Nominees revealed for Film Independent Spirit Awards 2024

Film Independent, the non-profit organisation dedicated to fostering independence and inclusivity in visual storytelling, announced this morning the nominations for the film and television categories at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Film Independent President Josh Welsh introduced the pre-recorded video announcement, which featured guest presenters Joel Kim Booster (2023 Spirit Award nominee for Fire Island) and Natalie Morales (No Hard Feelings). American Fiction, May December and Past Lives led the film nominations with five each while I’m a Virgo and The Last of Us garnered the most nominations in the television categories.

The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards, hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant, will take place on Sunday 25 February 2024. The in-person show, held at the beach in Santa Monica, will be streamed live on the IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels, and across other social platforms. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round slate of programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and celebrate creative independence, diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision in independent film and television.

This year will also pay special tribute to the 30^th anniversary of Film Independent’s innovative and influential Artist Development programme, which supports creative voices and diverse perspectives in film and television by giving filmmakers the resources they need to advance their projects and build sustainable careers. Artists who have received support from the Artist Development programme include Elegance Bratton (The Inspector), Siân Heder (CODA), Justin Simien (Dear White People), Lulu Wang (The Farewell) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland).

“This year’s exciting group of Spirit Award nominees reflect the undeniable strength and vitality of independent storytelling – this is the beating heart of film culture today,” said Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent. “It’s especially thrilling to see so many nominees who have benefited from the support of the Artist Development programme. We can’t wait to celebrate the incredible work these artists have created and look forward to everything they have in store for us for years to come.”

This year’s Best Cinematography nominees are: Katelin Arizmendi (Monica); Eigil Bryld DFF (The Holdovers); Jomo Fray (All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt); Pablo Lozano ADF (Chronicles of a Wandering Saint); and Pat Scola (We Grown Now).

The 2024 Best Feature nominees include All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, May December, Passages, Past Lives and We Grown Now. Showing Up, from director Kelly Reichardt, has been selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon a single film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honour of legendary director Robert Altman, known for populating his films with extraordinary ensemble casts.

On the television side, the 2024 Best New Scripted Series nominees include Beef, Dreaming Whilst Black, I’m a Virgo, Jury Duty and Slip. In the Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series category, the nominees are Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court, Dear Mama, Murder in Big Horn, Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence and Wrestlers.

New to the television categories is Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series, honouring actors making themselves known to wider audiences through noteworthy character portrayals. The nominees include Clark Backo for The Changeling, Aria Mia Loberti for All the Light We Cannot See, Adjani Salmon for Dreaming Whilst Black, Keivonn Montreal Woodard for The Last of Us and Kara Young for I’m a Virgo.

Among this year’s nominees, ten have been previously supported by Film Independent’s Artist Development programme. They include Maria Altamirano (Best First Feature for All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), Tze Chun (Best New Scripted Series for I’m a Virgo), Ruben Fleischer (Best New Scripted Series for Jury Duty), Jomo Fray (Best Cinematography for All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), Raven Jackson (Best First Feature for All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), Pamela Koffler (Best Feature for May December and Past Lives), Krista Parris (Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series for Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence), Kelly Reichardt (Robert Altman Award for Showing Up), Laura Wagner (John Cassavetes Award for Fremont) and Monique Walton (Producers Award).

This year the Spirit Awards Film Nominating Committees selected nominees from over 27 different countries with budget ranges between $10,000 and $28 million, applying the following guidelines in determining nominees: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter and economy of means. Of all nominated writers, directors, producers and technical artists, 40% are women and 32% are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour). Among the nominated performers, 49% are women and 40% are BIPOC. And of all 2024 nominees, 42% are women and 34% are BIPOC.

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. This year, the Spirit Awards nominating committees are 56% female, 3% Nonbinary, 3% Transgender, and 49% BIPOC; 29% identify as LGBTQ+ and 3% identify as people with disabilities (PWD).

Film Independent Spirit Awards are supported by Principal Sponsor IMDb and Official Sponsors Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and FIJI Water. Easterseals Disability Services is the accessibility partner. Hotel Casa del Mar is an Official Hotel. Getty Images is the Official Photographer. Vision Media is the exclusive screening partner.

2024 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)

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, Rishi Rajani, 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)

The Artifice Girl
Director/Writer: Franklin Ritch
Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead

Cadejo Blanco
Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Lerner
Producers: Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, Jack Patrick Hurley

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

Ira Sachs
Passages

Celine Song
Past Lives

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 Wali Zada
Fremont

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Katelin Arizmendi
Monica

Eigil Bryld DFF
The Holdovers

Jomo Fray
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Pablo Lozano ADF
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: Justine 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.

Joanna Arnow
Director of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Laura Moss
Director of Birth/Rebirth

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 Lawrence
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 Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich
Co-Executive Producers: 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 Producers: Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski

Jury Duty
Creators/Executive Producers: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Executive Producers: David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Cody Heller, Todd Schulman, Jake Szymanski, Andrew Weinberg

Slip
Creator/Executive Producer: 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