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)