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While tonight’s Oscar winners will surely have their moment, the winners of last evening’s Independent Spirit Awards — specifically those representing Netflix streaming — have reason to celebrate. Idris Elba (Prometheus, Luther) and teenage newcomer, Abraham Attah, took home statuettes for Best Supporting Male and Best Male Lead, respectively, for Netflix’s war epic, Beasts of No Nation.
Elba and Attah are just two of many actors of color shut out of the Oscars race this year, making the results of the wholly diverse Independent Spirit Awards (Mya Taylor also won Best Supporting Actress award for Tangerine) a welcome breath of fresh air. Directed by Cary Fukunaga (who was also up for an award but lost to Spotlight‘s Tom McCarthy), Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation stars Attah as young Agu, an orphaned child solider taken under the wing of the ruthless Commander (Elba) and forced to fight for the sovereignty of his unnamed African country. Stunningly filmed and superbly performed, it’s surely a shame the Academy failed to recognize its poignancy. Thankfully for the Indie Spirit Awards, however, Beasts didn’t go home empty handed this season.
The win marks another shift for Netflix as both a producer and distributor of award-worthy original content. Though Beasts of No Nation was snubbed from the Best Picture narrative race, the streaming service is represented in the 2016 Best Documentary category with political feature Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom and Nina Simone account, What Happened, Miss Simone? The two are battling it out with A24’s tear-jearking Amy, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, and drug war infiltrator, Cartel Land. As Netflix promises to double its original programming this year, it’s consistently growing reputation as an awards contender remains strong.
Will Netflix’s momentum from the Independent Spirit Awards have any effect on their outcome at the Academy Awards? Sadly, Beasts of No Nation‘s run has come to an end, but Winter on Fire and What Happened Miss Simone? still have a shot for Oscar gold. See the complete list of Independent Spirit Awards winners and nominees and watch the streaming service duke it out with the studios tonight on ABC and Watch ABC App starting at 8 PM/ET.
