And so, the awards season begins.
As usual, the first awards body out of the gate is the Independent Spirit Awards, which reward cinema that operates outside of the studio system, on a smaller budget. Some high-profile awards season contenders don’t qualify for the Independent Spirit Awards under that criteria, and not just major studio products. J.A. Bayona’s heartbreaking A Monster Calls won’t be making an appearance here for exactly that reason, nor will Nocturnal Animals or La La Land.
Fortunately, there was still more than enough quality filmmaking to go around. Leading the nominations this year are Barry Jenkins’ superlative Moonlight, about the journey of a gay black man from childhood to adulthood, and Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, about a teenaged girl who gets caught up in a cross country magazine sales trip. Both films earned six nominations a piece, although Moonlight‘s impressive ensemble cast was snubbed in the main acting categories. Perhaps they split their votes, or perhaps the Independent Spirit Awards decided that the film’s Robert Altman Award covered all those bases, freeing the acting categories for more worthy recipients.
Wild Bunch
The Independent Spirit Awards usually include several surprises, films that most audiences are unfamiliar with and that many critics ignored entirely. This year was no exception, with the Tim Roth hospice care drama Chronic earning nominations for Best Feature and Best Actor, seemingly out of the blue, and David Harewood and Edwina Findley Dickerson both earned acting nominations for the storefront church drama Free in Deed. Try to find headline news about those two films before today, and I think you’ll have a pretty hard time of it. That’s the value of awards programs like The Independent Spirit Awards, which aren’t about confirming that films you’ve already heard about are good, but rather about raising awareness of films you may never have even heard of.
That being said, many of the nominees here are considered major awards season contenders, and seemingly destined for Oscar nominations. Kenneth Lonergan’s incredible drama Manchester By The Sea earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Editing, and Jackie earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Editing.
Check out the complete list of nominations below, and find out the winners when the Independent Spirit Awards are given out on February 25, 2017.
Best Feature
American Honey
Chronic
Jackie
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Best Director
Andrea Arnold (American Honey)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Pablo Larrain (Jackie)
Jeff Nichols (Loving)
Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women)
Best First Feature
The Childhood of a Leader
The Fits
Other People
Swiss Army Man
The Witch
Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
David Harewood (Free in Deed)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Jesse Plemons (Other People)
Tim Roth (Chronic)
Best Female Lead
Annette Bening (20th Century Women)
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Sasha Lane (American Honey)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Best Supporting Male
Ralph Fiennes (A Bigger Splash)
Ben Foster (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Shia LaBeouf (American Honey)
Craig Robinson (Morris from America)
Best Supporting Female
Edwina Findley (Free in Deed)
Paulina Garcia (Little Men)
Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)
Riley Keough (American Honey)
Molly Shannon (Other People)
Best Screenplay
Hell or High Water
Little Men
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
20th Century Women
Best First Screenplay
Barry
Christine
Jean of the Joneses
Other People
The Witch
Best International Film
Aquarius
Chevalier
My Golden Days
Toni Erdmann
Under the Shadow
Best Documentary Feature
13th
Cameraperson
I Am Not Your Negro
O.J.: Made in America
Sonita
Under the Sun
Best Cinematography
American Honey
Childhood
Free in Deed
Eyes of My Mother
Moonlight
Best Editing
Hell or High Water
Jackie
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Swiss Army Man
John Cassavetes Award
Free in Deed
Hunter Gatherer
Lovesong
Nakom
Spa Night
Robert Altman Award
Moonlight
Piaget Producers Award
Lisa Kjerulff
Jordana Mollick
Melody C. Roscher
Craig Shilowich
Truer Than Fiction Award
Kristi Jacobson (Solitary)
Sara Jordeno (Kiki)
Nanfu Wang (Holligan Sparrow)
Someone to Watch Award
Andrew Ahn (Spa Night)
Claire Carre (Embers)
Anna Rose Holmer (The Fits)
Ingrid Jungermann (Women Who Kill)
Top Photo: A24
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
