Indie Spirit Nominations

[danfrank]

Let’s face it: we like acting awards, and we’re accustomed to the two pairs of awards divided up by (binary) gender. This tradition, though, doesn’t work for the increasing number of non-binary actors, and the people who support them. If you’re non-binary, you either have to disqualify yourself from awards (as actors did at this year’s Tony Awards) or accept being misgendered (case in point: just this morning, Bella Ramsey, though they identify as non-binary, was nominated for best “actress” for the Critics Choice TV awards). It can be quite painful to be misgendered. I know the vast majority of people either don’t get this or just dismiss it.

From a rational standpoint, why is acting the only filmmaking-related skill that is given out separate awards according to gender? There is no female director award or male editor award. I get that people like stars and like them on award shows. If we want more acting awards, why not create more categories according to genre (a la the Globes) or some other criteria? Sticking with “actress” and “actor” renders a whole lot of people either invisible or distorted, and I’m not there for that.

[Big Magilla]

I find this gender-neutral nonsense among actors really annoying.

The worst thing about is that it limits the number of recipients. Couldn't they at least go for two best lead performances and two best supporting performances? The makeup of the supporting nominees is even with five male and five female nominees, while the makeup of the lead performances is almost evenly split with four of one and six of the other.

It's tough enough to decide between nominees of the same sex, having to decide which of the year's "bests" is "better" than the other is just plain silly.

[Sabin]

Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers seems to be the biggest omission that I can see. I thought he might win. Also surprised John Magaro didn't make the cut.

Early winner predictions:
Best Feature: American Fiction (or Past Lives)
Best First Feature: A Thousand and One
John Cassavetes Award: The Unknown Country (probably)

Best Lead Performance: Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction (or maybe Andrew Scott)
Best Supporting Performance: Charles Melton, May December (or maybe Da'Vine Joy Randolph)
Breakthrough Performance: Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

Best Director: Celine Song, Past Lives
Best Screenplay: American Fiction
Best First Screenplay: May December

Best Cinematography: The Holdovers
Best Editing: How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Best Documentary: Four Daughters
Best International Film: The Zone of Interest

[flipp525]

I really don’t understand the lumping together of male and female performances in separate lead and supporting rosters. It seems like a total overreaction to the “gender issue” yet deprives two additional actors of potential recognition. So it’s basically just dumb.

That said, these are great nominations and citations. I hope that Andrew Scott wins something this season and this seems like as good a place as any.

Claire Foy gives the performance of a lifetime in All of Us Strangers and should be on all the lists so her absence here is really glaring for me.

I am here for any and all nominations for American Fiction. Sterling K. Brown is a dream nod.

[Sabin]

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)

All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair

May December
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon

Passages
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd

Past Lives
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

We Grown Now
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro


BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Director: Raven Jackson
Producers: Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Director: Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Producers: Gewan Brown, Amanda Freedman

Earth Mama
Director/Producer: Savanah Leaf
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Shirley O’Connor, Medb Riordan, Cody Ryder

A Thousand and One
Director: A.V. Rockwell
Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston

Upon Entry
Directors: Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Producers: Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, Xosé Zapata


JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer)

The Artifice Girl
Director/Writer: Franklin Ritch
Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead

Cadejo Blanco
Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Lerner
Producers: Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, Jack Patrick Hurley

Fremont
Director/Writer: Babak Jalali
Writer: Carolina Cavalli
Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner

Rotting in the Sun
Director/Writer: Sebastián Silva
Writer: Pedro Peirano
Producer: Jacob Wasserman

The Unknown Country
Director/Writer/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer: Lily Gladstone
Writers/Producers: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Vanara Taing
Producers: Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, Tommy Heitkamp
 

BEST DIRECTOR

Andrew Haigh
All of Us Strangers

Todd Haynes
May December

William Oldroyd
Eileen

Ira Sachs
Passages

Celine Song
Past Lives

 
BEST SCREENPLAY

David Hemingson
The Holdovers

Cord Jefferson
American Fiction

Laura Moss, Brendan J. O’Brien
Birth/Rebirth

Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
Bottoms

Celine Song
Past Lives


BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik
May December

Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt
Theater Camp

Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Laurel Parmet
The Starling Girl

Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Upon Entry


BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Jessica Chastain
Memory

Greta Lee
Past Lives

Trace Lysette
Monica

Natalie Portman
May December

Judy Reyes
Birth/Rebirth

Franz Rogowski
Passages

Andrew Scott
All of Us Strangers

Teyana Taylor
A Thousand and One

Jeffrey Wright
American Fiction

Teo Yoo
Past Lives


BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Erika Alexander
American Fiction

Sterling K. Brown
American Fiction

Noah Galvin
Theater Camp

Anne Hathaway
Eileen

Glenn Howerton
BlackBerry

Marin Ireland
Eileen

Charles Melton
May December

Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers

Catalina Saavedra
Rotting in the Sun

Ben Whishaw
Passages


BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Marshawn Lynch
Bottoms

Atibon Nazaire
Mountains

Tia Nomore
Earth Mama

Dominic Sessa
The Holdovers

Anaita Wali Zada
Fremont


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Katelin Arizmendi
Monica

Eigil Bryld
The Holdovers

Jomo Fray
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Pablo Lozano
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Pat Scola
We Grown Now

 
BEST EDITING

Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz, Sofía Subercaseaux
Rotting in the Sun

Stephanie Filo
We Grown Now

Daniel Garber
How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Jon Philpot
Theater Camp

Emanuele Tiziani
Upon Entry

 
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast

Showing Up
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Casting Director: Gayle Keller
Ensemble Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams
 

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

Bye Bye Tiberias
Director: Lina Soualem
Producer: Jean-Marie Nizan

Four Daughters
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Directors/Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
Producer: Tommy Oliver

Kokomo City
Director: D. Smith
Producers: Bill Butler, Harris Doran

The Mother of All Lies
Director/Producer: Asmae El Moudir

 
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

Anatomy of a Fall
France
Director: Justine Triet

Godland
Denmark/Iceland
Director: Hlynur Pálmason

Mami Wata
Nigeria
Director: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi

Tótem
Mexico
Director: Lila Avilés

The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom, Poland, USA
Director: Jonathan Glazer
 

PRODUCERS AWARD presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 27th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.

Rachael Fung

Graham Swon

Monique Walton


 SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD  – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 30th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

Joanna Arnow
Director of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Laura Moss
Director of Birth/Rebirth

Monica Sorelle
Director of Mountains
 

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 29th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

Set Hernandez
Director of unseen

Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli
Director of Lakota Nation vs. United States

Sierra Urich
Director of Joonam