33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards winners & scene

A major Hollywood studio, Universal--albeit via a typically low-budget Blumhouse horror production, Jordan Peele's box office smash Get Out--was the big winner at Film Independent's 33^rd Saturday-before-Oscar celebration of American independent film, the Spirit Awards, again taking place in a tent on Santa Monica beach. Taking home the main prizes of Best Feature and Best Director for Jordan Peele, the film's pair of trophies were also matched by a trio of other films also contending for Academy Awards® on Sunday: Fox Searchlight's Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (Best Female Lead Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Male Sam Rockwell), Neon's I, Tonya (Best Supporting Female Allison Janney and Best Editing), and Sony Pictures Classics' Call Me by Your Name (Best Male Lead Timothée Chalamet and Best Cinematography). The full list of winners is as follows:

• Best Feature
  Get Out
  Producers: Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele
• Best Director
  Jordan Peele, Get Out
• Best Screenplay
  Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
• Best First Feature
  Ingrid Goes West
  Director: Matt Spicer
  Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza Tim White, Trevor White
• Best First Screenplay
  Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
• John Cassavetes Award (for best feature made under $500,000)
  Life and nothing more
  Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza
  Producers: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández, Pedro Hernández Santos
• Best Supporting Female
  Allison Janney, I, Tonya
• Best Supporting Male
  Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Best Female Lead
  Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Best Male Lead
  Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
• Robert Altman Award
  Mudbound
  Director: Dee Rees
  Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
  Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan
• Best Cinematography
  Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name
• Best Editing
  Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
• Best International Film
  A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
  Director: Sebastián Lelio
• Best Documentary
  Faces Places
  Directors: Agnès Varda & JR
  Producer: Rosalie Varda

But as with every year, the winners of the trophies is but a part of the whole story, for the casual, laid-back, highly unpretentious atmosphere of the event makes this awards season stop a true overall experience and not merely an awards show, with all the activity and mingling in the area around the tent just as celebratory and entertaining as the official happenings inside. Here are some visual highlights from my live Instagram and Twitter coverage today, with video of winners' backstage interviews to be posted later tonight.

View of awards tent site from Santa Monica Pier
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Backstage interview stage
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Allison Janney, Best Supporting Female winner
for I, Tonya
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Ingrid Goes West director & co-writer Matt Spicer with
producer/star Aubrey Plaza & more cast & crew,
Best First Feature winners
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Life and nothing more producer Amadeo Hernández Bueno
& director/writer Antonio Méndez Esparza,
John Cassavetes Award winners
(photo by Michael Dequina)

A Fantastic Woman director Sebastián Lelio,
Best International Film winner
(photo by Michael Dequina)

The Rider director Chloé Zhao,
Bonnie Award winner
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Tatiana S. Riegel, Best Editing winner
for I, Tonya
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Mudbound director/co-screenwriter Dee Rees with stars
Jason Clarke, Rob Morgan, & Garrett Hedlund,
Robert Altman Award winners
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Kumail Nanjiani & Emily V. Gordon,
Best First Screenplay winners for The Big Sick
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Jordan Peele, Best Director & Best Feature winner
for Get Out
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Faces Places directors JR & Agnès Varda
& producer Rosalie Varda,
Best Documentary winners
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Jeep display
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Visit Seattle bar
(photo by Michael Dequina)

Bulleit bourbon whiskey cart
(photo by Michael Dequina)

(Special thanks to Ginsberg/Libby and Film Independent for their generous help every year)

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