This year, the Spirit Awards to provide Oscar counterpoint

But this year’s Spirit Awards, an annual dressed-down oceanside indie antidote to the Oscars was most remarkable for its wider diversity of nominees and winners. She’s also expected to win the Oscar at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, which will not feature any non-white or transgender actors, because for the second year in a row, none were nominated.

Though Spirit and Oscar winners have in recent years largely aligned in acting and best picture categories, this year, only one best picture Oscar nominee is up for the Spirit Awards’ top honour. Actress Mozhan Marno arrives at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards Actress Rachel McAdams attends the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016 in Santa Monica, California.

The acting winners at Saturday’s Spirit awards provided a stark contrast to the Academy Award’s all-white list of acting nominees.

Feb 28, 2016- Spotlight was the big victor at the Independent Spirit Awards, held one day ahead of the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles.

Mya Taylor won the best supporting actress for her performance in comedy-dram “Tangerine”. “That was so good”, Mara said to her director boyfriend Charlie McDowell.

The movie, about the Boston Globe’s investigation into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, took best film as well as best director for Tom McCarthy and best screenplay.

Brie Larson, the Room star considered the frontrunner to win the Oscar for best actress, netted best female lead.

The Robert Altman Award was given to Spotlight. The show exclusively honors the best achievements in independent film.

Take a look at their parody of one of this year’s best films Room below.

“Quite honestly, we need studios like this who are going to step up when the other studios won’t”, said McCarthy, who also shared in best screenplay with his cowriter, Josh Singer. Emma Donoghue, the novelist-turned-screenwriter, also won for best adapted screenplay for the film.

Collecting the award, she said: “I have had a long journey through 2015 because I had come from nearly nothing and then got this role and this movie, and my life just did a total 360”.

McCarthy told reporters on the arrivals red carpet he hadn’t felt any nerves ahead of the Spirit Awards – but would be “a wreck” at the Oscars.