Spirit Award Nominations: A24 Leads For 4th Straight Year With 18 Noms As ‘Uncut Gems’ & ‘The Lighthouse’ Come Up Big

Anthony D'Alessandro

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A24’s Adam Sandler thriller Uncut Gems and Robert Eggers’ spooky black-and-white movie The Lighthouse led the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations Thursday morning with five noms apiece, followed by Amazon’s Honey Boy scripted by Shia LeBeouf and based on his rocky childhood.

For a fourth straight year, A24 lead all Spirit noms with 18, after counting 12 last year and 17 in 2017. Neon was second this morning with 10 noms. Amazon was third with eight, up from last fall’s six. Netflix was next with seven, up one from six a year ago. IFC Films counted six noms.

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Studio classic labels came up short, with Fox Searchlight counting one for A Hidden Life, Sony Pictures Classics also one for The Climb, and Focus Features two for The Mustang.

Making a surprise entrance to this year’s Spirits was STX with Hustlers, which nabbed noms for director Lorene Scafaria, best supporting actress Jennifer Lopez and DP Todd Banhazl.

Films made for a budget of $22.5 million or lower are eligible this year, so if you don’t see certain prestige pics listed in the noms, sometimes it’s not a snub.

However, why is Fox Searchlight’s Jojo Rabbit, which won the top prize at the Toronto Film Festival, missing? That pic was reportedly made for $14M and had a shocking zero presence today. Apparently that movie was only available for international film as all the team is from New Zealand. That’s odd given the fact that international film is typically designated a foreign-language pic.

For Netflix this year, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is eligible while The Two Popes, Dolemite Is My Name, The Laundromat, The King and, of course, The Irishman are not. Also missing from the list of noms is Amazon’s The Report and Seberg, Focus Features’ Harriet (made for $17.5M) and Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters. Lionsgate/Bron Studios’ Bombshell was not among the noms, however, the Jay Roach-directed Fox News drama has a reported budget north of $35M.

Quite often the Spirits have been a predictor as to what wins Best Picture at the Oscars with AMPAS and Film Independent syncing on Moonlight in 2017, Spotlight in 2016, Birdman in 2015 and 12 Years a Slave in 2014. However, the last two years have been off, with 2018 seeing Get Out won at the Spirits and The Shape of Water at the Oscars (the latter pic wasn’t eligible at the Spirits due to its budget). This past February, If Beale Street Could Talk won Best Feature at the Spirits while the Oscars went with Green Book, which also wasn’t eligible at the Spirits.

This year’s Best Features noms include Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, Chinonye Chukwu’s Sundance Jury Prize winner Clemency, Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Marriage Story and Uncut Gems.

This morning’s announcement was made by Joker actress Zazie Beetz and Ad Astra and Honey Boy actress Natasha Lyonne from The Line LA. Next year’s event is early due to the Oscars being moved up. So we’ll see you all at Santa Monica Beach near the Pier on February 8.

Here’s the full list of nominees:

BEST FEATURE

A HIDDEN LIFE

CLEMENCY

THE FAREWELL

MARRIAGE STORY

UNCUT GEMS

BEST FIRST FEATURE

BOOKSMART

THE CLIMB

DIANE

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

THE MUSTANG

SEE YOU YESTERDAY

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Karen Allen – COLEWELL

Hong Chau – DRIVEWAYS

Elisabeth Moss – HER SMELL

Mary Kay Place – DIANE

Alfre Woodard – CLEMENCY

Renée Zellweger – JUDY

BEST MALE LEAD

Chris Galust – GIVE ME LIBERTY

Kelvin Harrison – Jr., LUCE

Robert Pattinson – THE LIGHTHOUSE

Adam Sandler – UNCUT GEMS

Matthias Schoenaerts – THE MUSTANG

BEST DIRECTOR

Robert Eggers – THE LIGHTHOUSE

Alma Har’el – HONEY BOY

Julius Onah – LUCE

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS

Lorene Scafaria – HUSTLERS

BEST DOCTUMENTARY

AMERICAN FACTORY

APOLLO 11

FOR SAMA

HONEYLAND

ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Willem Dafoe – THE LIGHTHOUSE

Noah Jupe – HONEY BOY

Shia Labeouf – HONEY BOY

Jonathan Majors – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

Wendell Pierce – BURNING CANE

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Jennifer Lopez – HUSTLERS

Taylor Russell – WAVES

Zhao Shuzhen – THE FAREWELL

Lauren “Lolo” Spencer – GIVE ME LIBERTY

Octavia Spencer – LUCE

BEST SCREENPLAY

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD

The Robert Altman Award is given to the ensemble cast, director & casting director of one film: MARRIAGE STORY – Noah Baumbach, Douglas Aibel, Francine Maisler, Alan Alda, Laura Dern, Adam Driver, Julie Hagerty, Scarlett Johansson, Ray Liotta, Azhy Robertson, Merritt Wever

BEST SCREENPLAY

Noah Baumbach – MARRIAGE STORY

Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder – TO DUST

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS

Chinonye Chukwu – CLEMENCY

Tarell Alvin Mccraney – HIGH FLYING BIRD

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol – SEE YOU YESTERDAY

Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen – DRIVEWAYS

Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – BLOW THE MAN DOWN

Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe – GREENER GRASS

James Montague, Craig W. Sanger – THE VAST OF NIGHT

BEST EDITING

Julie Béziau – THE THIRD WIFE

Ronald Bronstein,

Benny Safdie – UNCUT GEMS

Tyler L. Cook – SWORD OF TRUST

Louise Ford – THE LIGHTHOUSE

Kirill Mikhanovsky – GIVE ME LIBERTY

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Todd Banhazl – HUSTLERS

Jarin Blaschke – THE LIGHTHOUSE

Natasha Braier – HONEY BOY

Chananun Chotrungroj – THE THIRD WIFE

Pawel Pogorzelski – MIDSOMMAR

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

INVISIBLE LIFE, Brazil

LES MISERABLES, France

PARASITE, South Korea

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, France

RETABLO, Peru

THE SOUVENIR, United Kingdom

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

The John Cassavetes Award is presented to the best feature made for under $500,000 and is given to the writer, director, and producer. 2020 Spirit Awards Nominees are: BURNING CANE COLEWELL GIVE ME LIBERTY PREMATURE WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY

PRODUCERS AWARD

Now in its 23rd year, honors emerging producers who demonstrate creativity, tenacity and vision, despite highly limited resources. The award includes an unrestricted grant. These are the finalists: Mollye Asher Krista Parris and Ryan Zacarias.

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

The Someone To Watch Award, in its 26th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision and includes an unrestricted grant. The finalists are: Rashaad Ernesto Green – PREMATURE Ash Mayfair – THE THIRD WIFE Joe Talbot – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
The Truer Than Fiction Award, in its 25th year, is for emerging directors of non-fiction features and includes an unrestricted grant. Finalists: Khalik Allah – BLACK MOTHER Davy Rothbart – 17 BLOCKS Nadia Shihab – JADDOLAND Erick Stoll & Chase Whiteside – AMÉRICA

THE BONNIE AWARD
Now in its 3rd year, the Bonnie Award will recognize a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant sponsored by American Airlines. The 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards Bonnie Award finalists are: MarielleHeller, Kelly Reichardt, Lulu Wang

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