The 2022 Independent Spirit Award Nominations Are Here
Award season is officially in full swing, and the Film Independent Spirit Awards are the latest to announce a new batch of nominees. Per Deadline, Janicza Bravo's incisive, genre-exploding film "Zola" leads a wide-ranging group of nominees with six nominations.
A24 in general came away with plenty to celebrate. Aside from "Zola," the always-hip studio took home several nods for films including Sean Baker's "Red Rocket" and the Joaquin Phoenix-led Mike Mills movie "C'mon C'mon." In total, A24 films garnered 13 nominations, with Netflix and NEON scoring nine each. IFC Films ended up with eight nominations total.
Honoring The Cinematic Underdogs
The Independent Spirit Award nominees list includes several films that have been excluded from major awards ballots this year, including from the recently concluded Gotham Awards. Since this award, now in its 37th year, specifically honors films made with limited budgets (any film considered must have been made for $22.5 million or less), there are plenty of cinematic underdogs within the nominees. Along with "Zola” and "C'mon C'mon," the best feature category includes the Italian film "A Chiara," Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, "The Lost Daughter," and the college-set thriller "The Novice."
Several festival favorites are recognized among the nominees, from the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary "Flee" to "The Novice," which won big at Tribeca earlier this year. Projects by first-time filmmakers, including Shatara Michelle Ford's excellent drama "Test Pattern" and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.'s riveting thriller "Wild Indian," also hold several spots on the list. The two lead actors of "Wild Indian," Michael Greyeyes and Chaske Spencer, both received well-deserved nominations for intense performances that anchored the film.
Noteworthy Omissions
This is a wide-ranging batch of nominees that ensures there won't be a clean sweep, but there are also some surprising snubs. The heartwarming Apple TV+ film "CODA," about a family of fishermen with only one hearing member, has picked up dozens of nominations across the festival circuit and in early award season this year, but only got one nod (for Troy Kotsur's performance) here. Plus, Michael Sarnoski's sneakily heartbreaking drama "Pig," for which Nicholas Cage has received deserved rave reviews, also only received a single nomination for best first screenplay.
No list of nominees is perfect. Above all else, this year's Independent Spirit Awards nominees prove that diverse, interesting, and challenging independent cinema is alive and well in spite of nearly two years of ongoing industry-wide hardship. Despite every obstacle, these great movies were produced and made their way to us so that we can celebrate them.
The Independent Spirit Awards will air live on IFC on Sunday, March 6, 2022. The full list of nominees is as follows:
BEST FEATURE
A Chiara
C'mon C'mon
The Lost Daughter
The Novice
Zola
BEST FIRST FEATURE
7 Days
Holler
Queen Glory
Test Pattern
Wild Indian
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Isabelle Fuhrman, The Novice
Brittany S. Hall, Test Pattern
Patti Harrison, Together Together
Taylour Paige, Zola
Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One
BEST MALE LEAD
Clifton Collins Jr., Jockey
Frankie Faison, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Michael Greyeyes, Wild Indian
Udo Kier, Swan Song
Simon Rex, Red Rocket
BEST DIRECTOR
Janicza Bravo, Zola
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Lauren Hadaway, The Novice
Mike Mills, C'mon C'mon
Ninja Thyberg, Pleasure
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Ascension
Flee
In the Same Breath
Procession
Summer of Soul
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Amy Forsyth, The Novice
Ruth Negga, Passing
Revika Anne Reustle, Pleasure
Suzanna Son, Red Rocket
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Colman Domingo, Zola
Meeko Gattuso, Queen of Glory
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Will Patton, Sweet Thing
Chaske Spencer, Wild Indian
BEST SCREENPLAY
C'mon C'mon, Mike Mills
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Swan Song, Todd Stephens
Together Together, Nikole Beckwith
Zola, Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., Wild Indian
Matt Fifer; Story by Sheldon D. Brown, Cicada
Shatara Michelle Ford, Test Pattern
Fran Kranz, Mass
Michael Sarnoski; Story by Vanessa Block, Michael Sarnoski, Pig
BEST EDITING
Affonso Gonçalves, A Chiara
Ali Greer, The Nowhere Inn
Lauren Hadaway, Nathan Nugent, The Novice
Joi McMillon, Zola
Enrico Natale, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ante Cheng, Matthew Chuang, Blue Bayou
Lol Crawley, The Humans
Tim Curtin, A Chiara
Edu Grau, Passing
Ari Wegner, Zola
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Compartment No. 6 Finland/Russia Director: Juho Kuosmanen
Drive My Car Japan Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Parallel Mothers Spain Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Pebbles India Director: P S Vinothraj
Petite Maman France Director: Céline Sciamma
Prayers for the Stolen Mexico Director: Tatiana Huezo
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Mass
Director: Fran Kranz Casting Directors: Henry Russell Bergstein, Allison Estrin Ensemble Cast: Kagen Albright, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Breeda Wool
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.)
Cryptozoo Writer/Director: Dash Shaw Producers: Tyler Davidson, Kyle Martin, Jane Samborski, Bill Way
Jockey Writer/Director/Producer: Clint Bentley Writer/Producer: Greg Kwedar Producer: Nancy Schafer
Shiva Baby Writer/Director/Producer: Emma Seligman Producers: Kieran Altmann, Katie Schiller, Lizzie Shapiro
Sweet Thing Writer/Director: Alexandre Rockwell Producers: Louis Anania, Haley Anderson, Kenan Baysal
This is Not a War Story Writer/Director/Producer: Talia Lugacy Producers: Noah Lang, Julian West
PRODUCERS AWARD (The Producers Award, now in its 24th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.) Brad Becker-Parton , Pin-Chun Liu, Lizzie Shapiro
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD(The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 27th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.)
Alex Camilleri, Luzzu
Michael Sarnoski, Pig
Gillian Wallace Horvat, I Blame Society
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
(The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 26th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.)
Angelo Madsen Minax, North By Current
Jessica Beshir, Faya Dayi
Debbie Lum, Try Harder!
TV CATEGORIES
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Black and Missing Series By/Executive Producers: Soledad O'Brien, Geeta Gandbhir Executive Producers: Jo Honig, Patrick Conway, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez
The Choe Show Creator/Exec Producer: David Choe Executive Producers: Matt Revelli, Christopher C. Chen, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson
The Lady and The Dale Executive Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Allen Bain, Andre Gaines, Nick Cammilleri, Alana Carithers, Zackary Drucker, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
Nuclear Family Series By: Ry Russo-Young Executive Producers: Liz Garbus, Julie Gaither, Jon Bardin, Leah Holzer, Peter Saraf, Alex Turtletaub, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Lauren Haber, Maria Zuckerman, Christine Connor, Ryan Heller, Barbara Dobkin, Eric Dobkin, Andrea Van Beuren, Joe Landauer
Philly D.A. Creators: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar Executive Producers: Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, Patty QuillinCo-Executive Producers: Nion McEvoy, Leslie Berriman
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
Blindspotting Creators/Executive Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs Executive Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann
It's a Sin Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler
Reservation Dogs Creators/Executive Producers: Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi Executive Producer: Garrett Basch
The Underground Railroad Creator/Executive Producer: Barry Jenkins Executive Producers: Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Richard Heus, Jacqueline Hoyt
We Are Lady Parts Creator: Nida Manzoor Executive Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Thuso Mbedu, The Underground Railroad
Anjana Vasan, We Are Lady Parts
Jana Schmieding, Rutherford Falls
Jasmine Cephas Jones, Blindspotting
Deborah Ayorinde, THEM: Covenant
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game
Olly Alexander, It's a Sin
Michael Greyeyes, Rutherford Falls
Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus
Ashley Thomas, THEM: Covenant
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Reservation Dogs Ensemble Cast: Devery Jacobs, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, Sarah Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, FunnyBone