2024 Independent Spirit Award Nominations.

We're kicking off 2024 awards season with the Spirit nominations! These ones are are a bit tough for me because I normally have not gotten to see the majority of these yet. If anything, I use the Spirit Awards to add films to my watchlist that I may have missed. Thankfully, I've seen a decent amount so here are my thoughts below. 

BEST FEATURE 

All of Us Strangers

American Fiction 

May December 

Passages

Past Lives 

We Grown Now

Of these I've only seen Past Lives and May December. American Fiction I'm seeing sometime this weekend. Right now, Past Lives is one of my favorite films of the year. 

BEST FIRST FEATURE 

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt 

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Earth Mama  

A Thousand and One 

Upon Entry 

The only one I've seen here is A Thousand and One, and while I didn't love it, I'm floored it was the director's first feature. It's very well made. 

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD 

The Artifice Girl 

Fremont

Rotting in the Sun

The Unknown Country

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

Glad to see The Holdovers here too. I loved that film as well!

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

I cannot believe Theater Camp is here. That screenplay was a MESS. I'm happy to see Parmet for The Starling Girl though. 

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

I really don't love the genderless categories because I want more winners. I wish they'd just add a 3rd nonbinary category instead. But from what I've seen, Portman is probably the strongest here. 

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

There are some awesome performances here. Melton, Howerton, Randolph. I'm not sure  I could choose between those three. 

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Marshawn Lynch – Bottoms

Atibon Nazaire – Mountains

Tia Nomore – Earth Mama

Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers

Anaita Wali Zada – Fremont

Marshawn Lynch being here is hilarious (as he was in Bottoms) but from what I've seen, Sessa is the winner.

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

Theater Camp again perplexes me here, but I'm very happy to see How to Blow Up a Pipeline!

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD 

Showing Up

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

Bye Bye Tiberias 

Four Daughters

Going to Mars

Kokomo City

The Mother of All Lies

I've only seen Four Daughters but that's one of the best, if not the best documentary I've seen this year. Right now it's my predicted Oscar winner. 

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM 

Anatomy of a Fall (France)

Godland (Denmark/Iceland) 

Mami Wata (Nigeria) 

Tótem (Mexico) 

The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom, Poland, USA)

I want to see all of these. Soon, I hope. 

PRODUCERS AWARD

 Rachael Fung

Graham Swon

Monique Walton

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

Joanna Arnow

Laura Moss

Monica Sorelle 

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD 

Set Hernandez 

Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli 

Sierra Urich 

Love Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli being nominated as directors of Lakota Nation vs United States, another great doc. 

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES 

Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court

Dear Mama

Murder in Big Horn

Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence

Wrestlers

The Sarah Lawrence doc was wild. 

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES 

Beef

Dreaming Whilst Black

I’m a Virgo

Jury Duty

Slip

I keep forgetting about Jury Duty, I've heard that's good. The only one I'm familiar with is Beef, which I liked a lot. 

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Emma Corrin – A Murder at the End of the World

Dominique Fishback – Swarm

Betty Gilpin – Mrs. Davis

Jharrel Jerome – I’m a Virgo

Zoe Lister-Jones – Slip

Bel Powley – A Small Light

Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us

Ramón Rodríguez – Will Trent

Ali Wong – Beef

Steven Yeun – Beef

Got to go with my boy Steven Yeun. 

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Murray Bartlett – The Last of Us

Billie Eilish – Swarm

Jack Farthing – Rain Dogs

Nick Offerman – The Last of Us

Adina Porter – The Changeling

Lewis Pullman – Lessons in Chemistry

Benny Safdie – The Curse

Luke Tennie – Shrinking

Olivia Washington – I’m a Virgo

Jessica Williams – Shrinking

Good luck choosing between those Last of Us performances. I'm kind of surprised to see that here at all because I assumed it had a bigger budget that wouldn't qualify here. 

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Clark Backo – The Changeling

Aria Mia Loberti – All the Light We Cannot See

Adjani Salmon – Dreaming Whilst Black

Keivonn Montreal Woodard – The Last of Us

Kara Young – I’m a Virgo

Woodard was so memorable in his episode!

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Jury Duty