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Adam Sandler Wins Best Actor at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards

Uncut Gems and The Farewell dominate a ceremony that corrected the Oscars' biggest snubs. See the full list of Indie Spirit Awards winners for 2020.

by | February 8, 2020 | Comments

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(Photo by © A24)

Just one day before the Academy Awards, Hollywood’s brightest stars toasted the best in indie at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards – and it was two films completely snubbed by the Oscars that dominated.

The awards, given out at a beachside ceremony in Santa Monica, California, and broadcast live on IFC, usually have little overlap with the Oscars and this year was no exception. Renee Zellweger was the lone acting nominee at the Spirits also up for a statuette at tomorrow night’s Oscars – and she won – and Robert Altman honoree Marriage Story was the sole film competing for Best Feature here and Best Picture tomorrow.

Uncut Gems, which was left out of the Oscars altogether, earned three awards, including Best Director for Benny and Josh Safdie, Best Editing, and – finally, justice for Sandman! – Best Male Lead for Adam Sandler. But it was The Farewell, also ignored by the Academy, which won Best Feature, and Best Supporting Female for Shuzhen Zhao, who plays Nai Nai in the film.

The Lighthouse co-star Willem Dafoe, whose grizzled wickie was one of RT fans’ favorite performances of the year, won for Best Supporting Male.

Did they get it right? See the full list of winners and nominees below and let us know what you think of the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Award results in the comments. 


Best Feature


Best Director

Robert Eggers

The Lighthouse
90%

Alma Har’el

Honey Boy
95%

Julius Onah

Luce
91%

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie

Uncut Gems
91%

Lorene Scafaria

Hustlers
88%

Best Screenplay

Noah Baumbach

Marriage Story
95%

Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder

To Dust
89%

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie

Uncut Gems
91%

Chinonye Chukwu

Clemency
92%

Tarell Alvin McCraney

High Flying Bird
91%

Best First Feature


Best First Screenplay

Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol

See You Yesterday
93%

Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen

Driveways
99%

Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy

Blow the Man Down
99%

Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe

Greener Grass
83%

James Montague, Craig W. Sanger

The Vast of Night
92%

Best Male Lead


Best Female Lead


Best Supporting Male


Willem Dafoe

The Lighthouse


Noah Jupe

Honey Boy


Shia LaBeouf

Honey Boy


Jonathan Majors

The Last Black Man in San Francisco


Wendell Pierce

Burning Cane


Best Supporting Female


Best Cinematography

Todd Banhazl

Hustlers
88%

Jarin Blaschke

The Lighthouse
90%

Natasha Braier

Honey Boy
95%

Chananun Chotrungroj

The Third Wife
88%

Pawel Pogorzelski

Midsommar
83%

Best International Film


Best Documentary


Best Editing

Julie Béziau

The Third Wife
88%

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie

Uncut Gems
91%

Tyler L. Cook

Sword of Trust
94%

Louise Ford

The Lighthouse
90%

Kirill Mikhanovsky

Give Me Liberty
89%

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature under $500,000)


Robert Altman Award (Best Ensemble)


Truer Than Fiction Award

Davy Rothbart

17 Blocks
100%

Erick Stoll, Chase Whiteside

América
100%

Khalik Allah

Black Mother
97%

Nadia Shihab

Jaddoland

Someone to Watch Award


Joe Talbot

The Last Black Man in San Francisco


Ash Mayfair

The Third Wife


Bonnie Award

  • Kelly Reichardt

Producers Award

  • Mollye Asher

Are you as obsessed with awards as we are? Check out our Awards Leaderboard for 2019/2020.