The Independent Spirit Awards are usually a breath of a fresh air from the cycle of familiar faces at the peak of awards season, and this year is no different. If the majority of Oscar predictions are to be believed, tomorrow's Academy Awards ceremony will likely rain down accolades on The Revenant, but today's Spirit Awards ceremony was all about Spotlight. The film took home five trophies in all, including Best Picture, Best Director for Tom McCarthy, Best Screenplay for McCarthy and Co-writer Josh Singer, Best Editing for Tom McArdle, and the tremendous work from the film's cast led by Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Liev SchreiberBrian d’Arcy James, and Stanley Tucci earned The Robert Altman award for the director, casting director and ensemble .

As for the Spirit Award's other major acting categories, Brie Larson won Best Actress for her performance in Room, Idris Elba took home Best Supporting Actor for Beasts of No Nation;, and as the first trans actor to win a major acting award, Mya Taylor took home Best Supporting Actress for Tangerine in a history-making win. And in the category that is all but guaranteed to go to Leonardo DiCaprio at tomorrow's Oscar ceremony, Best Actor was awarded to young Beasts of No Nation lead Abraham Attah (whose absence from the Academy Awards nominations is mystifying).

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Image via The Weinstein Company

Elsewhere, Marielle Heller's tremendous debut The Diary of a Teenage Girl took home Best First Feature, while Room Emma Donoghue took home Best First Screenplay for her adaptation of her own novel. Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence, his stunning follow-up to The Act of Killing, took home Best Documentary, while Best International Film went to the Hungarian picture Son of Saul.


Todd Haynes' stunningly goregeous period romance, Carol, took home a well deserved Cinematography win for Ed Lachman, whose splendid work has been woefully overshadowed by the awards-force The Revenant has become.

Check out the full list of the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards winners below.

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Brie Larson, Room

BEST MALE LEAD

Abraham Attah, Beasts Of No Nation

BEST DIRECTOR

Tom McCarthySpotlight

diary-of-a-teenage-girl-alexander-skarsgard-bel-powley
Image via Sony Pictures Classics

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Mya Taylor, Tangerine

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Son of Saul (Hungary)

Director: László Nemes

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Look of Silence (Drafthouse Films/Participant Media)

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer

Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen


BEST SCREENPLAY

Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer, Spotlight


JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

(Best Feature Under $500,000)

Krisha

Writer/Director: Trey Edward Shults

Producers: Justin R. Chan, Chase Joliet, Wilson Smith

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ed Lachman, Carol

BEST FIRST FEATURE

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Director: Marielle Heller

Producers: Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit

tangerine-image
Image via Magnolia

Robert Altman Award (Best Ensemble)

Spotlight

Director: Tom McCarthy

Casting Directors: Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee


Ensemble Cast: Billy Crudup, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamey Sheridan, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Emma Donoghue, Room

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Idris Elba, Beasts Of No Nation

Piaget Producers Award

Mel Eslyn

Truer Than Fiction Award

Incorruptible

Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award

King Jack

Director: Felix Thompson

BEST EDITING

Tom McArdle, Spotlight


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Image via Open Road Films