The nominations for the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards were announced on Tuesday afternoon, and Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and Andrea Arnold's American Honey scored big. The two films racked up a leading six nominations at the award ceremony.
Moonlight, which tells the coming-of-age story of a young man in Miami during the War on Drugs, didn't score any nominations for acting, but did receive a number of honors for directing, casting, and screenplay writing. The film was also selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is given to the film's directors and ensemble cast. Moonlight originally premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in Sept. 2016, grossing $6 million. The movie's stars, including Luke Cage's Mahershala Ali, Trevante Rhodes, and Janelle Monae, all received rave reviews for their performances.
American Honey tells the the coming-of-age story of a troubled teen growing up in the American Midwest. Shia LaBeouf and Magic Mike star Riley Keough first brought the film to life at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and it was later given a theatrical debut in the United States in Sept. 2016. LaBeouf and Keough earned nominations for best supporting roles in the film.
Other notable nominations include Ava DuVernay's highly acclaimed and controversial film 13th, which was put in the running for Best Documentary alongside ESPN's popular 30 for 30 series entry O.J.: Made in America. Barry, the biographical film that chronicles President Obama's college experience at Columbia University was also nominated for an award for Best First Screenplay thanks to Adam Mansbach's handy work. Netflix recently released the official trailer for the film after announcing that the streaming service would be picking it up.
The 32nd Independent Spirit Awards will air the ceremony live on IFC on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. ET. Here's the complete list of nominations.
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
(Awarded 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
(Award given to the writer, director and producer)
Free In Deed
Writer/Director: Jake Mahaffy
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
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
20th Century Women, Mike Mills
Little Men, Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias
Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
The Witch, Robert Eggers
Other People, Chris Kelly
Barry, Adam Mansbach
Jean of the Joneses, Stella Meghie
Christine, Craig Shilowich
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Free In Deed, Ava Berkofsky
The Childhood of a Leader, Lol Crawley
The Eyes of My Mother, Zach Kuperstein
Moonlight, James Laxton
American Honey, Robbie Ryan
BEST EDITING
Swiss Army Man, Matthew Hannam
Manchester by the Sea, Jennifer Lame
Moonlight, Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders
Hell or High Water, Jake Roberts
Jackie, Sebastián Sepúlveda
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 Keough, 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
(Awarded to the director and producer)
13th
Director/Producer: Ava DuVernay
Producers: Spencer Averick, Howard Barish
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 Maghami
Producer: Gerd Haag
Under the Sun
Director: Vitaly Mansky
Producer: Natalya Manskaya
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
(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
(Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.)
Lisa Kjerulff
Jordana Mollick
Melody C. Roscher & Craig Shilowich
23rd ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
(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
(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
