like Mikey Madison, Demi Moore and Sebastian Stan are making a stop by the beach Saturday for the . The annual awards ceremony underway is the shaggier, more irreverent sister to the Academy Awards, celebrating the best in independent film and television.
Host Aidy Bryant called it 鈥淗ollywood鈥檚 third or fourth biggest night,鈥� returning to host the proceedings for the second year. The 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� alum kicked off the event ribbing some of the nominees, like Emma Stone.
鈥淓mma was a producer on four nominated projects tonight,鈥� Bryant said. 鈥淏ut even more importantly, her hair is short now.鈥�
Bryant also made a plea to anyone watching the show, in the audience or on the YouTube livestream, . She pointed to a QR code that appeared on the livestream to make donations to the Film Independent Emergency Filmmaker Relief Fund, providing grants to alumni impacted by the wildfires.
鈥淢y Old Ass鈥� star Maisy Stella was among the early winners of the event, in the breakthrough performance category. The documentary prize went to the lauded film by a Palestinian-Israeli collective about the destruction of a village in the West Bank which doesn鈥檛 have distribution. It鈥檚 is also a strong Oscar contender in a competitive category. The filmmakers were not in attendance to accept the award.
is one of the most nominated films of the night, as is Jane Schoenbrun鈥檚 psychological horror Both got six nominations, including best feature and best director.
Also nominated for best feature film were RaMell Ross鈥� adaptation of Colson Whitehead鈥檚 Greg Kwedar鈥檚 incarceration drama and Coralie Fargeat鈥檚 body horror
Madison, who surprisingly triumphed over Moore last weekend at the BAFTAs, is among the lead actor nominees. Her competition includes Moore, for 鈥淭he Substance,鈥� Stan, for playing a young Donald Trump in 鈥淭he Apprentice鈥� and Colman Domingo for his turn as an incarcerated man in 鈥淪ing Sing.鈥�
Acting categories for the Spirit Awards are gender neutral and include 10 spots each. In the supporting category, Oscar front-runner Kieran Culkin (鈥淎 Real Pain鈥�) is up against 鈥淎nora鈥檚鈥� Yura Borisov.
The winners of the show sometimes overlap significantly with the Oscars, as in the 鈥淓verything Everywhere All At Once鈥� year, and sometimes hardly at all. Last year鈥檚 awards season champion 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� was too expensive to qualify, and the top Spirit Awards winners were 鈥淧ast Lives鈥� and 鈥淎merican Fiction.鈥�
The awards limit eligibility to productions with budgets of $30 million or less, meaning more expensive productions like and were not in the running.
The Spirit Awards also recognize new fiction and nonfiction television series, where nominees include the Netflix phenomenon 鈥淏aby Reindeer,鈥� 鈥淪h艒gun鈥� and 鈥淩en Fair.鈥�
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
