A-List Celebrities, Actors, Producers, Directors, Editors, Writers and Production Execs come out for the 2024 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS in a big white tent, on the beach in Santa Monica, California!
Many of these celebrities will be nominated for the Academy Awards, and a few will win the Oscar trophy next month! This event had some of the biggest names in showbiz walking the red carpet, attend the show and the exclusive after party at the Miramar Hotel only a few blocks away! It was both a fun and amazing night, that everyone who was lucky enough to be there will always remember!
The Spirit Awards are Film Independent’s largest annual celebration, making year-round programming for filmmakers and film loving audiences possible while amplifying the voices of independent storytellers and celebrating their diversity, originality and uniqueness of vision.
Film Independent Spirit Awards are supported by Premier Sponsor Lavazza Coffee, Principal Sponsor IMDbPro and Official Partners Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, FIJI Water, Petite Fleur Champagne and Stella Artois. Easterseals Disability Services is the accessibility partner. Hotel Casa del Mar, Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows and The Georgian are the Official Hotels. Pentagram is the Visual Branding Partner. Getty Images is the Official Photographer. Vision Media is the exclusive screening partner. Caffeine Post, eTech Rentals, Illuminar and Town and Country Event Rentals are Official Providers.
Film Independent President Josh Welsh, Chairman of the Board Brenda Robinson, Host Aidy Bryant and Honorary Chair Lily Gladstone lead the way!
The Presenters Included: Adam Brody, Aja Naomi King, Andrew Scott, Anna Kendrick, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, David Brown, Elizabeth Banks, Emma Corrin, Emma Roberts, Greta Lee, Hannah Einbinder, James Marsden, Jessica Williams, Jim Gaffigan, Jimmy O. Yang, Joel Kim Booster, Jude Law, Lewis Pullman, Lily Gladstone, Milo Ventimiglia, Natalie Morale, Quinta Brunson, Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola, Ronald Gladden, Stephanie Hsu, Sterling K. Brown, Thomasin Mckenzie, Trace Lysette, and Zoe Lister-Jones.
On the red carpet our TV Show Host: Margie Rey, and our Entertainment News Reporter: Jacqueline Murphy together got some amazing, insightful, in-depth, and very interesting interviews! It is lucky that we had both of them as there were SO MANY nominees and celebrities to be interviewed on the red carpet- one right after the other! On this show you will get to see all these great interviews! L – R: Margie & Jacqueline: 
We almost called this episode of our TV Show: “A Night with Jury Duty” as we had so many interviews with their whole cast on the red carpet, and then meet them all again in the after-party (see below segment) as they won the Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series Spirit Award! We had interviews with: Ronald Gladden – the star of Jury Duty: 
and David Brown: Actor in Jury Duty and Presenter at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and received an award for Best Ensemble Cast:
Cassandra Blair: 
Maria Russell: 
Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola – Bailiff Nikki on Jury Duty:
Mekki Leeper: 
and the Judge on Jury Duty: Alan Barinholtz: 
The celebrity that we ran into the most during the whole day and night was Boots Riley, who we interviewed on the red carpet, and meet him again after the show (see below segment), and then a for a third time at the after-party. Boots Riley is the Creator and Executive Producer of “I’m a Virgo,” and gave us a funny and in-depth interview on the red carpet: 
Jack Farthing – Rain dogs:
Judy Reyes – Actress in Birth/Rebirth: nominated for Best Lead Performance: 
The handsome Actor: Ramon Rodriguez – who plays the starring role of Will Trent on the show Will Trent: 
Dominique Swain -Swarm: 
Below we had a funny and insightful interview with: Jimmy O. Yang, who is an American actor and stand-up comedian. As an actor, he is best known for starring as Jian-Yang in the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley, as Dr. Chan Kaifang in the Netflix comedy series Space Force, and as Josh Lin in the Netflix romantic comedy film Love Hard: 
Effie Brown the Producer of the HBO project Greenlight & Film Independent: 
Teo Yoo actor in past lives, which won Best Film: 
During the show we sat right at the same table as Brooklyn New York native: Actress Marisa Tomei who is the Executive Producer for Lakota Nation vs. United States. You would all remember her from her very funny role in “My Cousin Vinny.” Marisa Tomei was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 4, 1964, and gained prominence for her comedic performance in My Cousin Vinny (1992), which earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her scene-stealing performance as the brassy girlfriend of the novice lawyer played by Joe Pesci. You can see them both in the below movie poster: 
In the below photo from the movie you can see her and Joe Pesci when he interrogated her up on the witness stand: 
However, our TV Show Host: Margie Rey and myself both agree that our favorite scene from the movie, and the best moment of all, was when Marisa won the case for the defense with her amazing “expert witness” testimony about the car used by the 2 defendants, and made this cute jester with her hands when she knew she was in the right, as shown in the below photo: 
She received further Academy Award nominations in the category for In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008), won the MTV Movie & TV Awards in 1993, and has won many other major awards, and has been nominated in over 40 other awards shows!
She was so kind to take a photo with me as you can see in the above photo. She still looks so young by doing meditation, and going on hikes, and doing yoga occasionally. After I complemented her on looking so young she jokingly said that we can go for a hike together sometime on the sand on the beach in Santa Monica! Taking good care of herself helps her on a mental, spiritual, and physical level. She still goes on hikes and does calisthenics and yoga too, but she firmly believes that how these exercises affect her inner self is the cornerstone of it all. In fact, when Marisa smiles and laughs, she still looks exactly like she did when she did My Cousin Vinny- when she was only 26 years old! As you can see in the photo on the left from the movie: 
It was a real pleasure and honor to meet her up close and in person, because every single movie I saw her in she was great! Since I am also originally from New York (Great Neck, Long Island) I can say that I guess all of us New Yorkers stick together! 
Right after the show we were lucky enough to talk to and get a photo with: the beautiful Actress Jessica Chastain who was nominated for BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE for her great acting in the movie: “Memory.” She is in the photos below with Matt, Jacqueline, Margie, and Steve. I guess we ALL wanted a photo with her:
“Cord Jefferson: won for Best Screenplay, as he is the writer for American fiction. He was also the Producer and Director of it. Totally lovely guy, I saw it at the Hampton Film Festival and he actually remembered me” -said our Entertainment News Reporter: Jacqueline Murphy: 
Boots Riley, Director, Executive Producer, and Creator of a new TV show called: “I’m a Virgo,” and he was nominated for Best New Scripted Series. He was talking about making movie projects over drinks with Jacqueline, Margie, and Steve: 
At the end of the show, right in front of the stage I was able to meet a real legend: Leonard Maltin who is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010:
At the end of the show Margie was able to meet Actress Kara Young, who was nominated for: Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series in “I’m a Virgo” :
Spirit Award Winners we meet by the stage: 
FILM INDEPENDENT HONORS 2024 SPIRIT AWARDS WINNERS AT 39TH ANNUAL CEREMONY:
Past Lives, The Holdovers and Beef Lead the Way in an Unpredictable and Varied Celebration of the Best of Independent Storytelling.
The following is a complete list of the winners:
FILM CATEGORIES:
Best Feature: Past Lives (A24) , Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon.
Best Director: Celine Song, Past Lives (A24).
Best Screenplay: Cord Jefferson, American Fiction (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios).
Best First Feature: A Thousand and One (Focus Features), Director: A.V. Rockwell, Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston.
Best First Screenplay: Samy Burch, Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik, May December (Netflix).
John Cassavetes Award: (for best feature made under $1,000,000)- Fremont (Music Box Films), Writer/Director: Babak Jalal, Writer: Carolina Cavalli, Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner.
Best Breakthrough Performance: Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers (Focus Features).
Best Supporting Performance: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features).
Best Lead Performance: Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios).
Robert Altman Award: Showing Up (A24), Director: Kelly Reichardt, Casting Director: Gayle Keller, Ensemble Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams.
Best Cinematography: Eigil Bryld, The Holdovers (Focus Features).
Best Editing: Daniel Garber, How to Blow Up a Pipeline (NEON).
Best International Film: Anatomy of a Fall (NEON), Director: Justine Triet.
Best Documentary: Four Daughters (Kino Lorber), Director: Kaouther Ben Hania, Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha.
Someone to Watch: Monica Sorelle, Mountains.
Truer Than Fiction: Set Hernandez, unseen (POV, American Documentary).
Producers Award: Monique Walton.
TELEVISION CATEGORIES :
Best New Scripted Series: Beef (Netflix), Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin, Executive Producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Co-Executive Producers: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper.
Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series: Dear Mama (FX), Executive Producers: Lasse Järvi, Quincy ‘QD3’ Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel ‘Future’ Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair.
Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series: Nick Offerman, The Last of Us (HBO/Max).
Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series: Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix).
Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series: Keivonn Montreal Woodard, The Last of Us (HBO/Max).
Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series: Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee). Ensemble Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams.
2024 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD WINNERS BY DISTRIBUTOR:
| DISTRIBUTOR | WINS | # |
| A24 | Past Lives, Best Feature Past Lives, Best Director Showing Up, Altman Award |
3 |
| Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios / Amazon Freevee |
American Fiction, Best Screenplay American Fiction, Best Lead Performance Jury Duty, Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series |
3 |
| Focus Features | The Holdovers, Best Supporting Performance The Holdovers, Best Breakthrough Performance The Holdovers, Best Cinematographer A Thousand and One, Best First Feature |
4 |
| FX | Dear Mama, Best New Nonscripted or Documentary Series | 1 |
| HBO/Max | The Last of Us, Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series The Last of Us, Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series |
2 |
| Kino Lorber | Four Daughters, Best Documentary | 1 |
| Music Box Films | Fremont, John Cassavetes Award | 1 |
| NEON | Anatomy of a Fall, Best International How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Best Editing |
2 |
| Netflix | Beef, Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series Beef, Best New Scripted Series May December, Best First Screenplay |
3 |
| POV, American Documentary | unseen, Truer Than Fiction | 1 |
| No Distributor | Mountains, Someone to Watch | 1 |
| N/A | Monique Walton, Producers Award | 1 |
This year the exclusive invite only After-Party for the Spirit Awards was at the iconic Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows– right on Wilshire Blvd. and Ocean, which is only a few blocks away from the Santa Monica Pier- where the Spirit Awards were held – just North of the Pier. The Miramar Hotel is a Santa Monica icon that has hosted Hollywood legends including Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe. The five-acre urban resort perches on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, steps from Santa Monica State Beach.
At the After-Party most of the Spirit Award Winning Cast of “Jury Duty” were there, including L- R: Matt, Margie, Ronald Gladden – the star of Jury Duty, & Steve:
and Presenter and Actor on Jury Duty: Dave Brown: 
Cassandra Blair, Maria Russell, Rashida Olayiwola – Bailiff Nikki on Jury Duty, Mekki Leeper, and in the below photo- Roy Song: 
and the Judge on Jury Duty: Alan Barinholtz! We had interviewed all of them on the red carpet! – so it looks like we picked a winner on the red carpet- right before the Awards Show where they won the Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series Spirit Award!
Also at this amazing party: Anne Hathaway: 
Boots Riley the Creator and Executive Producer of “I’m a Virgo,” below photo taken from the red carpet: 
Natalie Portman the Actress in “May December” who was up for the BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE, and my personal favorite at the after-party: Actress Anna Kendrick who was also a Presenter: 
At the After-Party our TV Show Host: Margie Rey walked right up to Actor & Comedian: Jim Gaffigan and his big crowd of friends that were surrounding him, and said to Jim and his friends: “Jim did such a great job as the Host of the Grammy’s MusiCares Gala & Concert to honor Jon Bon Jovi,” that our news team had covered and attended, . . . “and Jim was so funny throughout the whole show, especially when he dressed up as a young Jon Bon Jovi, with long hair and wearing short-shorts!” Jim and all of his friends all agreed and all laughed really hard and loud! We all had a great time together hanging out with all these great stars.
It was a pleasure to meet one of the actors – Carl Heely from a show that I like, and that I had just saw the night before: “Boardwalk Empire” that Stars Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning Actor: Steve Buscemi. Carl Heely is a little person involved in Atlantic City boardwalk entertainments. He is playing the co-star Nic Novicki. We had meet him at last year’s exclusive and private After-Party at the Carousel attraction right on the Santa Monica Pier, so he had remembered us, so he was again very nice to us and we had a fun time talking to him. Carl is in between all of us in the below photo, L – R: Steve, Carl Heely: “Boardwalk Empire,” Margie, and Matt: 
We thank you for watching our show, and making it all the way down to here- to read this story! We all had a great once-in-a-lifetime experience, hanging out with all of these A-List Celebrities, sharing great food and drinks, and partying with them! Stay tuned for The Oscars and more from Entertainment Today!
We hope to see you all soon! So stay tuned and thanks for watching Entertainment & Sports Today TV and Entertainment Today on New York National News/Time Warner/ Spectrum. To watch other shows go to: EntertainmentandSportsToday.com
