Film Independent, the nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering independence and inclusivity in visual storytelling, have announced the nominations for the film categories at the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Multiverse-hopping adventure film Everything Everywhere All at Once leads all films with eight nominations including best feature, director, lead actor for Michelle Yeoh, supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis and breakthrough for Stephanie Hsu.
Film Independent President Josh Welsh introduced the prerecorded video announcements, which featured guest presenters Raúl Castillo (2019 Spirit Award nominee for We Are Animals), and Taylour Paige (2022 Spirit Award winner for Zola).
“We couldn’t be more honored to celebrate this year’s exciting film nominees,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “As the Film Independent Spirit Awards evolve with our changing industry, including embracing non-gendered categories, we look to these artists to lead us into the future. And as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our Artist Development programs, we are incredibly proud to have Film Independent Fellows Siân Heder and Chloé Zhao return as our honorary co-chairs.”
The 2023 Best Feature nominees included Bones and All, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Tár, Women Talking and Our Father, the Devil. Tár received seven nominations including Best Director for Todd Field and acting nominations for Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss.
New to the nominations this year is the Best Breakthrough Performance category, honoring actors making themselves known to wider audiences through noteworthy character portrayals. The nominees include, in addition to Stephanie Hsu, Frankie Corio of Aftersun, Gracija Filipović of Murina, Lily McInerny of Palm Trees and Power Lines and Daniel Zolghadri of Funny Pages.
Also new this year is a switch to gender-neutral acting awards, with the separate lead and supporting actor and actress categories being replaced by the ten-nominee Best Lead and Best Supporting Performance awards.
Women Talking, from director Sarah Polley, was selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon a single film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honor of legendary director Robert Altman, known for populating his films with extraordinary ensemble casts.
In addition to the film nominees, Academy Award-winning filmmakers and previous Film Independent Fellows Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals) and Siân Heder (Coda, Tallulah) were announced as the honorary co-chairs of the 38th Spirit Awards.
Both co-chairs were also recognized at the 2021 Spirit Awards, where Chloé Zhao won Best Director, Best Editing and Best Feature for Nomadland, and Siân Heder was nominated for Best New Scripted Series for Little America. Previous honorary chairs include Kristen Stewart, Shaka King and Ava DuVernay.
Spirit Awards nominations in television-specific categories will be announced separately on Tuesday, December 13.
REELated:
Below are 2023’s nominations:
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer.)
- Bones and All
Producers: Timothée Chalamet, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Luca Guadagnino, David Kajganich, Lorenzo Mieli, Marco Morabito, Gabriele Moratti, Theresa Park, Peter Spears - Everything Everywhere All At Once
Producers: Daniel Kwan, Mike Larocca, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang - Our Father, the Devil
Producers: Ellie Foumbi, Joseph Mastantuono - Tár
Producers: Todd Field, Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan - Women Talking
Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Frances McDormand
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)
- Aftersun
Director: Charlotte Wells
Producers: Mark Ceryak, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski - Emily the Criminal
Director: John Patton Ford
Producers: Tyler Davidson, Aubrey Plaza, Drew Sykes - The Inspection
Director: Elegance Bratton
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Chester Algernal Gordon - Murina
Director: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Producers: Danijel Pek, Rodrigo Teixeira
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer.)
- The African Desperate
Writer/Director/Producer: Martine Syms
Writer/Producer: Rocket Caleshu
Producer: Vic Brooks - The Cathedral
Writer/Director: Ricky D’Ambrose
Producer: Graham Swon - Holy Emy
Writer/Director: Araceli Lemos
Writer/Producer: Giulia Caruso
Producers: Mathieu Bompoint, Ki Jin Kim, Konstantinos Vassilaros - A Love Song
Writer/Director/Producer: Max Walker-Silverman
Producers: Jesse Hope, Dan Janvey - Something in the Dirt
Writer/Director/Producer: Justin Benson
Director/Producer: Aaron Moorhead
Producer: David Lawson Jr.
BEST DIRECTOR
- Todd Field
Tár - Kogonada
After Yang - Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Everything Everywhere All At Once - Sarah Polley
Women Talking - Halina Reijn
Bodies Bodies Bodies
BEST SCREENPLAY
- Lena Dunham
Catherine Called Birdy - Todd Field
Tár - Kogonada
After Yang - Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Everything Everywhere All At Once - Sarah Polley
Women Talking
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
- Joel Kim Booster
Fire Island - Jamie Dack, Audrey Findlay; Story by Jamie Dack
Palm Trees and Power Lines - K.D. Dávila
Emergency - Sarah DeLappe, Story by Kristen Roupenian
Bodies Bodies Bodies - John Patton Ford
Emily the Criminal
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
- Cate Blanchett
Tár - Dale Dickey
A Love Song - Mia Goth
Pearl - Regina Hall
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. - Paul Mescal
Aftersun - Aubrey Plaza
Emily the Criminal - Jeremy Pope
The Inspection - Andrea Riseborough
To Leslie - Taylor Russell
Bones and All - Michelle Yeoh
Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
- Jamie Lee Curtis
Everything Everywhere All At Once - Brian Tyree Henry
Causeway - Nina Hoss
Tár - Brian d’Arcy James
The Cathedral - Ke Huy Quan
Everything Everywhere All At Once - Trevante Rhodes
Bruiser - Theo Rossi
Emily the Criminal - Mark Rylance
Bones and All - Jonathan Tucker
Palm Trees and Power Lines - Gabrielle Union
The Inspection
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
- Frankie Corio
Aftersun - Gracija Filipović
Murina - Stephanie Hsu
Everything Everywhere All At Once - Lily McInerny
Palm Trees and Power Lines - Daniel Zolghadri
Funny Pages
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Florian Hoffmeister
Tár - Hélène Louvart
Murina - Gregory Oke
Aftersun - Eliot Rockett
Pearl - Anisia Uzeyman
Neptune Frost
BEST EDITING
- Ricky D’Ambrose
The Cathedral - Dean Fleischer Camp, Nick Paley
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On - Blair McClendon
Aftersun - Paul Rogers
Everything Everywhere All At Once - Monika Willi
Tár
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast
Women Talking
Director: Sarah Polley
Casting Directors: John Buchan, Jason Knight
Ensemble Cast: Shayla Brown, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Kira Guloien, Kate Hallett, Judith Ivey, Rooney Mara, Sheila McCarthy, Frances McDormand, Michelle McLeod, Liv McNeil, Ben Whishaw, August Winter
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
- All That Breathes
Director/Producer: Shaunak Sen
Producers: Teddy Leifer, Aman Mann - All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Director/Producer: Laura Poitras
Producers: Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov, John Lyons - A House Made of Splinters
Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont
Producers: Monica Hellström - Midwives
Director/Producer: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Producers: Mila Aung-Thwin, Ulla Lehmann, Bob Moore - Riotsville, U.S.A.
Director: Sierra Pettengill
Producers: Sara Archambault, Jamila Wignot
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
- Corsage
Austria/Luxembourg/France/Belgium/Italy/England
Director: Marie Kreutzer - Joyland
Pakistan/USA
Director: Saim Sadiq - Leonor Will Never Die
Philippines
Director: Martika Ramirez Escobar - Return to Seoul
Cambodia
Director: Davy Chou - Saint Omer
France
Director: Alice Diop
PRODUCERS AWARD presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 26th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.
- Liz Cardenas
- Tory Lenosky
- David Grove Churchill Viste
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 29th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.
- Adamma Ebo
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. - Nikyatu Jusu
Nanny - Araceli Lemos
Holy Emy
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 28th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.
- Isabel Castro
Mija - Reid Davenport
I Didn’t See You There - Rebeca Huntt
Beba
Of all nominated writers and directors, 61% are women and 34% are BIPOC. Of all nominated actors, 70% are women and 27% are BIPOC. And of all 2023 nominees, 51% are women and 33% are BIPOC. This year, the Spirit Awards nominating committees are 50% female, 6% Nonbinary, 3% Transgender, and 61% BIPOC; 32% identify as LGBTQ+ and 8% identify as people with disabilities (PWD).
The 38th Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The in-person show, held on the beach in Santa Monica, will be streamed internationally across multiple online and digital platforms. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round slate of programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity and inclusion in the industry.
You can watch the nominations here, which include the previously announced category updates.
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