James R | On 09, Feb 2020

Uncut Gems and The Farewell were the big winners at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards.

The Safdie brothers’ thriller, starring Adam Sandler, ran away with three prizes at the awards ceremony, including Best Male Lead, prompting an acceptance that brought the house down by apologies to the other nominees who would be known as “the guys who lost to f****ing Adam Sandler”. The film also took home Best Director and Best Editing.

Like Adam Sandler’s performance in Uncut Gems, Lulu Wang’s The Farewell has been one of the films highlighted as a major snub at this year’s Oscars, which has been criticised heavily for its lack of diversity. The Independent Spirit Awards righted that wrong, though, but crowning it Best Feature and also giving the Supporting Female prize to Zhao Shuzhen.

Renée Zellweger continued to sweep every awards ceremony going with Best Female Lead for Judy, while Willem Dafoe was named Best Supporting Male for The Lighthouse, a film that also bagged Best Cinematography.

While Netflix has been largely shut out of the awards race, despite a raft of nominations at the BAFTAs and Oscars, the streaming service won Best Documentary for Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s American Factory, while Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story won Best Screenplay.

One overlap with the Oscars, however, was Parasite, with Bong Joon-ho’s film winning Best International Feature.

The awards were presented by Aubrey Plaza, whose opening monologue you can see below, followed by the complete list of winners:

BEST FEATURE

The Farewell (PRODUCERS: Anita Gou, Daniele Melia, Andrew Miano, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Lulu Wang, Chris Weitz, Jane Zheng)

BEST DIRECTOR

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Uncut Gems

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Renée Zellweger, Judy

BEST MALE LEAD

Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse

BEST SCREENPLAY

Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story

BEST EDITING

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Uncut Gems

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

American Factory (DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert; PRODUCERS: Julie Parker Benello, Jeff Reichert)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Jarin Blaschke, The Lighthouse

BEST FIRST FEATURE

Booksmart (DIRECTOR: Olivia Wilde PRODUCERS: Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfeld, Jessica Elbaum, Megan Ellison, Katie Silberman)

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol, See You Yesterday

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Parasite, South Korea (DIRECTOR: Bong-Joon Ho)

PRODUCERS AWARD

Mollye Asher

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

Rashaad Ernesto Green, Premature

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

Nadia Shihab, Jaddoland

BONNIE AWARD

– Kelly Reichardt

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