Awards season juggernaut Everything Everywhere All At Once has continued its run of success at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, once again claiming a slew of top prizes.
The sci-fi epic took home best picture, best leading performance, and best director for filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
The pair used their acceptance speeches to praise all those who advocate for “new, fresh voices” within the film industry.
“It is so easy for us to become lost in this industry and so easy for our little spirits to get crushed,” said Kwan, as they collected best director.
“You never get to come up on stage and you never get acknowledged, but what you do for the independent film community is immeasurable and it means the world to us because you changed our lives.
“Keep changing people’s lives.”
Everything Everywhere beat fellow best feature nominees Bones and All, Our Father, the Devil, Women Talking and Tar, starring Australian Cate Blanchett.
Blanchett, who along with Tar have been touted as strong Oscars contenders, lost the gender-neutral best leading performance category to Everything, Everywhere‘s Michelle Yeoh.
Ke Huy Quan won best supporting performance, for which his Everything Everywhere co-star Jamie Lee Curtis was also nominated.
Other winners included Joyland (best international film), The Bear (new scripted series and supporting actor Ayo Edebiri), The Cathedral (The John Cassavetes Award), John Patton Ford (first screenplay for Emily the Criminal) and Tar cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister.
Awards were handed out on Saturday afternoon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California. Hasan Minhaj was host.
The success of Everything Everywhere All At Once at the Spirit Awards further marks it out as a frontrunner at the Oscars, due to take place next week on March 12.
-AAP
