Red Rocket’s Simon Rex and Zola’s Taylour Page earned best lead actor and actress prizes for portraying a faded porn star and a part-time stripper, respectively.
Passing and Zola won two prizes apiece, but no other films made repeat visits to the podium to accept statues. Reservation Dogs—a comedy about four Indigenous teenagers growing up in Oklahoma—was the most honored television show, with two awards.
Despite the relatively edgy vibe of the Spirit Awards, the LGBTQ+ community was underrepresented when it came to winners. Udo Kier received a nomination for Best Male Lead for his role as a gay makeup artist in Swan Song, but he lost to Rex. Olly Alexander was nominated for Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series for his role in the ’80s-set AIDS miniseries It’s a Sin; however, Alexander lost to Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae. Also, It’s a Sin lost to Reservation Dogs for Best New Scripted Series, the gay animated feature Flee lost to Summer of Soul for Best Documentary and out Zola actor Colman Domingo lost to CODA’s Troy Kotsur for Best Supporting Male.
However, Shiva Baby—starring Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a shiva with her parents—won the John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for under $500,000).