The Indies, a new awards franchise from the creators of Slamdance meant to highlight true indie grit, held its inaugural ceremony in Los Angeles on Monday night.
Hosted by Nic Novicki at West Hollywood’s DGA theater, the honors went to. “distinctly independent US and Indigenous feature filmmakers,” according to co-founder Ben Umstead. “Their films will be seen, heard and properly recognized year after year in Hollywood. Such recognition is a powerful tool for change of the status quo, and embracing change equals the film industry at its best.”
This year, Chloé Leriche won “Best Narrative Feature” and “The Native Viewpoint Award For Outstanding Indigenous Community Story Collaboration” for “Atikamekw Suns” (pictured above) — as well as the “Outstanding Storytelling Craft” award alongside Natalie Lamoureux. Also for “Atikamekw Suns,” Giauco Bermudez won the “Outstanding Technical Achievement” honor. “Suns” tells the true story of the deaths of five young members of the Atikamekw First Nation community of Manawan.
The recognition for “Outstanding Ensemble and Casting” went to Keris Hope Hill, Mélanie Bray, Constant Bernard, Alex Trahan, Josée Young, Brandon Oakes, Jocelyne Zucco, John Buchan and Jason Knight for their work on “Rosie.”
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Vera Drew, meanwhile, took home the “The Narrative Committee Renegade Award” for “The People’s Joker.” Drew made a splash and won some new fans earlier in December when, accepting a Gotham Award, she credited Nicole Kidman’s performance in “Batman Forever” in helping realize Drew she was trans.
Kelli McNeil-Yellen won the “The Narrative Committee Authenticity Award” for “Daruma.”
On the Documentary Awards slate, the “All We Carry” team of Cady Voge, Laura Pilloni, Laura Tatham, and Rachel Clara Reed earned the “Best Documentary Feature” award. Their film chronicles a Honduran family’s journey from their native country and the horrors of parents being separated from their children.
Karen KH Sim, Elisa Levine, Gabriel Miller and Brittany Kaplan won the “Outstanding Storytelling Craft” honor for “Sweetheart Deal” while “Outstanding Cinematography” went to “Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun” collaborators Luke Connor, Ben Giesbrecht, Joshua Manyhands, Calvin Stimson and Anthony Stengal.
The duo of John Carlos Frey and James Cude earned “Outstanding Use of Archival Footage” for their documentary “The Little Pageant That Could.” The Documentary Committee Spotlight Award went to Jesselyn Silva for the film “JessZilla” and “The Native Viewpoint Award For Indigenous Film Critic’s Best Overall Selection” to Jules Koostachin for the film “WaaPaKe.”