2016 - Awards Season: Independent Spirit Awards - Nominations

November 23, 2016

Moonlight

The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced last night and thus the 2016 Awards Season begins. There were a few surprises and some snubs to discuss, but for the most part, there’s not a lot nominations that broke the established narrative. It’s because there isn’t really an established narrative. This means films that earn nominations here have a much better chance of doing well going forward and Moonlight looks like it could rise up as a result.

The categories and nominees are...

BEST FEATURE

BEST FIRST FEATURE

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST SCREENPLAY

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

BEST FEMALE LEAD

BEST MALE LEAD

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • Ava Berkofsky for Free in Deed
  • Lol Crawley for The Childhood of a Leader
  • Zach Kuperstein for The Eyes of My Mother
  • James Laxton for Moonlight
  • Robbie Ryan for American Honey
    • BEST EDITING

    ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)

    Also announced were the nominees for the three Filmmaker Grant Awards.

    Piaget Producers Award

    Acura Someone to Watch Award

    Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.

    Notes and Reactions...

    • Moonlight arguably was the biggest winner of the night with five nominations, plus the win for Robert Altman Award. I suspect its chances to earn other Award Season nominations just went up.
    • American Honey tied for first with six nominations, which is a shock, as its reviews are only 81% positive. That’s good, but not award-worthy.
    • Manchester by the Sea earned five nominations, which is inline with expectations.
    • Free in Deed, Jackie, and Other People all earned four nominations. I think Jackie is the only one with a shot at picking up an Oscar nod.
    • Sally Field got snubbed for Hello, My Name Is Doris. I fear she will be this year’s Lily Tomlin.

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    Filed under: Awards Season, Captain Fantastic, The Witch, Manchester by the Sea, A Bigger Splash, Hello, My Name is Doris, American Honey, Hell or High Water, 20th Century Women, Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse, Swiss Army Man, Loving, Chevalier, Moonlight, Chronic, Certain Women, V paprscích slunce, Little Men, Morris from America, The Fits, Elle, Christine, Spa Night, The Eyes of My Mother, The Childhood of a Leader, Embers, Toni Erdmann, Under the Shadow, Hooligan Sparrow, Other People, Cameraperson, Aquarius, Jackie, Barry, Sally Field, Tim Roth, Casey Affleck, Annette Bening, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Foster, David Harewood, Isabelle Huppert, Shia LaBeouf, Viggo Mortensen, Jesse Plemons, Natalie Portman, Jake Roberts, Craig Robinson, Molly Shannon, Lily Tomlin, Andrea Arnold, Mike Mills, Kelly Reichardt, Riley Keough, Ira Sachs, Jeff Nichols, Lucas Hedges, Ruth Negga, Lol Crawley, Nat Sanders, Chris Kelly, Pablo Larrain, James Laxton, Mauricio Zacharias, Robbie Ryan, Sebastian Sepulveda, Paulina Garcia, Joi McMillon, Matthew Hannam, Kenneth Lonergan, Jennifer Lame, Kristi Jacobson, Melody Roscher, Craig Shilowich, Lily Gladstone, Robert Eggers, Anna Rose Holmer, Taylor Sheridan, Edwina Findley Dickerson, Barry Jenkins, Tarell McCraney, Jordana Mollick, Lisa Kjerulff, Andrew Ahn, Claire Carre, Nanfu Wang, Sasha Lane, Stella Meghie, Adam Mansbach, Ava Berkofsky, Zach Kuperstein, Ingrid Jungermann