Spirit Awards Nominees 2023: American Fiction, May/December, Past Lives

Posted on December 5, 2023 at 11:55 am

The Film Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning with American Fiction, May/December, and Past Lives among the top nominees. In order to qualify, the budget for the film has to be at least 70 minutes long and with a budget under $30 million (raised last year from $22.5 million), or, in the television categories, in its first year of broadcast. Nominees below:

HO_03095
(l-r.) Dominic Sessa stars as Angus Tully, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb and Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in director Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Seacia Pavao / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

BEST FEATURE 

All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair

May December
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon

Passages
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd

Past Lives
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

We Grown Now
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Director: Raven Jackson
Producers: Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Director: Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Producers: Gewan Brown, Amanda Freedman

Earth Mama
Director/Producer: Savanah Leaf
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Shirley O’Connor, Medb Riordan, Cody Ryder

A Thousand and One
Director: A.V. Rockwell
Producers: Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Brad Weston

Upon Entry
Directors: Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Producers: Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, Xosé Zapata
 
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1 million

The Artifice Girl
Director/Writer: Franklin Ritch
Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead

Cadejo Blanco
Director/Writer/Producer: Justin Lerner
Producers: Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, Jack Patrick Hurley

Fremont
Director/Writer: Babak Jalali
Writer: Carolina Cavalli
Producers: Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, Laura Wagner

Rotting in the Sun
Director/Writer: Sebastián Silva
Writer: Pedro Peirano
Producer: Jacob Wasserman

The Unknown Country
Director/Writer/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer: Lily Gladstone
Writers/Producers: Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Vanara Taing
Producers: Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, Tommy Heitkamp
 
BEST DIRECTOR

Andrew Haigh
All of Us Strangers

Todd Haynes
May December

William Oldroyd
Eileen

Ira Sachs
Passages

Celine Song
Past Lives
 
BEST SCREENPLAY

David Hemingson
The Holdovers

Cord Jefferson
American Fiction

Laura Moss, Brendan J. O’Brien
Birth/Rebirth

Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
Bottoms

Celine Song
Past Lives

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik
May December

Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt
Theater Camp

Tomás Gómez Bustillo
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Laurel Parmet
The Starling Girl

Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Upon Entry

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Jessica Chastain
Memory

Greta Lee
Past Lives

Trace Lysette
Monica

Natalie Portman
May December

Judy Reyes
Birth/Rebirth

Franz Rogowski
Passages

Andrew Scott
All of Us Strangers

Teyana Taylor
A Thousand and One

Jeffrey Wright
American Fiction

Teo Yoo
Past Lives

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Erika Alexander
American Fiction

Sterling K. Brown
American Fiction

Noah Galvin
Theater Camp

Anne Hathaway
Eileen

Glenn Howerton
BlackBerry

Marin Ireland
Eileen

Charles Melton
May December

Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers

Catalina Saavedra
Rotting in the Sun

Ben Whishaw
Passages

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Marshawn Lynch
Bottoms

Atibon Nazaire
Mountains

Tia Nomore
Earth Mama

Dominic Sessa
The Holdovers

Anaita Wali Zada
Fremont

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Katelin Arizmendi
Monica

Eigil Bryld
The Holdovers

Jomo Fray
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Pablo Lozano
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Pat Scola
We Grown Now
 
BEST EDITING

Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz, Sofía Subercaseaux
Rotting in the Sun

Stephanie Filo
We Grown Now

Daniel Garber
How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Jon Philpot
Theater Camp

Emanuele Tiziani
Upon Entry
 
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast

Showing Up
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Casting Director: Gayle Keller
Ensemble Cast: André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, Michelle Williams

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

Bye Bye Tiberias
Director: Lina Soualem
Producer: Jean-Marie Nizan

Four Daughters
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Directors/Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
Producer: Tommy Oliver

Kokomo City
Director: D. Smith
Producers: Bill Butler, Harris Doran

The Mother of All Lies
Director/Producer: Asmae El Moudir
 
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Anatomy of a Fall
France
Director: Justine Triet

Godland
Denmark/Iceland
Director: Hlynur Pálmason

Mami Wata
Nigeria
Director: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi

Tótem
Mexico
Director: Lila Avilés

The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom, Poland, USA
Director: Jonathan Glazer

PRODUCERS AWARD 

Rachael Fung

Graham Swon

Monique Walton

 SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

Joanna Arnow
Director of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Laura Moss
Director of Birth/Rebirth

Monica Sorelle
Director of Mountains

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD 

Set Hernandez
Director of unseen

Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli
Director of Lakota Nation vs. United States

Sierra Urich
Director of Joonam

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES

Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court
Executive Producers: Vinnie Malhotra, Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, Dawn Porter

Dear Mama
Executive Producers: Lasse Järvi, Quincy ‘QD3’ Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel ‘Future’ Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair

Murder in Big Horn
Executive Producers: Matthew Galkin, Vinnie Malhotra
Co-Executive Producers: Lisa Kalikow, Joshua Levine

Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence
Executive Producers: Mindy Goldberg, Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Zach Heinzerling, Krista Parris, Daniel Barban Levin, Felicia Rosario
Co-Executive Producer: Julie Gaither

Wrestlers
Executive Producers: Greg Whiteley, Ryan O’Dowd
Co-Executive Producers: Alejandro Melendez, Adam Leibowitz

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Beef
Creator/Executive Producer: Lee Sung Jin
Executive Producers: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich
Co-Executive Producers: Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper

Dreaming Whilst Black
Creator/Executive Producer: Adjani Salmon
Creators: Maximilian Evans, Natasha Jatania, Laura Seixas
Executive Producers: Tanya Qureshi, Dhanny Joshi, Bal Samra, Thomas Stogdon

I’m a Virgo
Creator/Executive Producer: Boots Riley
Executive Producers: Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Jharrel Jerome, Rebecca Rivo
Co-Executive Producers: Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski

Jury Duty
Creators/Executive Producers: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Executive Producers: David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Cody Heller, Todd Schulman, Jake Szymanski, Andrew Weinberg

Slip
Creator/Executive Producer: Zoe Lister-Jones
Executive Producers: Ro Donnelly, Dakota Johnson, Katie O’Connell Marsh, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Emma Corrin
A Murder at the End of the World

Dominique Fishback
Swarm

Betty Gilpin
Mrs. Davis

Jharrel Jerome
I’m a Virgo

Zoe Lister-Jones
Slip

Bel Powley
A Small Light

Bella Ramsey
The Last of Us

Ramón Rodríguez
Will Trent

Ali Wong
Beef

Steven Yeun
Beef

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Murray Bartlett
The Last of Us

Billie Eilish
Swarm

Jack Farthing
Rain Dogs

Nick Offerman
The Last of Us

Adina Porter
The Changeling

Lewis Pullman
Lessons in Chemistry

Benny Safdie
The Curse

Luke Tennie
Shrinking

Olivia Washington
I’m a Virgo

Jessica Williams
Shrinking

BEST BREAKTRHOUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Clark Backo
The Changeling

Aria Mia Loberti
All the Light We Cannot See

Adjani Salmon
Dreaming Whilst Black

Keivonn Montreal Woodard
The Last of Us

Kara Young
I’m a Virgo

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Jury Duty
Ensemble Cast: Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O’Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, Evan Williams

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Awards

Washington Area Film Critics Award Nominees 2021

Posted on December 5, 2021 at 10:44 am

The 2021 WAFCA AWARD NOMINEES ARE:

Best Film:
Belfast
The Green Knight
The Power of the Dog
tick, tick…BOOM!
West Side Story

Best Director:
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
David Lowery (The Green Knight)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
Denis Villeneuve (Dune)

Best Actor:
Nicolas Cage (Pig)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
Andrew Garfield (tick, tick…BOOM!)
Will Smith (King Richard)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Best Actress:
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
Lady Gaga (House of Gucci)
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
Tessa Thompson (Passing)

Best Supporting Actor:
Jamie Dornan (Belfast)
Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
Troy Kotsur (CODA)
Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

Best Supporting Actress:
Caitríona Balfe (Belfast)
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
Ann Dowd (Mass)
Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Belfast
The French Dispatch
The Harder They Fall
Mass
The Power of the Dog

Best Youth Performance:
Jude Hill (Belfast)
Emilia Jones (CODA)
Woody Norman (C’mon, C’mon)
Saniyya Sidney (King Richard)
Rachel Zegler (West Side Story)

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON – As an evil force threatens the kingdom of Kumandra, it is up to warrior Raya, and her trusty steed Tuk Tuk, to leave their Heart Lands home and track down the last dragon to help stop the villainous Druun. © 2020 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

Best Voice Performance:
Awkwafina (Raya and the Last Dragon)
Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto)
Abbi Jacobson (The Mitchells vs. the Machines)
Kelly Marie Tran (Raya and the Last Dragon)
Jacob Tremblay (Luca)

Best Original Screenplay:
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
Mike Mills (C’mon, C’mon)
Zach Baylin (King Richard)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Fran Kranz (Mass)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Siân Heder (CODA)
Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth; Based on the novel ‘Dune’ written by Frank Herbert (Dune)
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
Steven Levenson (tick, tick…BOOM!)
Tony Kushner (West Side Story)

Best Animated Feature:
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon

Best Documentary:
The First Wave
Flee
The Rescue
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Val

Best International/
Foreign Language Film:
Drive My Car
A Hero
Lamb
Titane
The Worst Person in the World

Best Production Design:
Jim Clay, Production Designer; Claire Nia Richards, Set Decorator (Belfast)
Patrice Vermette, Production Designer; Richard Roberts and Zsuzsanna Sipos, Set Decorators (Dune)
Adam Stockhausen, Production Designer; Rena DeAngelo, Set Decorator (The French Dispatch)
Tamara Deverell, Production Designer; Shane Vieau, Set Decorator (Nightmare Alley)
Adam Stockhausen, Production Designer; Rena DeAngelo, Set Decorator (West Side Story)

Best Cinematography:
Haris Zambarloukos, BSC, GSC (Belfast)
Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS (Dune)
Andrew Droz Palermo (The Green Knight)
Ari Wegner, ACS (The Power of the Dog)
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Best Editing:
Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE, BFE (Belfast)
Joe Walker, ACE (Dune)
Andrew Weisblum, ACE (The French Dispatch)
Peter Sciberras (The Power of the Dog)
Myron Kerstein, ACE; Andrew Weisblum, ACE (tick, tick…BOOM!)

Best Original Score:
Bryce Dessner & Aaron Dessner (Cyrano)
Hans Zimmer (Dune)
Alexandre Desplat (The French Dispatch)
Jonny Greenwood (The Power of the Dog)
Jonny Greenwood (Spencer)

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Awards

Something Different for Award Shows

Posted on April 5, 2021 at 8:00 am

Same old, same old in all of the award shows, the Golden Globes, the Oscars, SAG? Try these awards, maybe less glamorous, but more likely to lead you to great movies you might have missed.

Can the HFPA Fix the Golden Globes?

Posted on March 17, 2021 at 2:53 pm

The Golden Globes is known for three things: (1) A tiny, secret group of LA-based “foreign press” only known for giving out awards, (2) A big, glittery show with lots of awards to both TV and movies with double categories for comedy/musical and drama, improving the chances to people and productions to win, and (3) A history of secrecy and allegations of corruption and lack of diversity. This year that last category gained even more prominence with revelations that members are paid as much as $25,000 through NBC, which broadcasts the show and the nomination of “Emily in Paris,” following a cushy junket where HFPA members were put up in a $1200 a night hotel in Paris.

The publicists representing Hollywood’s top talent have demanded major changes:

“We call on the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. to swiftly manifest profound and lasting change to eradicate the longstanding exclusionary ethos and pervasive practice of discriminatory behavior, unprofessionalism, ethical impropriety and alleged financial corruption endemic to the HFPA, funded by Dick Clark Productions, MRC, NBCUniversal and Comcast,” the publicists wrote in a letter sent to the group Monday afternoon.

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Awards

Critics Choice Awards Tonight! Why It’s The Best Awards Show to Watch

Posted on March 7, 2021 at 5:50 pm

I admit I’m biased. But my favorite awards show is the Critics Choice, and not because I vote in it. It is because these are the awards selected by people whose job is to see as many movies as possible with an objective critics eye. Here’s what the organization has to say about tonight’s show on the CW, hosted by Taye Diggs.

We have always respected and admired the Golden Globes for hosting the Party of the Year, if not for the HFPA’s restrictive membership policies. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the HFPA from throwing that party this year and the resulting Golden Globes telecast on Sunday was ill-conceived and poorly received.

This Sunday it will be our turn. And I promise you, the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards show will be quite different than the Globes – just as our Critics Choice Association differs from the HFPA. We proudly show our membership roster on our website, with photos, clearly demonstrating our diversity. There are Black and Asian and Latinx names and faces – men and women, young and old – representing virtually every state and major city in the US and Canada and some small towns, too.

Our far flung membership results in a very diverse slate of nominees. Among the important movies and series that we nominated for Critics Choice Awards – and were largely overlooked by the HFPA – are “I May Destroy You,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami.”

Like the Globes, we will have virtually all our nominated performers participating virtually in our show on Sunday night. Our lineup of Presenters is even better than the Globes, including Kevin Bacon, Angela Bassett, Mayim Bialik, Phoebe Dynevor, Morgan Freeman, Gal Gadot, Jim Gaffigan, Chris Hemsworth, Jameela Jamil, Eva Longoria, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jared Padalecki, Kyra Sedgwick, Yara Shahidi, Courtney B. Vance, John David Washington, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But once the Critics Choice winner is announced and all the nominees have reacted, we will focus full-screen on the live acceptance speech, without awkwardly returning to the other nominees. And we will offer generous clips showcasing our nominated performances, a treat for audiences who may be inspired to discover movies and series they want to catch up on, without any cringe-worthy pledges from our executives to correct embarrassing organizational flaws.

Hosted for the third year in a row by Taye Diggs and with our special See Her Award going to Zendaya, we hope and expect that our 26th annual Critics Choice Awards show will be our best ever. And as the world starts to return to normal in the coming months, we will continue to shine our light on the best the creative community has to offer at our Critics Choice Real TV Awards, Critics Choice Documentary Awards, and Critics Choice Super Awards. Last month, we brought our 3rd annual Celebration of Black Cinema to a national audience for the first time, reinforcing our commitment to championing the broadest spectrum of popular entertainment.

This is the consensus of 400+ people who cover film and television every day for a living. The Critics Choice Awards show is culturally significant – and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

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Awards Critics