The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, to

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

makers. Founded in 1984, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit Awards in 1986. The ceremony is produced by Film Independent, a

not-for-profit arts organization A not-for-profit arts organization, also known as a nonprofit arts organization, usually takes the form of a not-for-profit organization, nonprofit organization, association, or foundation. Such organizations are formed for the purpose of develo ...

that used to produce the

LA Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

. Film Independent members vote to determine the winners of the Spirit Awards. The awards show is held in a tent on a beach in

, historically on the Saturday before the Academy Awards. In 2023, the ceremony was moved to the week before the Oscars, with the expectation that its winners could influence the final days of Oscar voting. The show was previously broadcast live on the IFC network in the US until 2023, when it was moved to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, as well as Hollywood Suite in Canada and A&E Latin America. Winners were previously presented with

acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

s containing suspended shoestrings representing the bare budgets of independent films. Since 2006, winners receive a metal trophy depicting a bird with its wings spread sitting atop of a pole with the shoestrings from the previous design wrapped around the pole. In 2020, new categories were announced for the 36th Independent Spirit Awards, which would honor the best in television productions and performances. These categories included Best New Scripted Series, Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance, and Best Ensemble Cast. In 2022, it was announced that

gender neutral Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, Gender-neutral language, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) ...

acting categories would be implemented and that the previous gendered film categories — Male Lead,

Female Lead A leading actor, leading actress, or leading man or lady or simply lead (), plays a main role in a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person w ...

, Male Supporting and Female Supporting — would be retired in favor of a Best Lead Performance and a Best Supporting Performance categories, which would feature 10 nominees each. Other new categories added included Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Lead and Supporting Performance in the TV section. , films competing for Independent Spirit Awards must have budgets lower than $28 million, but no budget cap exists for television shows.

History

Founded in 1979, the New York based organization ''Independent Feature Project'' is now known as

The Gotham Film & Media Institute The Gotham Film & Media Institute (also simply the Gotham), formerly known as the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to independent film. It offers programs that assist independent fi ...

, with Gotham TV Awards and

Gotham Independent Film Awards The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

. By 1981,

Gregory Nava Gregory James Nava (born April 10, 1949) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Personal life Nava was born in San Diego, of Mexican and Basque heritage. Nava graduated from St. Augustine High School in San Diego and attended ...

and Anna Thomas and a small semi-informal group of directors–filmmakers, writers and producers began to regularly meet, share knowledge and support each others projects, eventually calling themselves '' was soon known as ''Independent Feature Project/West''. Robert "Bob" Rosen, former Dean of the

UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

, was one of the founding board members. In 1984 the FINDIE Awards (Friends of Independents) were conceived by Independent Features Project/West board member Jeanne Lucas and Independent Features Project/West President Anne Kimmel and director/writer Sam O'Brien was an event producer. The awards are voted on by a nominating committee. In 1985,

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and narrator of films, theater, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films, such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' C ...

and

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, and children's author. Known for List of Jamie Lee Curtis performances, her performances in the horror and slasher film, slasher genres, she is regarded as a scream qu ...

presented winners with a Plexiglas pyramid designed by Carol Bosselman, which contain a suspended shoestring, printed with sprocket holes, representing the shoestring budgets of independent films. The Reel Gold Award, also designed by Bosselman, was given to Steve Wachtel for allowing Independent Features Project/West continuing free use of his screening room. It was associated with

Filmex The Los Angeles International Film Exposition, also called Filmex, was an annual Los Angeles film festival held in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was co-founded by Gary Essert, George Cukor and Philip Chamberlin in 1970. In 1976, Alfred Hitchco ...

. In 1986, Bosselman designed and sculpted the Independent Spirit Award statue that is still given out today, using a lost wax bronze casting method. 1985 Awards :Source: *Best Feature, '' After Hours'' *Best Director,

Joel Coen Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) is an American filmmaker. Working alongside his brother Ethan, the duo have directed, written, edited and produced many feature films, the most acclaimed of which include '' Blood Simple'' (1984), '' ...

*Best Female Lead,

Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Geraldine Page, numer ...

*Best Male Lead,

M. Emmet Walsh Michael Emmet Walsh (March 22, 1935 – March 19, 2024) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television series, including supporting roles as Earl Frank in '' Straight Time'' (1978), the Madman in ''The Jerk'' (1979), Captai ...

*Best Cinematography, '' Trouble in Mind'' *Best Screenplay, '' After Hours'' *Special Distinction Award, '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' Dawn Hudson was director of Independent Features Project/West in 1995. Barbara Boyle was Independent Features Project/West president from 1994 to 1999. By 2001, ''Independent Features Project/West'' became ''Film Independent''. The name Film Independent was adopted in 2005.

In the late summer, we open up for submissions. Individual filmmakers and studios and distributors send their films to us. We assemble nominating committees in the fall. They’re composed of many different people within the industry.

At the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards, acting president Brenda Robinson delivered a heartfelt tribute to longtime Film Independent president Josh Welsh, honoring the "visionary" who passed away on New Year's Eve at the age of 62 after a five-year battle with colon cancer. Welsh, who had served as president since 2012, was remembered for his immense contributions to the organization and the film community.

Ceremonies

Formerly held at a restaurant, and a hotel, and a ballroom, it is most recently held the day before the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

as a luncheon event in a tented parking lot next to the ocean in Santa Monica.

References

External links

The 2015 official rules and regulations
of the Independent Spirit Awards {{DEFAULTSORT:Independent Spirit Awards American film awards Awards established in 1984 1984 establishments in the United States American television awards

Categories

History

Ceremonies

See also

References

External links