Idris Elba busts out dance moves after Spirit Awards win

Attah won the best actor prize for his portrayal of a child soldier in the Netflix drama “Beasts of No Nation” – his first acting role. On receiving the award, Attah thanked the producers, Idris Elba (Prometheus) and the director Cary Fukunaga (True Detective Season 1), among others. Tom McCarthy’s newspaper drama “Spotlight” is expected to be the big victor Saturday, where it will compete without the competition of larger budget Oscar favorites “The Revenant” or “The Big Short”, neither of which qualified for the Spirits. After several years of increasing overlap with the Academy Awards, the Independent Film Spirit Awards should supply a counterpoint to the Oscars at its annual ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 27.

Cate was also nominated for Best Female Lead, and is up for Best Actress at the 2016 Oscars for her role in the film.

“There is transgender talent”, Taylor said. She concluded by saying, “There is transgender talent. So you better get out there and put it in your next movie”.

Spotlight, meanwhile, swept all the categories for which it was nominated, including Best Feature, Best Director for Tom McCarthy, Best Screenplay and the Robert Altman Award for an ensemble.

Marielle Heller’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl, set in 1970’s San Francisco, claimed the prize for best first feature. She paid tribute to independent film, and gushed, “It’s what helped me grow up”.

The Spirit Awards are voted on by members of Film Independent and require that the films be produced in the USA for less than $20 million. Kate McKinnon and Kumail Nanjiani are hosting the show, and it’s going to be downright hilarious. “It was incredible, it was like a homecoming for me”, he said. How did it make history as the first film in more than 50 years to win best picture and just one other Oscar? “We want to explore”.

The prize for documentary feature was awarded to Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, which like his 2012 documentary The Act of Killing, examines the Indonesian genocide of the 1960s.

“We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable, and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration”.

The presentation was a stark contrast to the ceremony’s traditional focus – a celebration of the year’s best cinematic achievements!