"Tár" scores 7 nods, followed by "Aftersun" with 5
By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The multiverse-hopping adventure film “Everything Everywhere All At Once” had a leading eight nominations for the Film Independent Spirit Awards with nods for best feature, best director, best lead actor for Michelle Yeoh, supporting actors Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis and breakthrough for Stephanie Hsu.
The organization announced nominees for its 38th edition on Tuesday, where other top contenders include Todd Field’s classical music thriller “Tár,” with seven nominations — including for feature, director, actor for Cate Blanchett and supporting actor for Nina Hoss — Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All.” Aside from “Aftersun,” nominated for best first feature, all are best feature nominees alongside the sole nomination for “Our Father, the Devil.”
The cannibal romance “Bones and All” got nominations for Taylor Russell’s lead performance and Mark Rylance’s supporting role, but none for Timothée Chalamet.
“Women Talking” did not receive any solo acting nominations but did get the Robert Altman Award for its ensemble, in addition to best director and screenplay nods.
Joining “Aftersun” in the first feature category are “Emily the Criminal,” “The Inspection,” “Murina,” and “Palm Trees and Power Lines.”
Paul Mescal was also nominated for his leading performance in “Aftersun’’ while his co-star Frankie Corio was singled out in the breakthrough category.
The awards celebrate the best in independent filmmaking and recently raised the budget cap from $22.5 million to $30 million for the main prizes and $1 million for the John Cassavetes Award. The organization also shifted to gender neutral acting awards. The main acting categories now have 10 nominees each.
Lead performance nominees, in addition to Blanchett, Russell, Mescal and Yeoh, are Dale Dickey (“A Love Song”), Mia Goth (“Pearl”), Regina Hall (“Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.”), Aubrey Plaza (“Emily the Criminal”), Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”) and Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”).
Other supporting performers nominated are: Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”), Brian d’Arcy James (“The Cathedral”), Trevante Rhodes (“Bruiser”), Theo Rossi (“Emily the Criminal”), Jonathan Tucker (“Palm Trees and Power Lines”) and Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”).
A24 was far and away the most nominated studio with 24 nods total from its slate, which included “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “Aftersun,” “The Inspection,” “After Yang” and “Pearl.” Focus Features, which made “Tár” and “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.” followed with nine.
“Zola’s” Taylour Paige and “The Inspection’s” Raúl Castillo read the nominations, which are chosen by committees made up of film critics, producers, festival programmers, filmmakers, past winners and Film Independent’s Board of Directors. Film independent president Josh Welsh said they considered 409 films.
The budget cap means that films like “White Noise” and “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” were not eligible.
Films nominated for best documentary included Laura Poitras’ Venice-winner “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” “All that Breathes,” “A House Made of Splinters,” “Riotsville, U.S.A.” and “Midwives.”
Best international nominees were: “Corsage,” “Joyland,” “Leonor Will Never Die,” “Return to Seoul” and “Saint Omer.”
At the 37th edition earlier this year, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrente adaptation “The Lost Daughter” won best feature, best director and best screenplay. But Netflix won’t have a repeat showing in March: The streamer received zero nominations Tuesday.
The Spirit Awards also hand out awards to television shows, but those nominees won’t be announced until Dec. 13. The beachside ceremony will be held in Santa Monica on March 4, 2023, the weekend before the Oscars.
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
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
Palm Trees and Power Lines
Director/Producer: Jamie Dack
Producer: Leah Chen Baker
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
A Love Song
Writer/Director/Producer: Max Walker-Silverman
Producers: Jesse Hope, Dan Janvey
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
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 (New Award)
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 – 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
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
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