2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards Film Nominations Announced
On November 22nd, Film Independent revealed their nominees across their film categories for their 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Announcing the nominees were Taylour Paige (who won at last year’s ceremony for Zola) and Raúl Castillo (2019 Spirit Award nominee for We The Animals) in a live stream on Film Independent's YouTube channel.
"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."
As was previously announced, the changes implemented starting this year are gender-neutral performance categories, replacing Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male & Best Supporting Female with Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance. This change-ups both categories from five nominations to ten in each performance category.
There’s also the new Best Breakthrough Performance category, honoring actors making themselves known to wider audiences through noteworthy character portrayals. This is the only performance category that is restricted to five nominees.
Another change for this year is the increase of the budget cap for eligible films from $22.5M last year to $30M.
The 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony is set to take place on March 4, 2023, at the beach by the Santa Monica Pier. Nominations for the Spirit Awards’ TV categories, which will also contain gender-neutral acting honors, will be revealed on Dec. 13. There is no broadcast partner this year for the Spirits, and there will be more info on the various ways to stream the show globally as the show gets closer.
This year, the Spirit Awards Film Nominating Committees selected nominees from over 25 different countries, applying the following guidelines in determining nominees: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter, and economy of means. The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees are comprised of writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics, casting directors, film festival programmers, and other working film professionals. 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).
Leading the nominees is A24 as always, with 24 nominations, with eight attributed to crowd-favorite Everything Everywhere All At Once, directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, AKA The Daniels. After its world premiere during SXSW in March of this year, the film became A24’s biggest box office earner with $70M domestically, $103M worldwide, and will start its awards season campaign with the Spirit Awards on March 4, eight days before the Oscars on March 12, 2023.
Some notable omissions include the absence of Netflix from this list. According to Deadline, Bardo, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Hustle, White Noise, The Good Nurse, and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio weren’t up for consideration for some undetermined reason. The Netflix films that were eligible for consideration - The Wonder, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Athena didn’t make the cut.
This is notable because, for the term of my membership (almost three years), Netflix has been in the top three (A24 and Neon being the other two - the latter of which I’ll discuss soon) for the most nominations. Netflix will even send out a little info card in the mail reminding Spirit Awards voters to vote for their films. So, to be entirely shut out is a huge shocker.
Another shocker is that Neon’s films Moonage Daydream and Fire of Love are not nominated here. Both are regarded as some of the year's best documentaries, so seeing them miss nominations here is a touch odd.
Some other films that missed nominations that I thought would show up here include (in no particular order): On the Divide (POV), Don’t Make Me Go (Amazon Studios), Long Line of Ladies (Junk Drawer), Descendant (Netflix), the rest of Searchlight Pictures’ slate of 2022 films, Breaking (Bleecker Street), and Halftime (Netflix). These films represent Film Independent’s mission to “embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision,” so what gives? I’d be interested to see why these films weren’t nominated since they all came out in 2022 and are under the budget cap, as far as I’m aware.
The final oddity comes from how Film Independent counts the number of film nominations per distributor. According to the announcement, Focus Features is the second most nominated, with nine nominations, seven of which are attributed to Todd Field’s latest film, Tár. However, given that Amazon now owns MGM as of March 17th, nominations for Orion, United Artists, and MGM should be attributed to Amazon Studios. This fix would mean that Amazon has ten nominations.
MGM earned three for Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All for Best Feature, Best Lead Performance for Taylor Russell, and Best Supporting Performance for Mark Rylance. MGM’s sister label Orion earned 4 for Women Talking for Best Picture, Best Director Sarah Polley, Best Screenplay by Polley, and the Robert Altman Award. Amazon counted three noms for Lena Dunham’s screenplay of Catherine Called Birdy, K.D. Dávila’s First Screenplay of Emergency, and Nikyatu Jusu receiving the Someone to Watch Award for Nanny.
The runner-ups include new face MUBI with six nominations for the films The African Desperate, The Cathedral, and Holy Emy. Just behind MUBI is Momentum Pictures with five nominations - Palm Trees and Power Lines in Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Supporting Performance, Best Breakthrough Performance, and To Leslie with one nomination for Best Lead Performance.
A complete list of this year’s Spirit Awards film nominees follows.
2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards Film 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
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
Palm Trees and Power Lines
Director/Producer: Jamie Dack
Producer: Leah Chen Baker
John Cassavettes 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
South Korea/France/Belgium/Romania
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 - recent films produced include Acidman, last year’s Spirit Awards nominee for Best First Feature 7 Days, the short film Burros, and many more.
Tory Lenosky - recent films produced include The Hater, Resurrection, and many more.
David Grove Churchill Viste - recent films produced include The Visitor, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Diary of a Spy, and many more.
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
If you want to join Film Independent to vote on the Spirit Awards, go to filmindependent.org/join by December 21st.
What do you think of the nominees? What have you seen? What haven't you seen? What do you think got snubbed? Let me know in the comments or on social media!
Until next time!
Thanks to Thomas Stoneham-Judge from Movies For Reel, Shane Conto, Joseph Davis, David Walters, Ambula Bula, Matthew Simpson, Thom Blackburn, and Beatrice AKA Shakesqueer, for supporting Austin B Media on Patreon!
