2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards Recognize Avid’s Customers

Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) today congratulates its customers recognized at the 31st Independent Spirit Awards, the premier awards event honoring the independent film community. The awards, which took place in Santa Monica, California, recognized many of the independent film industry’s most gifted editors who have embraced Avid Everywhere™, using Avid Artist Suite video creative tools, powered by the Avid MediaCentral™ Platform.

Avid customers relied on the industry’s most proven and trusted video editing software Avid Media Composer® to create Spirit Award-nominated and winning films, including Spotlight, the big winner of the night which took home five awards including Best Feature Film and Best Editing (Tom McArdle), as well as Best Editing nominees Manos Sucias (Kristan Sprague) and Room (Nathan Nugent). 

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson and edited by Nathan Nugent, the 2015 Canadian-British-Irish drama Room is about a woman (Brie Larson) and her son (Jacob Tremblay) who were held captive for seven years in an enclosed room. After finally gaining their freedom, the boy experiences the outside world for the first time. 

“Being nominated for this prestigious award is another way of acknowledging the work of an amazing director, Lenny Abrahamson, and all those who worked alongside me through the post production process,” said Nugent. “Media Composer provided us with all the tools to make storytelling a priority from the very first cut to the last.”

Edited by Kristan Sprague, Manos Sucias is a film about a fisherman and a young man who begin trafficking drugs up the Pacific coast of Colombia. As they tow a drug-filled torpedo, they’re forced to navigate through the war-torn region and the growing tension between them.

“I’m a big Avid fan,” said Sprague. “When I'm cutting in Media Composer, I never have to think about workflow or how to do anything. Avid's tools allow me to just concentrate on telling a good story.”  

“We’re honored that the world’s most spirited pioneers and independent film editors have embraced Avid Everywhere to bring their unique visions to filmmaking,” said Avid Chairman, President and CEO, Louis Hernandez, Jr. “We congratulate our Spirit Award-nominated and winning customers on their outstanding accomplishments that inspire our commitment to continual innovation.”