Indie Spirit Awards Reach a Level of Complete Irrelevance with Nominations No One Cares About

The Independent Spirit Awards have reached a level of unimportance that is startling. Their nominations are useless. Most of these movies and performances no one’s ever heard about and no one cares about. I like that they nominated Clifton Collins, Jr. for “Jockey,” but he probably won’t win. Thank goodness the Spirit Awards are on March 6th, three weeks before the Oscars, and I don’t have to deal with them and their leaky tent. Ratings on the IFC channel will be down to five people and a dog in Santa Monica.

BEST FEATURE

A Chiara

C’mon C’mon

The Lost Daughter

The Novice

Zola

BEST FIRST FEATURE

7 Days

Holler

Queen Glory

Test Pattern

Wild Indian

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 DIRECTOR

Janicza Bravo, Zola

Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter

Lauren Hadaway, The Novice

Mike Mills, C’mon C’mon

Ninja Thyberg, Pleasure

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Ascension

Flee

In the Same Breath

Procession

Summer of Soul 

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter

Amy Forsyth, The Novice

Ruth Negga, Passing

Revika Anne 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

BEST SCREENPLAY

C’mon C’mon, Mike Mills

The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Swan Song, Todd Stephens

Together Together, Nikole Beckwith

Zola, Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris

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 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 CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ante Cheng, Matthew Chuang, Blue Bayou

Lol Crawley, The Humans

Tim Curtin, A Chiara

Edu Grau, Passing

Ari Wegner, Zola

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

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

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

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

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!

TV 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