The Lost Daughter and Passing triumph at the Spirit Awards

by David González

07/03/2022 - The US-European co-productions have won in the main categories of the US prizes for independent cinema, with Malta's Alex Camilleri receiving the Someone to Watch Award

The Lost Daughter and Passing triumph at the Spirit Awards

The producers of The Lost Daughter, with director Maggie Gyllenhaal, accepting the Best Feature Award (© Film Independent)

The 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards took place on Sunday 6 March in Los Angeles. After having announced their nominees (which not only included the usual US-European co-productions in the English language, but also a number of 100% European productions - see the news), the awards highlighted some European talent.

Despite the fact that European productions like Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara [+see also:
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interview: Jonas Carpignano
film profile] and Ninja Thyberg's Pleasure [+see also:
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interview: Ninja Thyberg
film profile], which had been nominated in some of the main categories, came back home empty-handed, other titles hailing from the continent were indeed awarded, such as the Maltese-US co-production Luzzu [+see also:
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interview: Alex Camilleri
film profile], for which director Alex Camilleri won in the Someone to Watch Award category. Camilleri, a Maltese-US filmmaker now based in New York City, is an alumnus of both the Sundance and Film Independent labs. His social drama, in which he shows a side of Malta that is a world apart from its traditional, tourist-orientated vistas, was world-premiered in the 2021 Sundance World Cinema Competition, where it won a Special Jury Award for Acting for its lead, Jesmark Scicluna.

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On top of this, the main victor of the night was the US-European co-production The Lost Daughter [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], the directorial debut by US actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film, produced by the USA, the UK, Israel and Greece, went home with the Awards for Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay (a prize it previously received at the most recent Venice Film Festival). Another directorial debut by an actress, this time a British one, Rebecca Hall's Passing [+see also:
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film profile], won awards in two categories: Best Cinematography for Eduard Grau's work, and Best Supporting Female for Ruth Negga's turn. Coincidentally, both films are Netflix titles. CODA, Sian Heder's remake of the 2014 French hit The Bélier Family [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], co-produced by France, won one award, for Best Supporting Male (Troy Kotsur). Michael Sarnoski's Pig, which has British involvement, won the award for Best First Screenplay.

As for the Best International Film category, the juggernaut Drive My Car by Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi ended up taking home the crown, beating a number of European contenders: Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers [+see also:
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making of
film profile], Juho Kuosmanen's Compartment No. 6 [+see also:
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interview: Juho Kuosmanen
film profile], Céline Sciamma's Petite Maman [+see also:
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film profile] and Tatiana Huezo’s Mexican-European co-production Prayers for the Stolen [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]. Lastly, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s sensation Flee [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile] (which won the Best Feature Award at the International Documentary Association’s annual awards ceremony on Friday) lost out to Questlove's Summer of Soul.