After a pandemic hiatus, the Film Independent Spirt Awards will be back on the beach this year. They may not be the day before the Oscars or an afternoon affair, as has been the tradition, but judging on this year’s nominations they will be more irreverent than ever. Just look at the Best Feature nominees which include “Zola,” “C’Mon, C’Mon,” “The Lost Daughter” and two unexpected selections, “A Chiara” and “The Novice.”
READ MORE: “West Side Story” and “Belfast” lead 2022 Critics Choice Awards nominations
Janicza Bravo’s “Zola,” which originally debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, landed seven nominations including Best Director, Best Female Lead (Taylour Paige), and Best Supporting Male (Colman Domingo). Lauren Hadaway’s “The Novice,” which debuted at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in June, earned five nominations. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” was honored with four nods overall including Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Female (Jessie Buckley).
This year’s nominating committees spread the wealth among a number of truly independent films with “Red Rocket,” “PIG,” “Pleasure,” “Together Together,” “Mass,” “Wild Indian,” “Sweet Thing,” “Swan Song,” “Test Pattern” and “Passing” all earning multiple nominations.
On the scripted side, “The Underground Railroad,” “It’s A Sin,” “Blindspotting,” “Reservation Dogs” and “We Are Lady Parts” all earned Best New Scripted Series nominations.
“Belfast,” “The Power of the Dog” and “tick, tick…BOOM!” were not eligible for Spirit Awards consideration either because they were produced overseas or for budgetary reasons.
This year’s nominees are as follows:
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)
A Chiara
Producers: Jonas Carpignano, Paolo Carpignano, Jon Coplon, Ryan Zacarias
C’mon C’mon
Producers: Chelsea Barnard, Andrea Longacre-White, Lila Yacoub
The Lost Daughter
Producers: Charles Dorfman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler
The Novice
Producers: Ryan Hawkins, Kari Hollend, Steven Sims, Zack Zucker
Zola
Producers: Kara Baker, Dave Franco, Elizabeth Haggard, David Hinojosa, Vince Jolivette, Christine Vachon, Gia Walsh
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)
7 Days
Director: Roshan Sethi
Producers: Liz Cardenas, Mel Eslyn
Holler
Director: Nicole Riegel
Producers: Adam Cobb, Rachel Gould, Katie Mcneill, Jamie Patricof, Christy Spitzer Thornton
Queen of Glory
Director: Nana Mensah
Producers: Baff Akoto, Anya Migdal, Kelley Robins Hicks, Jamund Washington
Test Pattern
Director/Producer: Shatara Michelle Ford
Producers: Pin-Chun Liu, Yu-Hao Su
Wild Indian
Director/Producer: Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.
Producers: Thomas Mahoney, Eric Tavitian
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD Given to the best feature made for under $500,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)
Cryptozoo
Writer/Director: Dash Shaw
Producers: Tyler Davidson, Kyle Martin, Jane Samborski, Bill Way
Jockey
Writer/Director/Producer: Clint Bentley
Writer/Producer: Greg Kwedar
Producer: Nancy Schafer
Shiva Baby
Writer/Director/Producer: Emma Seligman
Producers: Kieran Altmann, Katie Schiller, Lizzie Shapiro
Sweet Thing
Writer/Director: Alexandre Rockwell
Producers: Louis Anania, Haley Anderson, Kenan Baysal
This is Not a War Story
Writer/Director/Producer: Talia Lugacy
Producers: Noah Lang, Julian West
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
Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris
Zola
Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Lost Daughter
Mike Mills
C’mon C’mon
Todd Stephens
Swan Song
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.
Wild Indian
Matt Fifer; Story by Sheldon D. Brown
Cicada
Shatara Michelle Ford
Test Pattern
Fran Kranz
Mass
Michael Sarnoski; Story by Vanessa Block, Michael Sarnoski
Pig
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ante Cheng, Matthew Chuang
Blue Bayou
Lol Crawley
The Humans
Tim Curtin
A Chiara
Edu Grau
Passing
Ari Wegner
Zola
BEST EDITING
Affonso Gonçalves
A Chiara
Ali Greer
The Nowhere Inn
Lauren Hadaway, Nathan Nugent
The Novice
Joi McMillon
Zola
Enrico Natale
The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
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 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 SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessie Buckley
The Lost Daughter
Amy Forsyth
The Novice
Ruth Negga
Passing
Revika Reustle
Pleasure
Suzanna Son
Red Rocket
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Colman Domingo
Zola
Meeko Gattuso
Queen of Glory
Troy Kotsur
CODA
Will Patton
Sweet Thing
Chaske Spencer
Wild Indian
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Mass
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
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
Ascension
Director/Producer: Jessica Kingdon
Producers: Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell
Flee
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Producers: Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen
In the Same Breath
Director/Producer: Nanfu Wang
Producers: Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Jialing Zhang
Procession
Director: Robert Greene
Producers: Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott, Douglas Tirola
Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Director: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Producers: David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Compartment No. 6
Finland/Russia
Director: Juho Kuosmanen
Drive My Car
Japan
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Parallel Mothers
Spain
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Pebbles
India
Director: P S Vinothraj
Petite Maman
France
Director: Céline Sciamma
Prayers for the Stolen
Mexico
Director: Tatiana Huezo
PRODUCERS AWARD (The Producers Award, now in its 24th year, 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, now in its 27th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.)
Alex Camilleri
Luzzu
Michael Sarnoski
Pig
Gillian Wallace Horvat
I Blame Society
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 26th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.)
Angelo Madsen Minax
North By Current
Jessica Beshir
Faya Dayi
Debbie Lum
Try Harder!
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Black and Missing
Series By/Executive Producers: Soledad O’Brien, Geeta Gandbhir
Executive Producers: Jo Honig, Patrick Conway, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez
The Choe Show
Creator/Exec Producer: David Choe
Executive Producers: Matt Revelli, Christopher C. Chen, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson
The Lady and The Dale
Executive Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Allen Bain, Andre Gaines, Nick Cammilleri, Alana Carithers, Zackary Drucker, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
Nuclear Family
Series By: Ry Russo-Young
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
Philly D.A.
Creators: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar
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)
Blindspotting
Creators/Executive Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Executive Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann
It’s a Sin
Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler
Reservation Dogs
Creators/Executive Producers: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi
Executive Producer: Garrett Basch
The Underground Railroad
Creator/Executive Producer: Barry Jenkins
Executive Producers: Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Richard Heus, Jacqueline Hoyt
We Are Lady Parts
Creator: Nida Manzoor
Executive Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Thuso Mbedu
The Underground Railroad
Anjana Vasan
We Are Lady Parts
Jana Schmieding
Rutherford Falls
Jasmine Cephus Jones
Blindspotting
Deborah Ayorinde
THEM: Covenant
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Lee Jung-jae
Squid Game
Olly Alexander
It’s a Sin
Michael Greyeyes
Rutherford Falls
Murray Bartlett
The White Lotus
Ashley Thomas
THEM: Covenant
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Reservation Dogs
Ensemble Cast: Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone
The 2022 Independent Spirit Awards will be held on Sunday, March 6, 2022, and broadcast live on IFC at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET.
