The Film Independent Spirit Awards are adding another honor to their program. Next year’s ceremony — the 33rd installment of the Indie Spirit Awards — will hand out the inaugural Bonnie Award. American Airlines partnered up with the Indie Awards to launch the $50,000 award, which will “honor and recognize outstanding women in film and in every industry,” a press release announced. More specifically, the Bonnie Award will be given to “up-and-coming” female film directors.
The Oscars’ woman problem is partly what inspired the new grant. “With only six women in 86 years nominated for Best Director at a major non-independent award show, American Airlines wants to help combat the underrepresentation of female directors in Hollywood and across industries,” the release details.
The 32nd annual Indie Spirit Awards took place last night, and a number of female filmmakers went home with trophies, including Maren Ade (“Toni Erdmann”), Anna Rose Holmer (“The Fits”), and Nanfu Wang (“Hooligan Sparrow”).
The grant is named in honor of Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo, who made history as the “first female pilot to fly for a major U.S airline when she was hired by American Airlines in 1973 as a flight engineer.” The trailblazer flew for the company for 26 years.
In addition to the impressive $50,000 check that comes along with the award, the first Bonnie Award recipient “will be invited to participate as an honored artist at the LA Film Festival and other Film Independent year-round events,” and “American will launch The Bonnie Awards channel on its in-flight entertainment programming to showcase the work of female filmmakers.”
“At Film Independent we have a deep and longstanding commitment to supporting female directors and increasing diversity in filmmaking,” said president Josh Welsh, “and we’re honored to deepen our partnership with American Airlines on this new venture, the Bonnie Award.”
Submissions and nominations for the Award will open in June. The first annual nominees will be revealed in November. You can find more information on the Bonnie Award’s website.
