'American Honey' & 'Moonlight' Lead 2017 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Film Independent announced the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards nominees this morning in Hollywood and it was a very good day for A24.

Both “American Honey” and “Moonlight” earned six nods each to lead all nominated films and both landed Best Feature nominations. The remaining three Best Feature nominees were “Jackie” (four nominations), “Manchester by the Sea” (five nominations) and the somewhat shocking “Chronic” (two nominations).  A24 also found recognition for “20th Century Women,” “Morris in America,” “Swiss Army Man” and “The Witch” giving them 19 nominations overall.

Surprises included Isabelle Huppert in Best Female Lead (“Elle” should be considered an international film and not qualify) and snubs for “Patterson” and “Weiner.”

The nominees are as follows:

BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)

“American Honey”
Producers: Thomas Benski, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Lucas Ochoa, Pouya Shahbazian, Alice Weinberg

“Chronic”
Producers: Michel Franco, Gina Kwon, Gabriel Ripstein, Moisés Zonana

“Jackie”
Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin, Ari Handel, Juan de Dios Larraín, Mickey Liddell

Manchester by the Sea
Producers: Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward,
Kevin J. Walsh

“Moonlight”
Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski

 

BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to the director and producer)

“The Childhood of a Leader”
Director: Brady Corbet Producers: Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Chris Coen, Ron Curtis, Helena Danielsson, Mona Fastvold, István Major

“The Fits”
Director/Producer: Anna Rose Holmer
Producer: Lisa Kjerulff

“Other People”
Director: Chris Kelly Producers: Sam Bisbee, Adam Scott, Naomi Scott

“Swiss Army Man”
Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Producers: Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon, Jonathan Wang

“The Witch”
Director: Robert Eggers
Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Rodrigo Teixeira

 

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.

“Free In Deed”
Writer/Director: Jake Mmhaffy Producers: Mike Bowes, Mike S. Ryan, Brent Stiefel

“Hunter Gatherer”
Writer/Director: Josh Locy Producers: Michael Covino, April Lamb, Sara Murphy, Isaiah Smallman

“Lovesong”
Writer/Director: So Yong Kim Writer/Producer: Bradley Rust Gray Producers: David Hansen, Alex Lipschultz, Johnny Mac

“Nakom”
Writer/Director/Producer: TW Pittman Director/Producer: Kelly Daniela Norris Writer/Producer: Isaac Adakudugu Producer: Giovanni Ximénez

“Spa Night”
Writer/Director: Andrew Ahn Producers: David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Kelly Thomas

 

BEST DIRECTOR

Andrea Arnold, “American Honey”

Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”

Pablo Larraín, “Jackie”

Jeff Nichols, “Loving”

Kelly Reichardt, “Certain Women”

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

Barry Jenkins, Story By Tarell Alvin McCraney, “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”

 

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 FEMALE LEAD

Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”

Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”

Sasha Lane, “American Honey”

Ruth Negga, “Loving”

Natalie Portman, “Jackie”

 

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 SUPPORTING FEMALE

Edwina Findley, “Free In Deed”

Paulina Garcia, “Little Men”

Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”

Riley Keogh, “American Honey”

Molly Shannon, “Other People”

 

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”

 

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one 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 Rhodes, Ashton Sanders

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

“13th”
Director/Producer: Ava DuVernay, Producers: Spencer Averick, Howard Barish

“Cameraperson”
Director/Producer: Kirsten Johnson, Producer: Marilyn Ness

“I Am Not Your Negro”
Director/Producer: Raoul Peck, Producers: Rémi Grellety, Hérbert Peck

“O.J.: Made in America”
Director/Producer: Ezra Edelman, Producers: Nina Krstic, Tamara Rosenberg, Caroline Waterlow

“Sonita”
Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Magihami Producer: Gerd Haag

“Under the Sun”
Director: Vitaly Mansky Producer: Natalya Manskaya

 

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

“Aquarius”
(Brazil)
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

“Chevalier”
(Greece)
Director: Athina Tsangari

“My Golden Days”
(France)
Director: Arnaud Desplechin

“Toni Erdmann”
(Germany and Romania)
Director: Maren Ade

“Under the Shadow”
(Iran and U.K.)
Director: Babak Anvari

20th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 20th annual Producers Award, sponsored by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.
Lisa Kjerulff
Jordana Mollick
Melody C. Roscher & Craig Shilowich

23rd ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 23rd annual Someone to Watch Award, sponsored by Kiehl’s Since 1851, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Andrew Ahn
Director of “Spa Night”

Claire Carré
Director of “Embers”

Anna Rose Holmer
Director of “The Fits”

Ingrid Jungermann
Director of “Women Who Kill”

22nd TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 22nd annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Kristi Jacobson
Director of “Solitary”

Sara Jordenö
Director of “Kiki”

Nanfu Wang
Director of “Hooligan Sparrow”

The 2017 Independent Spirit Awards will be handed out Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2:00 PM PST live on IFC.