'Get Out' is the big winner at the Spirit Awards - is the Oscars next?

Five of the last six best feature winners at the awards show have gone on to win the Oscar for best picture

Jordan Peele accepts the Best Director award award for 'Get Out'. Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Jordan Peele's satirical horror flick Get Out triumphed Saturday at the Spirit Awards – the latest in a string of honours the film has picked up, with the Oscars just one day away.

Generating rave reviews from experts and audiences alike, Peele's feature directorial debut – which cost under $5 million (Dh18.36m) to produce – has raked in $255 million at theatres worldwide.

The film – a dark send-up of the African-American experience and of suburban white guilt over racial inequality – follows a young black man, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), who is so nervous about meeting the family of his white girlfriend (Allison Williams) that he fails to realise the menace lurking within their mansion.

"This project didn't start as a statement. It began as me wanting to make a film in my favourite genre," said Peele, who also bagged best director honours.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards, an annual celebration of low-budget cinema that takes place on Santa Monica beach just outside Los Angeles, are seen as an strong indicator of movies that could strike Oscars gold.

Five of the last six best feature winners have gone on to best picture glory at the Academy Awards, including Moonlight, Spotlight and Birdman.

Get Out has four nominations for Sunday's Oscars, including best picture and best director.

Fearless

The prize for best actor went to American-French rising star Timothee Chalamet, whose acclaimed performance as a lovelorn teen in Call Me By Your Name has seen him win numerous awards.

Frances McDormand won best actress, her third Spirit Award, for her searing performance as a rage-filled grieving mother in Martin McDonagh's black comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

"I continue to be amazed that you let me get to the microphone. Are you crazy? One thing I know is that we are allowed to swear," joked McDormand, a mainstay on this year's awards circuit who is the favourite for the Oscar.

"Do you know how hard it has been not to swear for the last couple of months?" she asked, before cursing a blue streak.

Sam Rockwell won best supporting actor for Three Billboards, in which he plays opposite McDormand as a racist, violent police officer.

The best supporting actress prize went to Allison Janney, for playing figure skater Tonya Harding's cold, brutal mother LaVona in Craig Gillespie's acclaimed biopic I, Tonya.

"I play a lot of confused and complicated women, but not anyone this dark. I don't think people think of me that way," Janney said backstage.

"I guess I have to play more dark characters – that's in my future."

Best screenplay for Lady Bird

Coming-of-age tale Call Me by Your Name had led the nominations going into Saturday's event.

The film was nominated in six categories, winning best cinematography and editing ahead of Chalamet's triumph.

Josh and Benny Safdie's heist thriller Good Time tied in second place with nods for directing, editing and three actors, including for its star Robert Pattinson – but went home empty-handed.

Greta Gerwig's comedy Lady Bird – up for best picture at the Oscars – earned her a best screenplay award while real-life couple Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani took best first screenplay for The Big Sick, the comedy story of their romance.

See a gallery of the best dressed from the event:

Girl, this is your dress - 'Get Out' star Allison Williams looks resplendent in a metallic forest-green Andrew Gn dress. There are pleats, there's velvet, there are plenty of floral appliques. We love it. Nina Prommer / EPA

Kerry Washington's fringed Missoni dress is like a modern-day Monet. She owns it. Jean-Baptiste Lacroix / AFP

Allison Janney's hot pink Pamela Rolland cut-out gown is slightly retro, but a lot glamorous. EPA

Producer and actress Margot Robbie went for sequinned leopard print Louis Vuitton (and looked remarkably like her Hollywood lookalike Jaime King in doing so). EPA

It's hard to tell here, but the delightful Molly Shannon's gown is actually navy in colour. It's by Badgley Mischka - and, for us, it's all about that ruffled power shoulder. Jordan Strauss / AP

Greta Gerwig won best screenplay at the awards, and wore a cut out Rosie Assoulin sky blue dress for the occasion. Richard Shotwell / AP

Elizabeth Olsen wore a red sheer Zuhair Murad dress in a beautiful bold red hue. Nina Prommer / EPA

'Black Panther' star Danai Gurira opted for a Rodarte chiffon ensemble, which she paired with Roger Vivier mules. Nina Prommer / EPA

'Lady Bird' star Saoirse Ronan opted for embellished jacquard with this chartreuse Prada shift dress. EPA

Betty Gabriel wore two-toned leopard-print Tadashi Shoji. AFP

Dree Hemingway (great-grandaughter to Ernest) wore a timeless chiffon Prada dress. Cap sleeves are never going to go out of style. EPA

Amanda Seyfried opted for Alexander McQueen - but the lace, high necked dress looks like it could use a touch more tailoring to truly suit the actress. EPA

Alison Brie brough 1920s glitz to the event, and manages to make excessive ruffle action look understated in this Ralph & Russo dress. AFP

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Read more:

Where and how to watch the Oscars in the UAE

What the Baftas mean for this year's Oscars race

Oscars 2018: In best-director nominees, a wealth of milestones

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