Anora and I Saw the TV Glow Lead 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Sean Baker’s Anora and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow lead the nominations for the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards with five nods each including Best Feature. His Three Daughters will be honoured with the Robert Altman Award, which goes to a film’s director, casting directors, and ensemble cast.

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.

The 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place in Santa Monica on February 22, 2025. Full list of nominations below.

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)

“Anora”
Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

“I Saw the TV Glow”
Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

“Nickel Boys”
Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

“Sing Sing”
Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton

“The Substance”
Producers: Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)

“Dìdi”
Director/Producer: Sean Wang Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters

“In the Summers”
Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio Producers: Janek Ambros, Lynette Coll, Alexander Dinelaris, Cynthia Fernandez De La Cruz, Cristóbal Güell, Sergio Alberto Lira, Rob Quadrino, Jan Suter, Daniel Tantalean, Nando Vila, Slava Vladimirov, Stephanie Yankwitt

“Janet Planet”
Director/Producer: Annie Baker Producers: Andrew Goldman, Dan Janvey, Derrick Tseng

“The Piano Lesson”
Director: Malcolm Washington Producers: Todd Black, Denzel Washington

“Problemista”
Director/Producer: Julio Torres Producers: Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emma Stone

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

“Big Boys”
Writer/Director/Producer: Corey Sherman Producer: Allison Tate

“Ghostlight”
Writer/Director: Kelly O’Sullivan Director/Producer: Alex Thompson Producers: Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Chelsea Krant, Eddie Linker, Alex Wilson

“Girls Will Be Girls”
Writer/Director/Producer: Shuchi Talati Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne

“Jazzy”
Writer/Director/Producer: Morrisa Maltz Writer/Producer: Lainey Shangreaux Writers: Andrew Hajek, Vanara Taing Producers: Miranda Bailey, Tommy Heitkamp, John Way, Natalie Whalen, Elliott Whitton

“The People’s Joker”
Writer/Director: Vera Drew Writer: Bri LeRose Producer: Joey Lyons

BEST DIRECTOR

Ali Abbasi, “The Apprentice”
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
Alonso Ruizpalacios, “La Cocina”
Jane Schoenbrun, “I Saw the TV Glow”

BEST SCREENPLAY

Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, “Heretic”
Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
Megan Park, “My Old Ass”
Aaron Schimberg, “A Different Man”
Jane Schoenbrun, “I Saw the TV Glow”

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Joanna Arnow, The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
Annie Baker, Janet Planet
India Donaldson, Good One
Julio Torres, Problemista
Sean Wang, Dìdi

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Amy Adams, Nightbitch
Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Hunter Schafer, Cuckoo
Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow
June Squibb, Thelma
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Yura Borisov, Anora
Joan Chen, Dìdi
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Carol Kane, Between the Temples
Karren Karagulian, Anora
Kani Kusruti, Girls Will Be Girls
Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow
Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, Sing Sing
Adam Pearson, A Different Man

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Isaac Krasner, Big Boys
Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding
Mason Alexander Park, National Anthem
René Pérez Joglar, In the Summers
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dinh Duy Hung, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys
Maria von Hausswolff, Janet Planet
Juan Pablo Ramírez, La Cocina
Rina Yang, The Fire Inside

BEST EDITING

Laura Colwell, Vanara Taing, Jazzy
Olivier Bugge Coutté, Olivia Neergaard-Holm, The Apprentice
Anne McCabe, Nightbitch
Hansjörg Weissbrich, September 5
Arielle Zakowski, Dìdi

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

His Three Daughters
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Casting Director: Nicole Arbusto
Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

Gaucho Gaucho
Directors/Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw Producers: Christos Konstantakopoulos, Cameron O’Reilly, Matthew Perniciaro H

Hummingbirds
Directors: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras Co-Directors/Producers: Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco, Jillian Schlesinger Producers: Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow

No Other Land
Directors/Producers: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor Producers: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning

Patrice: The Movie
Director: Ted Passon Producers: Kyla Harris, Innbo Shim, Emily Spivack

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Director: Johan Grimonprez Producers: Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Director: Payal Kapadia

Black Dog
China
Director: Guan Hu

Flow
Latvia, France, Belgium
Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Green Border
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium
Director: Agnieszka Holland

Hard Truths
United Kingdom
Director: Mike Leigh

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.

Alex Coco
Sarah Winshall
Zoë Worth

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.

Nicholas Colia, Director of Griffin in Summer

Sarah Friedland, Director of Familiar Touch

Pham Thien An, Director of Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 30th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.