Spirit Awards: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Starts With a Bang, ‘The Bear’ Wins First TV Award

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are underway, and Everything Everywhere All At Once started off with a bang at the annual awards shows when Ke Huy Quan won the first award of the evening in the best supporting performance category, beating out actors like Nina Hoss (Tar), Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway) and co-star Curtis.

The ceremony is being hosted by Hasan Minhaj, who opened the ceremony by telling the audience that he definitely was not paid as much as Jerrod Carmichael, who during his hosting gig at the 2023 Golden Globes said he got $500,000 for emcee job. “I am literally making 1/1,000 of what he made,” Minhaj said. “They literally handed me a Starbucks gift card and they were like, ‘hey man, just use what’s left on it.’”

After Quan won the first award, the award for best documentary was presented next, which went to All The Beauty and the Bloodshed, directed by Laura Poitras. Best international film went to Joyland (Pakistan/USA), while best first screenplay went to John Patton Ford for Emily the Criminal.

Heading into the show, Everything Everywhere All at Once led the film nominations with eight nods including best feature, directing and screenplay (for filmmaking duo Daniels). Michelle Yeoh, Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu were also nominated for their performances. The Daniels also won best screenplay.

“Without our community, our families, and the independent film community, the script would’ve never become what it is,” Daniel Kwan said, while Daniel Scheinert added, “Screenplays are hard to read sometimes and ours was especially scary to read, so thank you to everyone who believed in it.”

On the TV side, Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Severance and Station Eleven were tied for the most nominations with three apiece. The first TV award of the night was best supporting performance in a new scripted series, which went to Ayo Edebiri from Hulu’s The Bear.

This year, Film Independent did away with gender-specific acting categories, replacing best actor/actress and supporting actor/actress with gender-neutral categories with the same combined number of nominees. The new categories, best lead performance and best supporting performance, each feature 10 nominees. “We don’t care about your gender identity, as long as you’re hot,” Minhaj said during his monologue. “No uggs allowed! … Honestly though, I really am glad that we’re getting rid of gender categories because for the first time in history, all the men will know how all the women feel when they find out they’re competing with Cate Blanchett.”

Also during the ceremony, Sarah Polley’s Women Talking will receive the Robert Altman Award, which is given to a film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. Pachinko received the award for best ensemble cast in a new scripted series.

See the full list of winners here. Check out the star-studded red carpet arrivals here.

More to come.