American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives Lead 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, Todd Haynes’ May December, and Celine Song’s Past Lives lead the nominations for the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards with five nods each including Best Feature. Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up will be honoured with the Robert Altman Award, which goes to a film’s director, casting directors, and ensemble cast.

This year the Spirit Awards Film Nominating Committees selected nominees from over 27 different countries with budget ranges between $10,000 and $28 million, applying the following guidelines in determining nominees: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter and economy of means. Of all nominated writers, directors, producers and technical artists, 40% are women and 32% are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color). Among the nominated performers, 49% are women and 40% are BIPOC. And of all 2024 nominees, 42% are women and 34% are BIPOC.
 
The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees are comprised of writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics, casting directors, film festival programmers and other working film professionals. This year, the Spirit Awards nominating committees are 56% female, 3% non-binary, 3% Transgender, and 49% BIPOC; 29% identify as LGBTQ+ and 3% identify as people with disabilities (PWD).

The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place in Santa Monica on February 25, 2023. Full list of nominations below.

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 AWARDpresented 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


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Author: Doug Jamieson

From musicals to horror and everything in between, Doug has an eclectic taste in films. Both a champion of independent cinema and a defender of more mainstream fare, he prefers to find an equal balance between two worlds often at odds with each other. A film critic by trade but a film fan at heart, Doug also writes for his own website The Jam Report, and Australia’s the AU review.