At last night’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, Searchlight Pictures/Hulu/Onyx Collective and FX on Hulu picked up wins for Disney.
Hosted by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, the 37th annual Indie Spirits recognized the best in independently produced film and TV, and is produced by the non-profit organization Film Independent.
The Searchlight Pictures/Hulu/Onyx Collective produced “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” won the Best Documentary Award.
Director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson accepted the award saying “I have to credit our editor Josh. We’re both sons of hip hop. When you’re a teenager listening to Public Enemy, the way their music is like ‘throw everything against the wall and see what colors are there,’ we speak that language. There’s definitely a rhythm there that goes to the era of music we listened to.”
With recent award wins, including the 2022 Hollywood Critics Association Awards and the IDA Documentary Awards, it’s looking very good for “Summer of Soul” to take home the Oscar later this month.
Meanwhile, FX on Hulu won two awards for “Reservation Dogs”: Best New Scripted Series, and Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series.
The dramedy series tells the story of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma who steal, rob, and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious, and faraway land of California.
“Reservation Dogs” was created and executive produced by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, along with executive produced by Garrett Basch. It stars Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, and FunnyBone.
In accepting the awards, Harjo stated, “It was about just getting the opportunity to tell this story on the level we did. Taika and Garrett made that happen at FX. I was a guy off the streets. There’s no reason I would have even gotten in the lobby but they walked me through the lobby into a room where there were executives with money. They greenlit the show and let us make the show. They also trusted us and let us hire indigenous writers and directors to tell the story. I’m more proud of what’s going to come after this because of what we proved, that they gave us the opportunities and we stepped up and did it.”
Congratulations to the winners. Both “Summer of Soul” and “Reservation Dogs” are available to watch on Hulu. “Summer of Soul” is also on Disney+.