26/02/2024 - Justine Triet's and Kaouther Ben Hania's works respectively triumph in the Best International Film and Best Documentary categories at the US awards

Director Justine Triet with her Independent Spirit Award for Anatomy of a Fall in Santa Monica (© Justine Triet/Instagram)

The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out last night in Santa Monica, California, and two of the gongs ended up going to Europe. After the nomination of several European (co-)productions in the main categories, such as Ira Sachs' Passages [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and the Spanish production Upon Entry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alejandro Rojas and Juan Se…
film profile] by debuting duo Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vasquez (see the news), it was two films in the Best International Film and the Best Documentary categories that ended up receiving the statuettes. Season favourites Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile] and Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] were the winners in the two categories, respectively.

Fresh off its six-trophy sweep at Friday night's Césars (see the news), Justine Triet's Palme d'Or and Golden Globe winner went on to bag another major award with this win. "Arthur Harari and I wrote this film with total freedom, the freedom not to conform to any narrative, moral, formal or genre standards; we tried to achieve something true by always valuing imperfection, ambiguity and complexity. This freedom is the most precious thing to me, and I would like to thank my producers for building up this film with me like a prototype," stated a grateful Triet, present in Los Angeles in person to collect the award. Anatomy of a Fall won out in the category, trouncing other films such as Hlynur Pálmason's Godland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elliott Crosset Hove
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile], Lila Avilés' Totem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lila Avilés
film profile] and Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Yet another César winner from Friday night, in the Best Documentary category, Kaouther Ben Hania's film rose above its US and non-US competitors. Just like Four Daughters, both of the latter hailed from the MENA region: Lina Soualem's Bye Bye Tiberias [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lina Soualem
film profile] and Asmae El Moudir's The Mother of All Lies. "Independent we are, and independent we shall remain - this is the motto for us documentary filmmakers. I'm incredibly proud of my nominated sisters; women filmmakers now have a voice, we are present, and you should listen to them," expressed Ben Hania while clutching her award on the stage.

Both films are now nominated for the Oscars (see the news) and have a good chance of taking some statuettes home.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Best Feature
Past Lives - Celine Song

Best Director
Celine Song – Past Lives

Best First Feature
A Thousand and One - AV Rockwell

Best International Film
Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile] – Justine Triet (France)

Best Documentary
Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] – Kaouther Ben Hania (France/Tunisia/Germany/Saudi Arabia)

Best Lead Performance
Jeffrey Wright - American Fiction

Best Supporting Performance
Da’vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers

Breakthrough Performance
Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers

Best Screenplay
American Fiction

Best First Screenplay
May December

Best Cinematography
The Holdovers

Best Editing
How to Blow Up a Pipeline

John Cassavetes Award
Fremont - Babak Jalali

Robert Altman Award
Showing Up

Someone to Watch Award
Monica Sorelle, director of Mountains

Truer Than Fiction Award
Set Hernandez, director of unseen

Producers Award
Monique Walton

Best New Scripted Series
Beef

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Dear Mama

Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series
Ali Wong - Beef

Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series
Nick Offerman - The Last of Us

Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series
Keivonn Montreal Woodard - The Last of Us

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
Jury Duty