This morning, the Film Independent Spirit Awards did its part to make things exciting by announcing the nominees of its 37th annual awards ceremony, set to return in-person (!!!) to the beach at Santa Monica on Sunday, March 6, 2022. For the second year, the Spirit Awards are recognizing outstanding achievement in uniqueness of vision, innovation and boldness in TV and streaming, as well as feature film. The nominees were revealed on Film Independent’s YouTube channel (smash that subscribe button!) this morning, with special guest presenters Naomi Watts, Regina Hall and Beanie Feldstein:
The Spirit Awards winners are voted on exclusively by Film Independent Members. Be sure to join by December 21 to receive access to nominee screeners and full Spirit Awards Member benefits. The Spirit Awards are Film Independent’s largest fundraiser of the year, helping us to continue our mission year-round. And now, here are this year’s nominees:
BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the producer) Producers: Jonas Carpignano, Paolo Carpignano, Jon Coplon, Ryan Zacarias Producers: Chelsea Barnard, Andrea Longacre-White, Lila Yacoub Producers: Charles Dorfman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler Producers: Ryan Hawkins, Kari Hollend, Steven Sims, Zack Zucker Producers: Kara Baker, Dave Franco, Elizabeth Haggard, David Hinojosa, Vince Jolivette, Christine Vachon, Gia Walsh
BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to director and producer) Director: Roshan Sethi Producers: Liz Cardenas, Mel Eslyn Director: Nicole Riegel Producers: Adam Cobb, Rachel Gould, Katie McNeill, Jamie Patricof, Christy Spitzer Thornton Director: Nana Mensah Producers: Baff Akoto, Anya Migdal, Kelley Robins Hicks, Jamund Washington Director/Producer: Shatara Michelle Ford Producers: Pin-Chun Liu, Yu-Hao Su Director/Producer: Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr. Producers: Thomas Mahoney, Eric Tavitian
BEST DIRECTOR
Janicza Bravo, Zola Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter Lauren Hadaway, The Novice Mike Mills, C’mon C’mon Ninja Thyberg, Pleasure
BEST SCREENPLAY
Nikole Beckwith, Together Together Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris, Zola Mike Mills, C’mon C’mon Todd Stephens, Swan Song
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., Wild Indian Shatara Michelle Ford, Test Pattern Fran Kranz, Mass Matt Fifer, Sheldon D. Brown, Cicada Michael Sarnoski, Vanessa Block, Pig
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; Award given to the writer, director and producer) Writer/Director: Dash Shaw Producers: Tyler Davidson, Kyle Martin, Jane Samborski, Bill Way Writer/Director/Producer: Clint Bentley Writer/Producer: Greg Kweder Producer: Nancy Schafer Writer/Director/Producer: Emma Seligman Producers: Kieran Altmann, Katie Schiller, Lizzie Shapiro Writer/Director: Alexandre Rockwell Producers: Louis Anania, Haley Anderson, Kenan Baysal Writer/Director/Producer: Talia Lugacy Producers: Noah Lang, Julian West
BEST MALE LEAD
Clifton Collins Jr., Jockey Frankie Faison, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Michael Greyeyes, Wild Indian Udo Kier, Swan Song Simon Rex, Red Rocket
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Isabelle Fuhrman, The Novice Brittany S. Hall, Test Pattern Patti Harrison, Together Together Taylour Paige, Zola Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Colman Domingo, Zola Meeko Gattuso, Queen of Glory Troy Kotsur, CODA Will Patton, Sweet Thing Chaske Spencer, Wild Indian
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter Amy Forsyth, The Novice Ruth Negga, Passing Revika Reustle, Pleasure Suzanna Son, Red Rocket
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Lol Crawley, The Humans Tim Curtin, A Chiara Edu Grau, Passing Ante Cheng, Matthew Chuang, Blue Bayou Ari Wegner, Zola
BEST EDITING
Affonso Gonçalves, A Chiara Ali Greer, The Nowhere Inn Joi McMillon, Zola Enrico Natale, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Lauren Hadaway, Nathan Nugent, The Novice
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
(Award given to the director) Director: Juho Kuosmanen Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi Director: Pedro Almodóvar Director: P S Vinothraj Director: Céline Sciamma Director: Tatiana Huezo
BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Award given to the director and producer) Director/Producer: Jessica Kingdon Producers: Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen Producers: Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen Director/Producer: Nanfu Wang Producers: Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Jialing Zhang Director: Robert Greene Producer: Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott, Douglas Tirola Director: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson Producers: David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast) Director: Fran Kranz Casting Directors: Henry Russell Bergstein, Allison Estrin Ensemble Cast: Kagen Albright, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Breeda Wool
PRODUCERS AWARD
(The Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films) Brad Becker-Parton Pin-Chun Liu Lizzie Shapiro
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
(The Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition) Director of Luzzu Director of I Blame Society Director of Pig
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
(The 27th Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition) Director of Faya Dayi Director of Try Harder! Director of North By Current
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
(Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer) Series By/Executive Producers: Soledad O’Brien, Geeta Gandbhir Executive Producers: Jo Honig, Patrick Conway, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez Creator/Executive Producer: David Choe Executive Producers: Matt Revelli, Christopher C. Chen, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson Executive Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Allen Bain, Andre Gaines, Nick Cammilleri, Alana Carithers, Zackary Drucker, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller Series By: Ry Russo-Young Produced By: Dan Cogan, Warren Fischer Executive Producers: Liz Garbus, Julie Gaither, Jon Bardin, Leah Holzer, Peter Saraf, Alex Turtletaub, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Lauren Haber, Maria Zuckerman, Christine Connor, Ryan Heller, Barbara Dobkin, Eric Dobkin, Andrea Van Beuren, Joe Landauer Creators: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar Produced By: Josh Penn, Michael Gottwald Executive Producers: Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, Patty Quillin Co-Executive Producers: Nion McEvoy, Leslie Berriman
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
(Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer) Creators/Executive Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs Executive Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler Creators/Executive Producers: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi Executive Producer: Garrett Basch Creator/Executive Producer: Barry Jenkins Executive Producers: Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Richard Heus, Jacqueline Hoyt Creator: Nida Manzoor Executive Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland Deborah Ayorinde, THEM: Covenant Jasmine Cephas Jones, Blindspotting Thuso Mbedu, The Underground Railroad Jana Schmieding, Rutherford Falls Anjana Vasan, We Are Lady Parts Olly Alexander, It’s a Sin Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus Michael Greyeyes, Rutherford Falls Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game Ashley Thomas, THEM: Covenant
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Ensemble Cast: Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone The Film Independent Spirit Awards are supported by Premier Sponsor IFC and FIJI Water, the Official Water. To join Film Independent and vote on the Spirit Awards, please visit filmindependent.org/join The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity and inclusion in the film industry. To support our work with a donation, please click here.
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