Steve McQueen‘s “12 Years a Slave” dominated the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, taking home five awards including Best Feature, Best Director for Steve McQueen, Best Supporting Female for Lupita Nyong’o, Best Screenplay for John Ridley and Best Cinematography for Sean Bobbitt.
The only other film to win more than one award was “Dallas Buyers Club,” which won for lead actor Matthew McConaughey and supporting actor Jared Leto.
“12 Years a Slave” is locked in a tight battle with “Gravity” and “American Hustle” for the top Oscar, but neither of those films were eligible for at the Spirit Awards, which are open to movies made for budgets of less than $20 million.
The drama’s triumph in a zero-“Gravity” zone was expected, as Spirit Awards voters in recent years have typically gone for the most high-profile Oscar contender on the ballot.
In his acceptance speech at the end of the night, McQueen focused on the two “Slave” actors who did not win, Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
In the lead acting categories McConaughey and Cate Blanchett continued their sweeps through awards season, winning the Best Female Lead and Best Male Lead awards just as they’d won most of the preceding awards over the past month.
McConaughey is considered the likely Oscar winner for his performance as Ron Woodruff, a Texas electrician who became a reluctant crusader in the battle against AIDS, while Blanchett is the prohibitive favorite for her performance as a pill-popping, alcoholic divorcee in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”
Also read: Oscar Predictions: ‘Gravity’ Will Be the Biggest Winner, But Will It Win the Big One?
In an eloquent speech, Nyong’o said she realized after taking an independent film class in college that “independent film is where stuff actually happens — stuff that matters.”
Leto’s speech included a thank-you to “all the women I’ve been with, and all the women who think they’ve been with me,” and another to “my future ex-wife — Lupita, I’m thinking of you.”
“Fruitvale Station” won the award for Best First Feature, with director Ryan Coogler drawing a standing ovation with his emotional speech pointing out other cases similar to the one depicted in his film, in which a young, unarmed black man was gunned down by transit police in Northern California.
Bob Nelson won the Best First Screenplay award for “Nebraska,” which he wrote about 10 years ago while working in television in Seattle.
“Blue Is the Warmest Color” won the award for the best international film, and “20 Feet From Stardom” was named best documentary.
The John Cassavetes Award, which goes to an ultra low-budget film, went to Chad Haritgan for the understated study “This Is Martin Bonner,” which Hartigan said was made for $42,000.
The show was hosted by Patton Oswalt, whose opening monologue drew a few groans and very little laughter.
Also read: Patton Oswalt on a Spirit Awards Joke Gone Awry: ‘We’re Not Doing the Birds Thing’
In the first 28 years of the Spirit Awards’ existence, its best-feature winner went on to take the top Oscar only twice: “Platoon” at the second Spirit Awards in 1988, and “The Artist” at the second-to-last one in 2012.
Other recent winners include “Black Swan,” “Precious,” “The Wrestler,” “Juno” and last year’s top film, “Silver Linings Playbook.”
The show will air on IFC Saturday night at 10 ET/PT.
Also read: Oscar Week Parties: The Scene Before the Show
Here is the list of nominees. Winners indicated by *WINNER.
Best Feature:
“12 Years a Slave” *WINNER
“All Is Lost”
“Frances Ha”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
Best Director:
Shane Carruth, “Upstream Color”
J.C. Chandor, “All is Lost”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” *WINNER
Jeff Nichols, “Mud”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
Best Screenplay:
Woody Allen, “Blue Jasmine”
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater, “Before Midnight”
Nicole Holofcener, “Enough Said”
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, “The Spectacular Now”
John Ridley, “12 Years a Slave” *WINNER
Best Female Lead:
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” *WINNER
Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight”
Gaby Hoffman, “Crystal Fairy”
Brie Larson, “Short Term 12″
Shailene Woodley, “The Spectacular Now”
Best Male Lead:
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club” *WINNER
Robert Redford, “All Is Lost”
Best Supporting Female:
Melonie Diaz, “Fruitvale Station”
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”
Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave” *WINNER
Yolonda Ross, “Go for Sisters”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Best Supporting Male:
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
Will Forte, “Nebraska”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” *WINNER
Keith Stanfield, “Short Term 12”
Best First Feature:
“Blue Caprice”
“Concussion”
“Fruitvale Station” *WINNER
“Una Noche”
“Wadjda”
Best First Screenplay:
“In a World,” Lake Bell
“Don Jon,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt
“Nebraska,” Bob Nelson *WINNER
“Afternoon Delight,” Jill Soloway
“The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” Michael Starrbury
John Cassavetes Award:
“Computer Chess”
“Crystal Fairy”
“Museum Hours”
“Pit Stop”
“This Is Martin Bonner” *WINNER
Best Cinematography:
Sean Bobbit, “12 Years a Slave” *WINNER
Benoit Debie, “Spring Breakers”
Bruno Delbonnel, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Frank G. DeMarco, “All Is Lost”
Matthias Grunsky, “Computer Chess”
Best Editing:
Shane Carruth & David Lowery, “Upstream Color”
Jem Cohen & Marc Vives, “Museum Hours”
Jennifer Lame, “Frances Ha”
Cindy Lee, “Una Noche”
Nat Sanders, “Short Term 12” *WINNER
Best Documentary:
“20 Feet From Stardom” *WINNER
“After Tiller”
“Gideon’s Army”
“The Act of Killing”
“The Square”
Best International Film:
“A Touch of Sin”
“Blue Is the Warmest Color” *WINNER
“Gloria”
“The Great Beauty”
“The Hunt”
Robert Altman Award (given to a film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast): “Mud”
Piaget Producers Award: Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston
Someone to Watch Award: “Newlyweeds,” Shake King
Truer Than Fiction Award: “Let the Fire Burn,” Jason Osder