39th Independent Spirit Awards

The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2023, were presented by Film Independent on February 25, 2024. The ceremony took place at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, and was hosted by American actress and comedian Aidy Bryant. For the second year in a row, the ceremony was streamed live on the YouTube channels of both IMDb and Film Independent, among other social platforms.

The nominations were announced live via YouTube on December 5, 2023, by actors Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales. American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives led the film nominations with five each, followed by The Holdovers and Passages with four apiece; for the television categories, I'm a Virgo and The Last of Us received the most nominations with four each.

The grant recipients of the Emerging Filmmakers Awards were announced on January 6, 2024.

Changes
This year, Film Independent added a new category: Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. This move evens the number of performance categories for film and TV; three on the film side (Best Lead Performance, Best Supporting Performance, and Best Breakthrough Performance) and three on the television side (Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series, Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series, and now Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series).

John Cassavetes Award
(The award is given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Fremont – Babak Jalali (director/writer); Carolina Cavalli (writer); Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, and Laura Wagner (producers)
 * The Artifice Girl – Franklin Ritch (director/writer); Aaron B. Koontz and Ashleigh Snead (producers)
 * Cadejo Blanco – Justin Lerner (director/writer/producer); Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, and Jack Patrick Hurley (producers)
 * Rotting in the Sun – Sebastián Silva (director/writer); Pedro Peirano (writer); Jacob Wasserman (producer)
 * The Unknown Country – Morrisa Maltz (director/writer/producer); Lily Gladstone (writer); Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux and Vanara Taing (writers/producers); Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, and Tommy Heitkamp (producers)

Robert Altman Award
(The award is given to the film's director, casting director, and ensemble cast)


 * Showing Up – Kelly Reichardt (director); Gayle Keller (casting director); André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James LeGros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, and Michelle Williams (cast)

Producers Award
The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.


 * Monique Walton
 * Rachael Fung
 * Graham Swon

Someone to Watch Award
The award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.


 * Monica Sorelle – Mountains
 * Joanna Arnow – The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
 * Laura Moss – Birth/Rebirth

Truer than Fiction Award
The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.


 * Set Hernandez – Unseen
 * Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli – Lakota Nation vs. United States
 * Sierra Urich – Joonam

Israel-Hamas protest
Outside the venue, a handful of protesters were located on the beach in Santa Monica playing previously recorded chants on a megaphone, such as "free Palestine", "long live Palestine" and "ceasefire now", which played on a loop throughout most of the ceremony and was audible to everyone inside; host Aidy Bryant, and winners Babak Jalali and Kelly Reichardt referenced the chants in their speeches. It was also revealed that the disruption was coming from one young male who was holding the loudspeaker and standing on the outer part of the Spirits barricade; a group of security guards and Spirits showrunners tried to reason with the protester, who was quite calm and tranquil, but to no success. Another group of Spirits security guards stood by and watched; three police officers, one in fully armed gear, looked on.

Additionally, The New York Times pop culture reporter Kyle Buchanan spoke to the protester who refused to give a statement and revealed that he is with the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression; the protester elaborated that The New York Times "is a publication that has been complicit in misinformation and distortion of the facts".

Furthermore, film critic Tomris Laffly was able to speak to one of the protesters, Vivian Wiseman, about disrupting awards events to keep a light on the events happening in Palestine; Wiseman told Laffly: "We want everyone to know that the activists and the people who care are going to disrupt them wherever they go because we believe in love, we believe in peace, and we believe in liberation of the Palestinian people."

Afterward, Josh Welsh, the long-serving president of Film Independent, responded to the scene, saying: "We embrace the First Amendment and freedom of speech, and this is clearly a moment when people feel passionately about what's happening in the world and want to speak about it. We support that. Of course, we also want to honor the filmmakers here today in their moment being recognized for their beautiful work. But I think today was a beautiful show and people incorporated what was going on into their remarks in really great ways."

The following day, the Los Angeles Times revealed that filmmaker Merawi Gerima was among the protesters; Gerima previously won the John Cassavetes Award for his film Residue at the 36th Independent Spirit Awards in 2021. A video posted to the Instagram page of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) showed the beginning of the protest, with Gerima speaking into a loudspeaker to announce they are there on behalf of the USPCN and the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression. "We say it is far better to stand with the oppressed people around the world than with the oppressors here in Hollywood," Gerima said in the video, before specifically calling out multiple times actor Jeffrey Wright, star of the film American Fiction; the film won two awards, including Best Lead Performance for Wright. "It's not enough to have a film about racism, Mr. Jeffrey Wright," said Gerima. "It's not enough to have a film about oppression in the United States, Jeffrey Wright. It is far more important to stand against oppression and racism as it exists in the world today in solidarity with the Black and brown people of the planet, particularly Palestinians." Gerima stated in another video: "A whole industry of communicators is absolutely silent in the face of genocide. And so we say no business as usual, not even in Hollywood." A request for comment from Gerima was not responded to while Film Independent did not respond to a request for comment on the protest.