Everything Everywhere All at Once sweeps Independent Spirit Awards with 7 wins

The sci-fi epic took home best picture, best leading performance and best director for filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as ‘the Daniels’) among its seven wins.

The pair used their acceptance speeches to praise all those who advocate for ‘new fresh voices’ within the film industry.

‘It is so easy for us to become lost in this industry and so easy for our little spirits to get crushed,’ said Kwan, as they collected best director.

‘You never get to come up on stage and you never get acknowledged, but what you do for the independent film community is immeasurable and it means the world to us because you changed our lives.

‘Keep changing people’s lives.’

Addressing ‘the Daniels’ in her speech, Yeoh said: ‘My boys, thank you for writing such an incredible script that gave us the opportunity to be here, to be seen and to be heard.’

Several British and Irish names were nominated at the awards show too, which took place in Santa Monica, California, though there was little success.

The film sees Mescal play a young father struggling to connect with his daughter (Corio) through a holiday in Turkey during the 1990s.

Mescal was tipped for the best lead performance category but lost out to industry veteran Yeoh, who is also enjoying a stream of prizes with a Golden Globe and Sag Award to her name already for the performance.

The success of Everything Everywhere All at Once at the Spirit Awards further marks it out as a frontrunner at the Oscars, due to take place next week on March 12.

It is the most-nominated film there this year, with 11 nominations, including best film, best original screenplay, best director(s) and four acting nominations shared between Yeoh, Quan and their co-stars, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis, who are both up for best supporting actress.

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