Independent Spirit Award Nominations Announced
Photo Credit: Neon
The Independent Spirit Awards are back to honor the best in contemporary cinema. While historically the awards haven’t been a surefire Oscar predictor, the past few years have all seen the award for best feature go on to win the Oscar for best picture: 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, Spotlight and Moonlight.
It remains to be seen if five will be their lucky number, as any of the five nominations could win, although several critical favorites are not in their best feature lineup. Obvious omissions include critical darlings The Post, Dunkirk, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Shape of Water.
Call Me By Your Name received the greatest amount of nominations, with six in total, and Get Out and Good Time tied for second place with five nominations each. Nominations are chosen by a selection committee, but any member of Film Independent may vote for their favorites.
One category that will surely translate to Oscar nods is the best actress category, which will see top contenders Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Margot Robbie (I, Tonya) compete for the prize. While most pundits see McDormand as a shoe-in, Meryl Streep is already getting buzz for The Post as her best performance in years.
Founded in 1984, the Spirit Awards originally presented winners with a shoelace-encased plaque to represent the tiny budgets of independent film. In recent years, the event has chosen to honor more bigger-budget pictures, but any film with a budget over $20 million is disqualified. The event will once again be hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney. It will air live on IFC on Saturday, March 3.
The full list of nominations is below.
BEST FEATURE
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
PRODUCERS: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Rodgrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory, Howard Rosenman
THE FLORIDA PROJECT
PRODUCERS: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Duncan, Alex Saks, Francesca Silvestri, Shih-Ching Tsou
GET OUT
PRODUCERS: Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele
LADY BIRD
PRODUCERS: Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill, Scott Rudin
THE RIDER
PRODUCERS: Mollye Asher, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Harroche, Chloé Zhao
BEST FIRST FEATURE
COLUMBUS
DIRECTOR: Kogonada
PRODUCERS: Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Aaron Boyd, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz
INGRID GOES WEST
DIRECTOR: Matt Spicer
PRODUCERS: Jared Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, Trevor White
MENASHE
DIRECTOR: Joshua Z. Weinstein
PRODUCERS: Yoni Brook, Traci Carlson, Daniel Finkelman, Alex Lipschultz
OH LUCY!
DIRECTOR: Atsuko Hirayanagi
PRODUCERS: Jessica Elbaum, Yukie Kito, Han West
PATTI CAKE$
DIRECTOR: Geremy Jasper
PRODUCERS: Chris Columbus, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Noah Stahl, Rodrigo Teixeira
BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Jonas Carpignano, A Ciambra
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Good Time
Chloé Zhao, The Rider
BEST SCREENPLAY
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Azazel Jacobs, The Lovers
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Mike White, Beatriz at Dinner
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Kris Avedisian, Kyle Espeleta (story by), Jesse Wakeman (story by), Donald Cried
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Ingrid Jungermann, Women Who Kill
Kogonada, Columbus
David Smith, Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
DAYVEON
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Amman Abbasi
WRITER: Steven Reneau
PRODUCERS: Lachion Buckingham, Alexander Uhlmann
A GHOST STORY
WRITER/DIRECTOR: David Lowery
PRODUCERS: Adam Donaghey, Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston
LIFE AND NOTHING MORE
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Antonio Méndez Esparza
PRODUCERS: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández, Pedro Hernández Santos
MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Ana Asensio
PRODUCERS: Larry Fessenden, Noah Greenberg, Chadd Harbold, Jenn Wexler
THE TRANSFIGURATION
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Michael O’Shea
PRODUCER: Susan Leber
BEST MALE LEAD
Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Robert Pattinson, Good Time
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Regina Williams, Life and Nothing More
Shinobu Terajima, Oh Lucy!
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Nnamdi Asomugha, Crown Heights
Armie Hammer, Call Me by Your Name
Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Benny Safdie, Good Time
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lois Smith, Marjorie Prime
Taliah Lennice Webster, Good Time
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Thimios Bakatakis, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Elisha Christian, Columbus
Hélène Louvart, Beach Rats
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name
Joshua James Richards, The Rider
BEST EDITING
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Good Time
Walter Fasano, Call Me by Your Name
Alex O’Flinn, The Rider
Gregory Plotkin, Get Out
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) (France)
DIRECTOR: Robin Campillo
A FANTASTIC WOMAN (Chile)
DIRECTOR: Sebastián Lelio
I AM NOT A WITCH (UK)
DIRECTOR: Rungano Nyoni
LADY MACBETH (UK)
DIRECTOR: William Oldroyd
LOVELESS (Russia)
DIRECTOR: Andrey Zvyagintsev
BEST DOCUMENTARY
THE DEPARTURE
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Lana Wilson
FACES PLACES
DIRECTORS: Agnés Varda, JR
PRODUCER: Rosalie Varda
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO
DIRECTOR: Feras Fayyad
PRODUCERS: Kareem Abeed, Steen Jespersen, Stefan Kloos
MOTHERLAND
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Ramona S. Diaz
PRODUCER: Rey Cuerdo
QUEST
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Olshefski
PRODUCER: Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
(Award given to the director and producer)