Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

The Film Independent Spirit Awards not only signals the dawn of the ensuing awards season, it also finds a way to honor the story-telling and film-making of a diverse, talented bunch. who reach new levels of excellence in their independent films who don’t often seen in the mainstream. Just an hour or so ago Edgar Ramirez and Jenny Slate announced this year’s nominees. I was excited, hoping some of the excellent films I had seen (The Witch; Under the Shadow; Loving), and a few of those I was eagerly anticipating (American Honey; Moonlight; Manchester by the Sea) would make an appearance. Was I disappointed? Let’s find out:

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(award given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Moonlight
(Barry Jenkins; Yesi Ramirez; Mahershala Ali, Patrick Decile, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Thodes, Ashton Sanders)
DIRECTOR
Andrea Arnold (American Honey)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Pablo Larraín (Jackie)
Jeff Nichols (Loving)
Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women)
FEATURE
American Honey
(Thomas Benski, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Lucas Ochoa, Pouya Shahbazian, Alice Weinberg)
Chronic
(Michel Franco, Gina Kwon, Gabriel Ripstein, Moisés Zonana)
Jackie
(Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin, Ari Handel, Juan de Dios Larraín, Mickey Liddell)
Manchester by the Sea
(Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Stewart, Kevin J. Walsh)
Moonlight
(Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski)
FIRST FEATURE
(award given to the producer and director)
The Childhood of a Leader
(Brady Corbet; Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Chris Coen, Ron Curtis, Helena Danielsson, Mona Fastvold, István Major)
The Fits
(Anna Rose Holmer; Lisa Kjerulff)
Other People
(Chris Kelly; Sam Bisbee, Adam Scott, Naomi Scott)
Swiss Army Man
(Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon, Jonathan Wang)
The Witch
(Robert Eggers; Daniel Bekerman, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Rodrigo Teixeira)
MALE LEAD
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
David Harewood (Free In Deed)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Jesse Plemons (Other People)
Tim Roth (Chronic)
FEMALE LEAD
Annette Bening (20th Century Women)
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Sasha Lane (American Honey)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(award given to the best feature made for under $500,000, given to the writer, director and producer)
Free In Deed (Jake Mahaffy; Mike Bowes, Mike S. Ryan, Brent Stiefel)
Hunter Gatherer (Josh Locy; Michael Covino, April Lamb, Sara Murphy, Isaiah Smallman)
Lovesong (So Yong Kim; Bradley Rust Gray; David Hansen, Alex Lipschultz, Johnny Mac)
Nakom (T.W. Pittman; Kelly Daniela Norris; Isaac Adakudugu; Giovanni Ximėnez)
Spa Night (Andrew Ahn; David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Kelly Thomas)
DOCUMENTARY
13th (Ava DuVernay)
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
I am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck)
O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
Sonita (Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami)
Under the Sun (Vitaly Mansky)
INTERNATIONAL FILM
Aquarius (Brazil – Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Chevalier (Greece – Athina Tsangari)
My Golden Days (France – Arnaud Desplechin)
Toni Erdmann (Germany/Romania – Maren Ade)
Under the Shadow (Iran/United Kingdom – Babak Anvari)
EDITING
Matthew Hannam (Swiss Army Man)
Jennifer Lame (Manchester by the Sea)
Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders (Moonlight)
Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water)
Sebastián Sepúlveda (Jackie)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ava Berkofsky (Free In Deed)
Lol Crawley (The Childhood of a Leader)
Zach Kuperstein (The Eyes of My Mother)
James Laxton (Moonlight)
Robbie Ryan (American Honey)
FIRST SCREENPLAY
Robert Eggers (The Witch)
Chris Kelly (Other People)
Adam Mansbach (Barry)
Stella Meghie (Jean of the Joneses)
Craig Shilowich (Christine)
SCREENPLAY
Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Mike Mills (20th Century Women)
Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias (Little Men)
Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)
SUPPORTING MALE
Ralph Fiennes (A Bigger Splash)
Ben Foster (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Shia LaBeouf (American Honey)
Craig Robinson (Morris From America)
SUPPORTING FEMALE
Edwina Findley (Free In Deed)
Paulina Garcia (Little Men)
Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)
Riley Keough (American Honey)
Molly Shannon (Other People)