2019 Spirit Awards Complete Winners List

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The 2019 Spirit Awards took place yesterday evening in Santa Monica, California, and honestly, it looks like they got right what the Oscars got wrong.

SUSPIRIA took home the Robert Altman award, while IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK earned top honors, winning best feature, best director for Barry Jenkins, and best supporting female actor for Regina King. Although obviously grateful, when Jenkins took the stage to accept his award for best director, Jenkins expressed his unease with winning in a category mostly populated with female nominees. “I’m not gonna lie, man: I didn’t want to win this damn award,” Jenkins said at the podium. He went on to point out that although women only made up a tiny minority of big studio productions last year, they comprised more than 40% of the directors in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as 60% of the nominees for best director at the Spirit Awards, thereby hinting that there is still rampant sexism afoot when it comes to giant Hollywood projects.

When Glenn Close approached the podium to accept her award for best actress for her work in THE WIFE, she was joined by her dog Pippi, an adorable tiny white pooch who stared up at his owner lovingly. “He’s my date” explained Close to the audience, noting that she hoped everyone in the crowd didn't mind her little man being at her side. No apologies were needed, obviously, as everyone was just as enamored with Close's presence as her fluffy friend.

The audience became misty-eyed when Richard E. Grant accepted his award for best supporting male actor for his work in CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? The star, whose character eventually succumbs to AIDS in the film, had to fight back tears himself, as he shared his prize with all of the real life heroes who left this world too soon. “This movie, more than anything, is an homage to that generation of men who were wiped out by that disease.”

It was a wonderful evening, filled with tears and smiles, hosted by Aubrey Plaza, and certainly giving the Oscars a run for their money. It will be interesting to see how the Academy follows tonight.

The full list of nominees and winners are listed below. The winners will appear in bold.

Best Director
Debra Granik, LEAVE NO TRACE
Barry Jenkins, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (WINNER)
Tamara Jenkins, PRIVATE LIFE
Lynne Ramsay, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Paul Schrader, FIRST REFORMED

Best First Feature
HEREDITARY
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (WINNER)
THE TALE
WE THE ANIMALS
WILDLIFE

Best Male Lead
John Cho, SEARCHING
Daveed Diggs, BLINDSPOTTING
Ethan Hawke, FIRST REFORMED
Christian Malheiros, SÓCRATES
Joaquin Phoenix, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Best Female Lead
Glenn Close, THE WIFE 
Toni Collette, HEREDITARY
Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE
Regina Hall, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
Helena Howard, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Carey Mulligan, WILDLIFE

Best Supporting Female Actor
Kayli Carter, PRIVATE LIFE
Tyne Daly, A BREAD FACTORY
Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
J. Smith-Cameron, NANCY

Best Supporting Male Actor
Raúl Castillo, WE THE ANIMALS
Adam Driver, BLACKKKLANSMAN
Richard E. Grant, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Josh Hamilton, EIGHTH GRADE
John David Washington, MONSTERS AND MEN

Best Cinematography
Ashley Connor, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Diego Garcia, WILDLIFE
Benjamin Loeb, MANDY
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, SUSPIRIA
Zak Mulligan, WE THE ANIMALS

Best Screenplay
(Writer/Story By)
Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, COLETTE
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Tamara Jenkins, PRIVATE LIFE
Boots Riley, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
Paul Schrader FIRST REFORMED

Best First Screenplay
Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
Christina Choe, NANCY
Cory Finley, THOROUGHBREDS
Jennifer Fox, THE TALE
Quinn Shephard (Writer/Story By) and Laurie Shephard (Story By), BLAME

Best Editing
Joe Bini, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates & Jeremiah Zagar, WE THE ANIMALS
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill & Julian Hart, AMERICAN ANIMALS
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy, THE TALE
Nick Houy, MID90S

Best Documentary
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
MINDING THE GAP
OF FATHERS AND SONS
ON HER SHOULDERS
SHIRKERS
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

Best International Film
BURNING (South Korea)
THE FAVOURITE (United Kingdom)
HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Italy)
ROMA (Mexico) 
SHOPLIFTERS (Japan)

The Truer Than Fiction Award
Alexandria Bombach, ON HER SHOULDERS
Bing Liu, MINDING THE GAP
RaMell Ross, HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING

Producers Award
Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
Gabrielle Nadig
Shrihari Sathe 

The Someone to Watch Award
Alex Moratto, SÓCRATES
Ioana Uricaru, LEMONADE
Jeremiah Zagar, WE THE ANIMALS

The Bonnie Award
Debra Granik
Tamara Jenkins
Karyn Kusama

Robert Altman Award
SUSPIRIA
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Casting Directors: Avy Kaufman, Stella Savino
Ensemble Cast: Malgosia Bela, Ingrid Caven, Lutz Ebersdorf, Elena Fokina, Mia Goth, Jessica Harper, Dakota Johnson, Gala Moody, Chloë Grace Moretz, Renée Soutendijk, Tilda Swinton, Sylvie Testud, Angela Winkler