The 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards have revealed their nominations. Leading the pack is Jeremiah Zagar’s Malickian coming-of-age tale We the Animals, which nabbed five nods, while grabbing four each were Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here. Rounding out the Best Feature category was If Beale Street Could Talk and Leave No Trace.
Some of our favourite performances of the year, including Helena Howard, Regina Hall, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, and Ethan Hawke got nods in their respective categories. Suspiria earned the Robert Altman Award for its ensemble. The Favourite and Roma, which were only eligible for Best International Film, earned nods in that category alongside Burning, Happy as Lazzaro, and Shoplifters.
Check out the nomination list below ahead of a February 23 ceremony.
BEST FEATURE
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No Trace
You Were Never Really Here
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Hereditary
Sorry to Bother You
The Tale
We the Animals
Wildlife
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Glenn Close, The Wife
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Regina Hall, Support the Girls
Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline
Carey Mulligan, Wildlife
BEST MALE LEAD
John Cho, Searching
Daveed Diggs, Blindspotting
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Christian Malheiros, Socrates
Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
BEST DIRECTOR
Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here
Paul Schrader, First Reformed
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
On Her Shoulders
Shirkers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Kayli Carter, PRIVATE LIFE
Tyne Daly, A BREAD FACTORY
Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
J. Smith-Cameron, NANCY
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Raúl Castillo, We the Animals
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade
John David Washington, Monsters and Men
BEST SCREENPLAY
Richard Glatzer (Writer/Story By), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, Colette
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You
Paul Schrader, First Reformed
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Suspiria
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
Christina Choe, Nancy
Cory Finley, Thoroughbreds
Jennifer Fox, The Tale
Quinn Shephard (Writer/Story By) and Laurie Shephard (Story By), Blame
BEST EDITING
Joe Bini, You Were Never Really Here
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates & Jeremiah Zagar, We the Animals
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill & Julian Hart, American Animals
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy, The Tale
Nick Houy, Mid90s
BONNIE AWARD
Debra Granik
Tamara Jenkins
Karyn Kusama
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Burning (South Korea)
The Favourite (United Kingdom)
Happy as Lazzaro (Italy)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
A Bread Factory
En el Septimo Dia
Never Goin’ Back
Socrates
Thunder Road
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ashley Connor, Madeline’s Madeline
Diego Garcia, Wildlife
Benjamin Loeb, Mandy
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Suspiria
Zak Mulligan, We the Animals
PRODUCERS AWARD – The 22nd annual Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
Gabrielle Nadig
Shrihari Sathe
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 25th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Alex Moratto
Director of Sócrates
Ioana Uricaru
Director of Lemonade
Jeremiah Zagar
Director of We the Animals
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 24th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Alexandria Bombach
Director of On Her Shoulders
Bing Liu
Director of Minding the Gap
RaMell Ross
Director of Hale County This Morning, This Evening