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4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)
Independent Spirit Awards logo

Spirit Awards 1989 Winners & Nominees

The 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989) took place on March 25, 1989. Stand and Deliver won Best Feature and 5 more awards. Every winner and nominee in all 10 categories is below.

All 10 categories Most wins
categories
10
nominations
23
films nominated
8
winners
9
Held on
Best Feature
Stand and Deliver
Headline winners

Spirit Awards 1989: The Winners

Stand and Deliver won Best Feature against 2 other nominees. Ramón Menéndez (Best Director), Edward James Olmos (Best Male Lead) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Best Supporting Male) took the main individual prizes.

Stand and Deliver (1988) movie poster Best Feature

Best Feature

Stand and Deliver

1988 · Biography, Drama · $14M worldwide

6 wins from 7 nominations at the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)

  • Best Director
  • Best Male Lead
  • Best Supporting Male
  • Best Supporting Female
  • Best Screenplay

A dedicated high school math teacher, Jaime Escalante, inspires a class of predominantly Latino students in Los Angeles to pursue calculus. Facing prejudice, systemic challenges, and skepticism from the school administration, he pushes them to achieve remarkable success. Their accomplishments are met with accusations of cheating, forcing Escalante and his students to fight to prove their abilities and defend their hard-earned victory.

About Stand and Deliver
Scoreboard

Spirit Awards 1989: Which Films Won the Most

Stand and Deliver won 6 awards from 7 nominations. 4 films won at least once, while Hairspray went home empty-handed from 6 nominations. Green is wins, blue is nominations.

  1. Stand and Deliver (1988) movie poster
    Stand and Deliver 6 / 7
    1988 · Biography, Drama · 6 wins from 7 nominations
  2. Mystic Pizza (1988) movie poster
    Mystic Pizza 1 / 2
    1988 · Drama, Comedy · 1 win from 2 nominations
  3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) movie poster
    The Unbearable Lightness of Being 1 / 1
    1988 · Drama, Romance · 1 win from 1 nomination
  4. Wings of Desire (1988) movie poster
    Wings of Desire 1 / 1
    1988 · Drama, Fantasy · 1 win from 1 nomination
  5. Hairspray (1988) movie poster
    Hairspray 0 / 6
    1988 · Comedy, Romance · 0 wins from 6 nominations
  6. Talk Radio (1988) movie poster
    Talk Radio 0 / 3
    1988 · Drama · 0 wins from 3 nominations
  7. The Thin Blue Line (1988) movie poster
    The Thin Blue Line 0 / 2
    1988 · Mystery, Crime · 0 wins from 2 nominations
  8. Bagdad Cafe (1988) movie poster
    Bagdad Cafe 0 / 1
    1988 · Drama, Comedy · 0 wins from 1 nomination
Full results

All 10 Spirit Awards 1989 Categories: Winners & Nominees

10 categories and 23 nominations. The winner of each comes first, on a green row. Search for a film or a person, show only the winners, or jump straight to a category.

10 categories · 23 nominations

Jump to a category

Spirit Awards 1989 Best First Feature

1 nominee
Movie marathon

The Spirit Awards 1989 Best Feature Marathon

All 3 Best Feature nominees at the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989), back to back: 4 hours 58 minutes.

Total running time 4h 58m 4 hours 58 minutes All 3 films
Longest
Stand and Deliver 1h 43m
Shortest
Hairspray 1h 32m
By genre

The Genres Behind the Spirit Awards 1989 Winners

Drama led with 15 nominations across 6 films and won 9. A film with several genres counts for each one.

  1. Drama 9 wins · 15 nominations · 60%
  2. Romance 3 wins · 10 nominations · 30%
  3. Comedy 1 win · 9 nominations · 11%
  4. Biography 6 wins · 7 nominations · 86%
  5. Music 0 wins · 6 nominations · 0%
  6. Mystery 0 wins · 2 nominations · 0%
  7. Crime 0 wins · 2 nominations · 0%
  8. Documentary 0 wins · 2 nominations · 0%
  9. Fantasy 1 win · 1 nomination · 100%
1989 season

How the Rest of the 1989 Awards Season Voted

The other 4 ceremonies of 1989, with the winner of each top prize.

All 1989 awards
Earlier years

Previous Spirit Awards Ceremonies

The 3 ceremonies before this one, with the winner of each top prize. The Spirit Awards page has every year back to 1986.

Every Spirit Awards ceremony

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FAQ

Spirit Awards 1989: Questions & Answers

The top prize, the film that won the most, the most-nominated film, the individual winners and the date of the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989), answered from the results on this page.

Who won Best Feature at the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)?

Stand and Deliver (1988) won Best Feature. The other nominees were Hairspray and The Thin Blue Line.

About Stand and Deliver

Which film won the most awards at the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)?

Stand and Deliver (1988) won the most: 6 awards from 7 nominations.

Which film had the most nominations at the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)?

Stand and Deliver (1988) led with 7 nominations and won 6 of them.

Who won the acting and directing awards at the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)?

Best Director: Ramón Menéndez for Stand and Deliver. Best Male Lead: Edward James Olmos for Stand and Deliver. Best Supporting Male: Lou Diamond Phillips for Stand and Deliver.

When was the 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989)?

The 4th Independent Spirit Awards (1989) took place on March 25, 1989. The database has 10 categories and 23 nominations for it.