Spotlight is a film.
Academy Award for Best Picture . This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot . Spotlight is a 2015 American biographical crime drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer . It won numerous guilds and critics ' association awards , and was named one of the finest films of 2015 by various publications . This also marks the first film to win Best Picture from a different mini-major studio than Lionsgate , Summit ( later bought by Lionsgate in 2012 ) , Miramax , or TWC . The Telluride Film Festival is a film festival in Telluride , Colorado , U.S. , over Labor Day Weekend in September of each year .