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The 41st annual Independent Spirit Awards looked a little different than years past, with the Hollywood Palladium replacing the customary beachfront backdrop. But the truly important things — the celebration of independent filmmaking and the communal gathering of artists who sometimes only see each other once a year — remained the same.
Much like great coffee, great movies and the craft of making them can bring people together. On the show’s iconic blue carpet, IndieWire and Lavazza partnered to celebrate the artists who made some of our favorite films and TV shows. Through conversations co-hosted by IndieWire’s Christian Zilko and filmmaker and content creator Reagan Yorke, the filmmakers and stars spoke about what the spirit of independence means to them — and why it’s vital to any truly great project, regardless of budget or medium.
The big winner of the show was Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams,” which took home the Spirit awards for Best Feature and Best Director. On the carpet before the big wins, star Joel Edgerton spoke about the way the film‘s location shoot in Washington allowed him to connect with the Pacific Northwestern scenery that shaped his character’s life so deeply.
“I found it extraordinary, being in the landscape,” Edgerton said. “And it was imperative that we were out there. You can’t build that stuff on a set. It’s remarkable how it reminds you that being in nature creates a certain quiet. A surprise for me was how much it tunes your senses and makes you pick up on the most tiny sounds. It was a very special environment to be in. I don’t know that the crew would say the same, because they had to lug all the equipment, but as an actor it was very special.”
As it turns out, the crew did say the same. When we caught up with “Train Dreams” cinematographer Adolpho Veloso, who won Best Cinematography, he raved about the experience of shooting on location and explained that relying on natural light allowed him greater flexibility with less equipment on set.
It was a historic day for “Esta Isla,” which was the first Puerto Rican film to be nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Co-writers and directors Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina celebrated the milestone on the carpet, explaining what it means to bring a distinctly Puerto Rican film to a larger audience.
“It feels great to speak up for Puerto Rico, which is where we’re from, and have people from around the world connect with our story and our island,” Molina said. “Independent Spirit Awards is such a good name, because it feeds our spirit, our soul.”
TV was not left out of the fun either, as “The Pitt” star Supriya Ganesh stopped by to talk about her first impressions of the script for the HBO Max juggernaut. She praised the show for taking the kinds of creative risks that would normally be found in independent films and applying them on an even bigger scale.
“I think we’re trying to do something new and different. That’s what really drew me to the script when I first read it. I have a background in medicine too, so I could tell it was an incredibly accurate script. It was the first thing I’ve ever read for a doctor character where I really could see the logical flow of what they were doing. And that’s just so daring, and that’s in the vein of what independent cinema does. We really didn’t know if this would work, and it really has.”
Our interviews on the carpet made it clear that, win or lose, everyone was better off for having the experience of coming together to celebrate a year of cinematic craftsmanship. For more of our conversations, continue to monitor the IndieWire and Lavazza USA Instagram accounts.
About Lavazza
Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. It is active in all business sectors and has operations in 140 markets, with 9 manufacturing plants in 5 countries and about 5,500 collaborators all over the world. The Group’s global presence is the result of 130 years of growth and the more than 30 billion cups of Lavazza coffee produced every year are a testament to a remarkable success story, with the goal of continuing to offer the best coffee possible, in all forms, by focusing on every aspect of the supply chain, from the selection of the raw material to the product in the cup.
English (US) ·