2017 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Inaugurate Oscar Season
By Amy Woolsey
American Honey, Moonlight, and Manchester by the Sea lead the Independent Spirit Awards nominations as the 2017 awards race gets underway.
Normally, the year-end awards race is something to dread, a heated yet ultimately trivial contest that pits wildly different movies against each other and triggers an avalanche of self-righteous think pieces. This year, though, it might provide a welcome diversion from the real world. While of course, we shouldn’t get complacent, it’s a little heartening to think that soon, our political debates will be accompanied by arguments over which movie is overrated and which actor got snubbed.
It starts, as always, with the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Actors Edgar Ramírez and Jenny Slate revealed the 2017 nominations this afternoon at a live press conference in Hollywood’s W Hotel.
Coming out on top with six nominations, including three for acting, is American Honey, Andrea Arnold’s road trip epic starring Sasha Lane and Riley Keough. Barry Jenkins’s coming-of-age romance Moonlight and Kenneth Lonergan’s family drama Manchester by the Sea each nabbed five nominations, which will surely amplify their already-loud Oscar buzz.
The Best Feature category is rounded out by Jackie, the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Natalie Portman, which received four total nominations, and the low-profile Chronic, a drama by Mexican director Michel Franco that stars Tim Roth as a nurse who cares for terminally ill patients.
Besides recognizing many high-quality films, these nominations are relatively diverse. Two women are included in Best Director – Arnold and Certain Women’s Kelly Reichardt – alongside Jenkins, a black man. Although Best Screenplay is sadly all-male, Stella Meghie received a Best First Screenplay nod for her directorial debut Jean of the Jonses, which features an entirely black and mostly female cast. The Fits, written and directed by Anna Rose Holmer, got a nomination for Best First Feature. Lastly, nominees in the technical categories include cinematographer Ava Berkofsky (Free in Deed) and editor Jennifer Lame (Manchester by the Sea).
The Robert Altman Award went to Jenkins and casting director Yesi Ramirez for Moonlight, whose ensemble boasts Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, and a trio of gifted lesser-known actors who play the film’s protagonist, Chiron.
You can look at the full list of nominees, including those for international film and documentary, below:
BEST FEATURE
American Honey
Chronic
Jackie
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
BEST FIRST FEATURE
The Childhood of a Leader
The Fits
Other People
Swiss Army Man
The Witch
BEST DIRECTOR
Andrea Arnold, American Honey
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Pablo Larraín, Jackie
Jeff Nichols, Loving
Kelly Reichardt, Certain Women
BEST SCREENPLAY
Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney (story by), Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Mike Mills, 20th Century Women
Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias, Little Men
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Robert Eggers, The Witch
Chris Kelly, Other People
Adam Mansbach, Barry
Stella Meghie, Jean of the Joneses
Craig Shilowich, Christine
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Award given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
Free In Deed
Hunter Gatherer
Lovesong
Nakom
Spa Night
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 CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ava Berkofsky, Free In Deed
Lol Crawley, The Childhood of a Leader
Zach Kuperstein, The Eyes of My Mother
James Laxton, Moonlight
Robbie Ryan, American Honey
BEST EDITING
Matthew Hannam, Swiss Army Man
Jennifer Lame, Manchester by the Sea
Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders, Moonlight
Jake Roberts, Hell or High Water
Sebastián Sepúlveda, Jackie
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Aquarius (Brazil)
Chevalier (Greece)
My Golden Days (France)
Toni Erdmann (Germany/Romania)
Under the Shadow (Iran/United Kingdom)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
13th
Cameraperson
I am Not Your Negro
O.J.: Made in America
Sonita
Under the Sun
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Award given to film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Moonlight
DIRECTOR: Barry Jenkins
CASTING DIRECTOR: Yesi Ramirez
ENSEMBLE CAST: Mahershala Ali, Patrick Decile, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Thodes, Ashton Sanders
Related Story: The 2017 People’s Choice Awards Nominees Are…
The awards ceremony will air February 25 on IFC.