‘Spotlight’ tops a richly diverse Spirit Awards

“He picked up the Best Male Lead award at Film Independent’s 2016 Spirit Awards for his role in Beasts of No Nation and presented an Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards”. Acting nominees Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ben Mendelsohn and Paul Dano also sported Piaget jewelry and timepieces.

Brie Larson won best female lead for her work in Room while Beasts of No Nation newcomer Abraham Attah took the prize for best male lead.

Spotlight swept the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, the day before the Academy Awards, where it will be up for six Oscars, including best picture.

The annual Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California, tends to be an indie antidote to Hollywood’s biggest night, but this year, the contrast will be starker than usual.

Rachel McAdams was not nominated, so it will be all or nothing for her tonight at the Oscars. Each drew hearty applause.

Tangerine star Mya Taylor was named Best Supporting Female, becoming the first transgender artist to win a Spirit Award.

While “Spotlight” is nominated for a number of Oscars, it is not favored to win any of them except best original screenplay; the online bookmaker Paddy Power gives its authors, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, 1 to 10 odds of winning. In recent years, winners have prefigured the Oscars, especially for best feature, which last year went to eventual Oscar victor “Birdman“.

The Spirit Awards honor movies that were made for $20 million or less.

The spotlight on diversity at the Spirit Awards comes amid a furor in Hollywood over the 20 all-white acting nominees for this year’s Oscars, fueling the #OscarsSoWhite debate. “Honestly, I’m so much more proud of being a producer than my performance in this film”, he said. Idris Elba also made his way back after his win for Best Supporting Male in “Beasts of No Nation“. On receiving the award, Attah thanked the producers, Idris Elba (Prometheus) and the director Cary Fukunaga (True Detective Season 1), among others.

The 31st Independent Spirt Awards took place this Saturday, February 27 with the fiendishly talented and hilarious Kate McKinnon & Kumail Nanjiani co-hosting the event.

The Mark Ruffalo-starrer also bagged the best screenplay, best editing and best ensemble prizes.

Son of Saul was voted Best International Film and The Diary of a Teenage Girl was declared Best First Feature.

Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Look of Silence“, centered on the Indonesian genocide of the 1960s, took the documentary trophy.

“We need companies like this right now that will step up when other studios won’t tell stories like this”, McCarthy said of “Spotlight” distributor Open Road Film as he accepted the Altman prize.