"The Lost Daughter" wins big at Spirit Awards

STORY: As she accepted the directorial honour, Gyllenhaal said she "believed in love" more than anything.

In the acting categories, Taylour Paige took the best female lead award for her role as the title character in ‘Zola,’ a film based on a viral Twitter thread about one woman’s experience of sex trafficking during a 2015 trip to Florida.

Simon Rex won best male lead for his role as a former porn star in Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket”. Rex told the audience he was about to give up acting when he got a call from the low-budget filmmaker.

“He said, you're not going to make any money. I'm not going to make any money. We're going to go make a movie real quick. And we made something special,” Rex said.

The best supporting female and male actor awards went to Ruth Negga and Troy Kotsur.

Questlove’s film “Summer of Love,” about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, was awarded best documentary.

Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Drive my Car," a tale of heartbreak and regrets played out over the course of several car journeys, won best international film.

The awards, sponsored by Los Angeles-based Film Independent, are the top honours in the United States for independent movies made for less than $22.5 million.