The 2015 Independent Spirit Awards nominations are out! The ceremony was founded by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. Since its founding in 1984, the awards have highlighted the best films made that year for $20 million or less. The 31st annual event is set to take place on February 27th, 2016. It will air live on IFC.
Check out the list of this year’s nominees below!
BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the producer)
* Executive Producers are not awarded.
ANOMALISA
PRODUCERS: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman,
Dino Stamatopoulos, Rosa Tran
BEASTS OF NO NATION
PRODUCERS: Daniel Crown, Idris Elba,
Cary Joji Fukunaga, Amy Kaufman,
Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker
CAROL
PRODUCERS: Elizabeth Karlsen, Christine Vachon,
Stephen Woolley
SPOTLIGHT
PRODUCERS: Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin,
Nicole Rocklin, Michael Sugar
TANGERINE
PRODUCERS: Sean Baker, Karrie Cox, Marcus Cox,
Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou
BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to the director and producer)
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL
DIRECTOR: Marielle Heller
PRODUCERS: Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck,
Madeline Samit
JAMES WHITE
DIRECTOR: Josh Mond
PRODUCERS: Max Born, Antonio Campos,
Sean Durkin, Melody Roscher, Eric Schultz
MANOS SUCIAS
DIRECTOR: Josef Kubota Wladyka
PRODUCERS: Elena Greenlee, Márcia Nunes
MEDITERRANEA
DIRECTOR: Jonas Carpignano
PRODUCERS: Jason Michael Berman, Chris Columbus,
Jon Coplon, Christoph Daniel, Andrew Kortschak,
John Lesher, Ryan Lough, Justin Nappi, Alain Peyrollaz,
Gwyn Sannia, Marc Schmidheiny, Victor Shapiro,
Ryan Zacarias
SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Chloé Zhao
PRODUCERS: Mollye Asher, Nina Yang Bongiovi,
Angela C. Lee, Forest Whitaker
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CARY FUKUNAGA – Beasts of No Nation
MICHAEL GIOULAKIS – It Follows
ED LACHMAN – Carol
REED MORANO – Meadowland
JOSHUA JAMES RICHARDS – Songs My Brothers Taught Me
BEST EDITING
RONALD BRONSTEIN, BENNY SAFDIE – Heaven Knows What
TOM MCARDLE – Spotlight
NATHAN NUGENT – Room
JULIO C. PEREZ IV – It Follows
KRISTAN SPRAGUE – Manos Sucias
BEST DIRECTOR
SEAN BAKER – Tangerine
CARY FUKUNAGA – Beasts of No Nation
TODD HAYNES – Carol
DUKE JOHNSON, CHARLIE KAUFMAN – Anomalisa
TOM MCCARTHY – Spotlight
DAVID ROBERT MITCHELL – It Follows
BEST SCREENPLAY
CHARLIE KAUFMAN – Anomalisa
DONALD MARGULIES – The End of the Tour
TOM MCCARTHY, JOSH SINGER – Spotlight
PHYLLIS NAGY – Carol
S. CRAIG ZAHLER – Bone Tomahawk
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
JESSE ANDREWS – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
JONAS CARPIGNANO – Mediterranea
EMMA DONOGHUE – Room
MARIELLE HELLER – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
JOHN MAGARY, RUSSELL HARBAUGH (story by),
MYNA JOSEPH (story by) – The Mend
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Award given to the best feature made for under
$500,000; award given to the writer, director,
and producer)
* Executive Producers are not awarded.
ADVANTAGEOUS
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Jennifer Phang
WRITER/PRODUCER: Jacqueline Kim
PRODUCERS: Robert Chang, Ken Jeong,
Moon Molson, Theresa Navarro
CHRISTMAS, AGAIN
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Charles Poekel
HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT
DIRECTORS: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
WRITERS: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
PRODUCERS: Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear McClard
KRISHA
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Trey Edward Shults
PRODUCERS: Justin R. Chan, Chase Joliet, Wilson Smith
OUT OF MY HAND
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Takeshi Fukunaga
WRITER/PRODUCER: Donari Braxton
PRODUCER: Mike Fox
BEST MALE LEAD
CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT – James White
ABRAHAM ATTAH – Beasts of No Nation
BEN MENDELSOHN – Mississippi Grind
JASON SEGEL – The End of the Tour
KOUDOUS SEIHON – Mediterranea
BEST FEMALE LEAD
CATE BLANCHETT – Carol
BRIE LARSON – Room
ROONEY MARA – Carol
BEL POWLEY – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
KITANA KIKI RODRIGUEZ – Tangerine
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
KEVIN CORRIGAN – Results
PAUL DANO – Love & Mercy
IDRIS ELBA – Beasts of No Nation
RICHARD JENKINS – Bone Tomahawk
MICHAEL SHANNON – 99 Homes
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
ROBIN BARTLETT – H.
MARIN IRELAND – Glass Chin
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH – Anomalisa
CYNTHIA NIXON – James White
MYA TAYLOR – Tangerine
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (Colombia)
DIRECTOR: Ciro Guerra
GIRLHOOD (France)
DIRECTOR: Céline Sciamma
MUSTANG (France, Turkey)
DIRECTOR: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE (Sweden)
DIRECTOR: Roy Andersson
SON OF SAUL (Hungary)
DIRECTOR: László Nemes
BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Award given to the director and producer)
(T)ERROR
DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Lyric R. Cabral,
David Felix Sutcliffe
PRODUCER: Christopher St. John
BEST OF ENEMIES
DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Robert Gordon,
Morgan Neville
HEART OF A DOG
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Laurie Anderson
PRODUCER: Dan Janvey
THE LOOK OF SILENCE
DIRECTOR: Joshua Oppenheimer
PRODUCER: Signe Byrge Sørensen
MERU
DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Jimmy Chin,
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
PRODUCER: Shannon Ethridge
THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Chad Gracia
PRODUCERS: Ram Devineni, Mike Lerner
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Award given to one film’s director, casting director
and ensemble cast)
SPOTLIGHT
DIRECTOR: Tom McCarthy
CASTING DIRECTORS: Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee
ENSEMBLE CAST: Billy Crudup, Paul Guilfoyle,
Neal Huff, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton,
Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber,
Jamey Sheridan, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci
