Three Israelis won prizes at the Independent Spirit Awards in the US, which were awarded in an online ceremony on Thursday night.
The two Israeli stars of the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, Shira Haas and Amit Rahav, won Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series and Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series, respectively. Haas has been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance in this 2020 miniseries, based on Deborah Feldman’s memoir of fleeing her ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community for Berlin.
The Netflix documentary series Immigration Nation, about the migrant crisis in the US, which was co-directed and co-produced by an Israeli, Shaul Schwarz, won Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series. The series was controversial when it first aired because the filmmakers were embedded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and filmed them in unguarded moments that showed them in an unflattering light.
The Independent Spirit Awards, founded to honor movies that the Oscars tend to ignore, are traditionally given the Saturday night before the Academy Awards ceremony. But this year, with so much changed due to the pandemic, the Oscars will be awarded on April 25, about two months after their usual date, and the Spirit Awards were switched to Thursday.Another change is that the Spirit Awards now include television, like the Golden Globes. In recent years, as the Oscars have welcomed a younger and more diverse group of new members, the Spirit Awards tend to mirror the Oscars, with this year’s winner in the Best Feature category, Nomadland, also considered to be the frontrunner for a Best Picture Academy Award.
As has now become de rigueur for Haas at awards, she was dressed by an international designer, in this case Miu Miu, who provided her with a white, strapless floral-patterned gown. Presumably, Miu Miu is considered an edgier and more appropriate designer for these awards than Chanel, who dressed her for the Emmys and the Golden Globes.Haas posted a photo of herself on her Instagram account, saying, “Ready for the Independent Spirit Awards. Thank you for the great honor of being nominated and to the best team involved. Let’s go ✌❤️ @miumiu #MiuMiu"
Rahav wore Dior and posted a photo on Instagram of himself getting dressed in a bright-patterned print shirt and black jacket, with the caption, “Thank you to my @dior family and to @mrkimjones [the creative director of Dior] for getting me all dressed up for the spirit awards!”
In a sign of how much Israeli actors have become part of the international scene, the Italian website I O Donna listed Haas and Rahav in sixth and eighth place on their list of the best looks at the Spirit Awards.