliah Neal, Christina Oh), The Mustang (Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre; Producer: Ilan Goldman) and See You Yesterday (Director: Stefon Bristol; Producer: Spike Lee.)
To see the rest of this year’s nominee, click here. And once again, to see who’ll be jockeying for their 1.2 seconds of screen time in next year’s round of supercuts, watch the 35th Film Independent Spirit Awards—Feb 8 on IFC, 2pm PT/5pm ET.
The Film Independent Spirit Awards are sponsored by Premier Sponsors American Airlines, IFC and Mazda. Bulleit Frontier Whiskey is the Official Spirit. FIJI Water is the Official Water. JNSQ Wines is the Official Wine. Getty Images is the Official Photographer. Town & Country Event Rentals is the Exclusive Rental Company.