The final month of the year has arrived, and with it an early Festivus bounty of news (very exciting!) about the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which are happening once again on February 25, back on the beach in Santa Monica. Last week brought tell of our incomparable new Spirit Awards host: SNL funnywoman and Emmy-nominated streaming series auteur Aidy Bryant. Now, the nondenominational secular-humanist Holiday Gnomes have brought us something potentially even more exciting… the nominees!

For the third consecutive year, the Spirit Awards will recognize outstanding achievement in uniqueness of vision, innovation and boldness in TV and streaming in addition to feature film. And for the second year, all acting categories (Best Performance, Best Supporting Performance and Best Breakthrough Performance, in both Film and TV) are gender-neutral.

Noms were revealed in a livestream earlier today on Film Independent’s YouTube channel (like and subscribe!) by special guest presenters Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales:

Spirit Awards winners are voted on exclusively by Film Independent Members. Be sure to join by December 18 to receive access to nominee screeners and full Spirit Awards Member benefits. The Spirit Awards are Film Independent’s largest fundraiser of the year, helping us to continue our mission year-round. And now, here are this year’s nominees:

 

BEST FEATURE

(Award given to the producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)  

 

All of Us Strangers 

Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey 

American Fiction 

Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair 

May December 

Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon 

Passages 

Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd 

Past Lives 

Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon 

We Grown Now 

Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro

   

BEST FIRST FEATURE

(Award given to director and producer)  

 

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt 

Director: Raven Jackson 

Producers: Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski 

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint 

Director: Tomás Gómez Bustillo 

Producers: Gewan Brown, Amanda Freedman 

Earth Mama 

Director/Producer: Savanah Leaf 

Producers: Sam Bisbee, Shirley O’Connor, Medb Riordan, Cody Ryder 

A Thousand and One 

Director: A.V. Rockwell 

Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rajani Rishi, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston 

Upon Entry 

Directors: Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez 

Producers: Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, Xosé Zapata 

   

 

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)

 

The Artifice Girl 

Director/Writer: Franklin Ritch 

Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead

Cadejo Blanco 

Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Lerner 

Producers: Mauricio Escobar, Jack Patrick Hurley, Ryan Friedkin

Fremont 

Director/Writer: Babak Jalali 

Writer: Carolina Cavalli 

Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner 

Rotting in the Sun 

Director/Writer: Sebastián Silva 

Writer: Pedro Peirano 

Producer: Jacob Wasserman

The Unknown Country 

Director/Writer/Producer: Morrisa Maltz 

Writer: Lily Gladstone 

Writers/Producers: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Vanara Taing 

Producers: Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, Tommy Heitkamp

 

BEST DIRECTOR

 

Andrew Haigh 

All of Us Strangers 

Todd Haynes 

May December  

William Oldroyd 

Eileen 

Celine Song 

Past Lives 

Ira Sachs 

Passages

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

 

David Hemingson 

The Holdovers 

Cord Jefferson 

American Fiction 

Laura Moss, Brendan J. O’Brien 

Birth/Rebirth  

Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott 

Bottoms 

Celine Song 

Past Lives

 

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

 

Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik 

May December 

Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt 

Theater Camp

Tomás Gómez Bustillo 

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint 

Laurel Parmet 

The Starling Girl

Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez 

Upon Entry 

 

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

 

Jessica Chastain 

Memory

Greta Lee 

Past Lives

Trace Lysette 

Monica

Natalie Portman 

May December

Judy Reyes 

Birth/Rebirth

Franz Rogowski 

Passages

Andrew Scott 

All of Us Strangers

Teyana Taylor 

A Thousand and One

Jeffrey Wright 

American Fiction

Teo Yoo 

Past Lives

 

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

 

Erika Alexander 

American Fiction

Sterling K. Brown 

American Fiction

Noah Galvin 

Theater Camp

Anne Hathaway 

Eileen 

Glenn Howerton 

BlackBerry

Marin Ireland 

Eileen

Charles Melton 

May December

Da’Vine Joy Randolph 

The Holdovers 

Catalina Saavedra 

Rotting in the Sun

Ben Whishaw 

Passages

 

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

 

Marshawn Lynch

Bottoms

Atibon Nazaire

Mountains

Tia Nomore

Earth Mama

Dominic Sessa

The Holdovers

Anaita Walizada

Fremont

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

 

Katelin Arizmendi

Monica

Eigil Bryld

The Holdovers

Jomo Fray

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Pablo Lozano

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Pat Scola

We Grown Now

 

BEST EDITING

 

Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz, Sofía Subercaseaux

Rotting in the Sun

Stephanie Filo

We Grown Now

Daniel Garber

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Jon Philpot

Theater Camp

Emanuele Tiziani

Upon Entry

   

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD

(Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)  

 

Showing Up 

Director: Kelly Reichardt 

Casting Director: Gayle Keller 

Ensemble Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams 

   

BEST DOCUMENTARY

(Award given to the director and producer)

   

Bye Bye Tiberias

Director: Lina Soualem

Producer: Jean-Marie Nizan

Four Daughters

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Directors/Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson

Producer: Tommy Oliver

Kokomo City

Director: D. Smith

Producers: Bill Butler, Harris Doran

The Mother of All Lies

Director/Producer: Asmae El Moudir

   

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

(Award given to the director)

 

Anatomy of a Fall

France

Director: Justin Triet

Godland

Denmark/Iceland

Director: Hlynur Pálmason

Mami Wata

Nigeria

Director: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi

Tótem

Mexico

Director: Lila Avilés

The Zone of Interest

United Kingdom, Poland, USA

Director: Jonathan Glazer

 

PRODUCERS AWARD

Presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 27th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.

 

Rachael Fung

Graham Swon

Monique Walton

 

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 30th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

 

Laura Moss

Director of Birth/Rebirth

Joanna Arnow

Director of The Feeling That The Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Monica Sorelle

Director of Mountains

 

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 29th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

 

Set Hernandez

Director of unseen

Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli

Director of Lakota Nation vs. United States

Sierra Urich

Director of Joonam

 

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES

(Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)

 

Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court

Executive Producers: Vinnie Malhotra, Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, Dawn Porter

Dear Mama

Executive Producers: Lasse Järvi, Quincy ‘QD3 Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel ‘Future’ Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair

Murder in Big Horn

Executive Producers: Matthew Galkin, Vinnie Malhotra

Co-Executive Producers: Lisa Kalikow, Joshua Levine

Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrwence

Executive Producers: Mindy Goldberg, Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Zach Heinzerling, Krista Parris, Daniel Barban Levin, Felicia Rosario

Co-Executive Producer: Julie Gaither

Wrestlers

Executive Producers: Greg Whiteley, Ryan O’Dowd

Co-Executive Producers: Alejandro Melendez, Adam Leibowitz

 

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

(Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer) 

 

Beef 

Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin

Executive Producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Shreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich

Co-Executive Producer: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper

Dreaming Whilst Black

Creator/Executive Producer: Adjani Salmon

Creators: Maximilian Evans, Natasha Jatania, Laura Seixas

Executive Producers: Tanya Qureshi, Dhanny Joshi, Bal Samra, Thomas Stogdon

I’m a Virgo

Creator/Executive Producer: Boots Riley

Executive Producers: Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Jharrel Jerome, Rebecca Rivo

Co-Executive Producer: Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski

Jury Duty

Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky

Executive Producers: David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Cody Heller, Todd Schulman, Jake Szymanski, Andrew Weinberg

Slip

Creators/Executive Producers: Zoe Lister-Jones

Executive Producers: Ro Donnelly, Dakota Johnson, Katie O’Connell Marsh, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg

 

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

 

Emma Corrin

A Murder at the End of the World

Dominique Fishback

Swarm

Betty Gilpin

Mrs. Davis

Jharrel Jerome

I’m a Virgo

Zoe Lister-Jones

Slip

Bel Powley

A Small Light

Bella Ramsey

The Last of Us

Ramón Rodríguez

Will Trent

Ali Wong

Beef

Steven Yeun

Beef

 

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

 

Murray Bartlett

The Last of Us

Billie Eilish

Swarm

Jack Farthing

Rain Dogs

Nick Offerman

The Last of Us

Adina Porter

The Changeling

Lewis Pullman

Lessons in Chemistry

Benny Safdie

The Curse

Luke Tennie

Shrinking

Olivia Washington

I’m a Virgo

Jessica Williams

Shrinking

 

BEST BREAKTRHOUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

 

Clark Backo

The Changeling

Aria Mia Loberti

All the Light We Cannot See

Adjani Salmon

Dreaming Whilst Black

Keivonn Montreal Woodard

The Last of Us

Kara Young

I’m a Virgo

 

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

 

Jury Duty

Ensemble Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger,Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams