‘Past Lives,’ ‘American Fiction’ and ‘The Holdovers’ Are Big Winners at Independent Spirit Awards 

Celine Song receives the Best Feature award for "Past Lives" during the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California, US, February 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Celine Song receives the Best Feature award for "Past Lives" during the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California, US, February 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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‘Past Lives,’ ‘American Fiction’ and ‘The Holdovers’ Are Big Winners at Independent Spirit Awards 

Celine Song receives the Best Feature award for "Past Lives" during the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California, US, February 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Celine Song receives the Best Feature award for "Past Lives" during the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California, US, February 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Celine Song’s quiet romance "Past Lives" won two of the biggest awards at the Film Independent Spirit Awards Sunday afternoon, including best feature and best director. Other big winners were Cord Jefferson’s comedic satire "American Fiction," with Jeffrey Wright winning for lead performer; and Alexander Payne’s "The Holdovers," which won prizes for Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa.

The 39th edition of the show was held Sunday in a beachside tent in Santa Monica, California, and streamed live on IMDb and Film Independent’s YouTube channels and X accounts.

"Thank you so much for letting me share what it feels like to be human, to love and be loved, and thank you for loving our film," Song said in accepting the directing prize.

Her film was among the top nominated at the show, alongside "May December," which won only one award (for Samy Burch's first screenplay) and "American Fiction," which fared better.

Wright won for playing a frustrated author who becomes wildly successful by writing something he hates in "American Fiction."

"You go to these awards shows, you kind of grow tired of them," Wright said. "And then you get one, and it kind of changes the vibe a little bit."

He noted that it was made independently because "nobody wanted to finance it."

The Spirit Awards sit firmly within the larger Hollywood awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on March 10. But with a budget cap of $20 million for nominees, the show celebrates films that sometimes go unheralded, or at least under-nominated, at the bigger shows.

Host Aidy Bryant called it "the only place in the world where $20 million is like no money."

Randolph continued her sweep of the broader season, winning best supporting performance for playing the grieving cook Mary Lamb in "The Holdovers." Not 24 hours ago, right across town, she also picked up the best supporting actress award at the SAG Awards.

"Independent films are the beating heart of our industry, and they are worth fighting for," Randolph said. She did, however, wish that they might have been able to afford heated seats while filming in Boston in the winter.

Randolph beat out the likes of Anne Hathaway ("Eileen"), Charles Melton ("May December") and Sterling K. Brown ("American Fiction") for the prize.

Her co-star, Sessa, later won the breakthrough prize.

"I promise it’s not all downhill from here," Sessa said, thanking his high school acting teachers.

Last year, "Everything Everywhere All At Once" swept the Spirit Awards before going on to do the same at the Oscars. But this year, many top Oscar contenders — including "Oppenheimer,Barbie" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" — would not have qualified.

Kaouther Ben Hania’s film " Four Daughters," which is nominated for the corresponding Oscar, won best documentary. And Justine Triet’s "Anatomy of a Fall," also nominated for best picture at the Oscars, won best international feature over "The Zone of Interest."

"Los Angeles has a special place in my heart. It’s the city of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands," Triet said. "Without discovering them at their films at the age of 20, I wouldn’t have had the desire to make my own films and I wouldn’t be here today."

The Cassavetes ethos actually has its own award, honoring a film made for under $1 million. That prize went this year to "Fremont," about an Afghan translator working for a Chinese fortune cookie factory.

The show had some unexpected background noise, from one man with a loudspeaker conducting a pro-Palestine protest outside the tent that lasted for some time.

"We are at the beach, and people are celebrating their freedom of speech," Bryant said.

The shouting outside disrupted Jim Gaffigan’s tribute to "Jury Duty" and many more winners’ speeches. Comedian Jimmy O. Yang, speaking from the stage to present the best cinematography award, assumed it was a heckler outside.

Later, "Fremont" filmmaker Babak Jalali said he was sure that what was being said outside the tent was much more important than anything he had to say.

The Spirit Awards also honor television. Netflix’s "Beef" won best new scripted series and Ali Wong picked up best lead performance.

Nick Offerman won best supporting performance in a new scripted series for his turn in "The Last of Us." And 11-year-old actor Keivonn Montreal Woodard also won the breakthrough performance award for a new scripted series for "The Last of Us," giving his acceptance speech in American Sign Language.



How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".