“Bones and All,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Our Father, the Devil,” “Tár” and “Women Talking” have have been nominated as the best independent films of 2022 at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which announced its nominations on Tuesday morning by Taylour Paige and Raúl Castillo.
Acting nominees in the gender-neutral categories include Brian Tyree Henry for “Causeway,” Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss for “Tár,” Regina King for “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul” and Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Those three acting nominations for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” along with a Breakthrough Performance nom for Stephanie Hsu, pushed that film to eight nominations, the most of any film. “Tár” finished second with seven nominations, followed by “Aftersun” with five and “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” “Women Talking” and “Emily the Criminal” with four each.
Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” received the Robert Altman Award, which goes to a film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.
“Tár,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Women Talking” were the three films to be nominated for both Best Feature and Best Director, with all three also picking up noms for their screenplays.
Those three films are all considered strong contenders for the Academy Awards, giving this year’s Spirit Awards a decent chance of matching Oscar nominations to a fair degree. Last year, none of the Spirit Awards nominees for Best Feature went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, and neither did any acting nominees in the lead categories. Among the nominated actors, only Jessie Buckley for “The Lost Daughter” and Troy Kotsur for “CODA” were also recognized by the Academy, with Kotsur winning both awards.
A24, which had “Everything Everywhere,” “Aftersun,” “After Yang,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” “Funny Pages,” “The Inspection,” “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” and “Pearl,” led all companies with, appropriately enough, 24 nominations, making it the only company to hit double digits. Focus Features, which released “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul” and “Tár,” was the runner-up with nine nominations.
The nominations were made by a group of different nominating committees assembled by Film Independent. A record 409 films were eligible for this year’s awards.
To be eligible for the Spirit Awards, a film must have a total budget of less than $30 million and must have been exhibited commercially or shown in one of seven film festivals. Documentaries and international films can only qualify in those categories.
Most of the Netflix films, for example, were not eligible, with “Glass Onion,” “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “White Noise” and “The Good Nurse” all costing too much money. Also ineligible: box-office hits like “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and major awards contenders including “The Fabelmans,” “Empire of Light” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
The 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place on Saturday, March 4, 2023.
The list of nominees:
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 presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – 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