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An emotional scene unfolded inside the ballroom of Santa Monica’s Hotel Casa del Mar on Saturday afternoon as Film Independent hosted its annual Spirit Awards nominee brunch.
The event is typically a casual and cozy beachside affair filled with actors, auteurs, producers, press, executives and other industry insiders in attendance to toast the annual awards show while the organization doles out grants to rising filmmakers. And while the reflection looked similarly this year, a cloud hung over the festivities due to the absence of Film Independent president Josh Welsh, who died just days ago on New Year’s Eve following a private five-year battle with colon cancer.
“We’re handing out a lot of free hugs this week,” explained Film Independent board chair Brenda Robinson as she stepped up to the podium for the brunch presentation with a view of the beach and Pacific Ocean over her shoulders. “We’re in quite a moment today, and I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such a beautiful group of people, our wonderful staff and leadership and board. This has been a week of introspection for me and so many of us. I think a lot about Washington Irving when he talked about the sacredness of tears. Now, tears are not a mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than 10,000 tons. They are the mark of overwhelming grief, but also unspeakable love. I want to give our staff, our board, and all of you permission to just feel this week. We are in a period of mourning.”
The grief, shared by many in the room, came quick and heavy as Welsh kept his battle close to the chest. It has been exacerbated by the fact that Welsh was a beloved figure, both in the Film Independent ranks and in the larger independent film community. He always seemed to have a smile on his face and a solution for organizational issues. He began volunteering annually at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in 1996 before officially joining the staff more than 20 years ago. In his rise to leadership, he first served as a co-president with Sean McManus in 2012 after Dawn Hudson resigned. After McManus stepped down a year later, Welsh became the sole president, overseeing all programs and operations.
According to insiders, he rarely spoke about his illness and he continued to work up until his final days, something confirmed by Robinson from the stage. “Just before the new year, I connected with Josh and we talked about what today would look like. He was so excited about this brunch, all of this. All of you know, this is one of his absolute favorite things. It’s all about being in community with the artists. He built such a strong foundation for this organization and he got to see the fruits of that in days like today.”
Robinson said the hope was that Welsh would be the one to take the stage on Saturday. “I wanted this to be a moment of triumph that he would show up here today and you would see him and you would just give him love. You would look and he would be a picture of resilience. He would be someone who you could see as an example of an inspirational character. All of us have been tested in our lives in some way or another, most of us professionally, all of us personally. He was meant to be an example today of what it means to persevere, to go on a journey and to come out on the other side. And although we weren’t naive, we also had a lot of hope. I thought he was going to be here today and our hearts are broken.”
But rather than lead the ballroom — filled with stars like Demi Moore, Sebastian Stan, Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Mikey Madison, Danielle Deadwyler, Maisy Stella, Ryan Destiny, Brian Tee, Leonie Benesch, Joan Chen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Olivia and Katia Washington and others — in a moment of silence, Robinson directed them to make some noise.
“I’m going to ask you to do something now for me. I want to lift up Josh. I want to give him that praise. I want to still feel that energy. If you could join me in a round of applause, a standing ovation of cheers,” she requested to which the crowd responded with an emotional and rousing reception. “Thank you for honoring that, him and us. We have a busy few weeks ahead. There is no better group. I would rather have around me right now than all of you.”
Robinson then welcomed host Karen Pittman to the stage. The actress, seen in The Morning Show, The Americans, Yellowstone and Detroit, had the task of announcing three $25,000 unrestricted grants.
The first, a Producers Award presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, went to Sarah Winshall. The award honors “emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.” Winshall bested Alex Coco and Zoë Worth and joked, “As a producer, I never plan to win.”
The Truer Than Fiction Award was presented to Rachel Elizabeth Seed, director of A Photographic Memory. The award is given to a first-time director of nonfiction features “who has not received significant recognition.” Finalists included Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie for Sugarcane and Carla Gutiérrez for Frida. Seed said it took her 13 years to make her film with the help of close to 1,000 people.
The Someone to Watch Award was presented to Sarah Friedland, director of Familiar Touch. The award recognizes “a talented first-time narrative filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.” Friedland bested Nicholas Colia for Griffin in Summer and Pham Thien An for Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell. In accepting, she joked that the award title represented “the best surveillance” she’s ever been involved with. “The great fear of being an emerging filmmaker is that you will remain emerging and not emerge,” she noted, adding that the validation of the award may mean she could be “one of the lucky few.”
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