‘American Fiction,’ ‘May December,’ ‘Past Lives’ Lead 2024 Indie Spirits Noms

The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations — see the full list below — were unveiled on Tuesday, December 5, crowning the past year’s achievements in indie film. The actual awards ceremony, taking place on February 24, 2024 in the usual tent on the beach in Santa Monica, is a little less than three months away, but the films nominated today will carry new momentum into the rest of awards season, including the Oscar race. Joel Kim Booster (“Fire Island”) and Natalie Morales (“No Hard Feelings”) were the presenters of the nominees.

“American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” led the Indie Spirits noms with five each, including each of them getting a nod for Best Feature. Todd Haynes for “May December” and Celine Song for “Past Lives” also received Best Director nods. Natalie Portman for “May December,” Greta Lee for “Past Lives,” and Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction” also received Best Lead Performance nods. Erika Alexander and Sterling K. Brown were tipped for Best Supporting Actor for “American Fiction” as was Gotham Awards and New York Film Critics Circle Awards winner Charles Melton for “May December.”

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“Passages” and “The Holdovers” also showed up strongly with four nominations each including for newly minted NYFCC winners Franz Rogowski for Best Lead Performance for “Passages” and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Best Supporting Performance for “The Holdovers.”

Though it’s hard to think of anything less indie than HBO’s big-budgeted “The Last of Us,” it tied for the most TV nominations with four alongside Boots Riley’s Amazon Prime series starring Jharrel Jerome, “I’m a Virgo.” Meanwhile, Netflix’s “Beef” got three nods, and Freevee’s “Jury Duty” two.

In the past, the Indie Spirit noms were often announced before the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle issued their winners. This year, the noms occured after we already know the results from those organizations, and it seems that the momentum has carried over.

For last year’s Indie Spirits, several changes were introduced: Gender-neutral acting prizes were inaugurated, and the budget cap for projects to qualify was raised to $30 million.

You can watch the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations announced live below on YouTube, and, below that is the full list of nominees.

Best Feature

“All of Us Strangers”
“American Fiction”
“May December”
“Passages”
“Past Lives”
“We Grown Now”

Best Director

Andrew Haigh – “All of Us Strangers”
Todd Haynes – “May December”
William Oldroyd – “Eileen”
Celine Song – “Past Lives”
Ira Sachs – “Passages”

Best First Feature

“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”
“Earth Mama”
“A Thousand and One”
“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”

Breakthrough Performance

Marshawn Lynch – “Bottoms”
Atibon Nazaire – “Mountains”
Tia Nomore – “Earth Mama”
Dominic Sessa – “The Holdovers”
Anaita Wali Zada – “Fremont”

Best Screenplay

“American Fiction”
“Birth Rebirth”
“Bottoms”
“Past Lives”
“The Holdovers”

Best First Screenplay

“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”
“May December”
“The Starling Girl”
“Theater Camp”
“Upon Entry”

Best Cinematography

“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”
“The Holdovers”
“Monica”
“We Grown Now”

Best Editing

“How to Blow Up a Pipeline”
“Rotting in the Sun”
“Theater Camp”
“Upon Entry”
“We Grown Now”

Robert Altman Award

“Showing Up”

Best Documentary

“Bye Bye Tiberias”
“Four Daughters”
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
“Kokomo City”
“The Mother of All Lies”

Best International Film

“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Godland”
“Mami Wata”
“Totem”
“The Zone of Interest”

Someone to Watch Award

JOANNA ARNOW
LAURA MOSS
MONICA SORELLE

Truer Than Fiction Award

JESSE SHORT BULL, LAURA TOMASELLI
SET HERNANDEZ
SIERRA URICH

John Cassavetes Award

TBD

Producers Award
RACHEAEL FUNG
GRAHAM SWON
MONIQUE WALTON

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court”
“Dear Mama”
“Murder in Big Horn”
“Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence”
“Wrestlers”

Best New Scripted Series
“Beef”
“Dreaming Whilst Black”
“I’m a Virgo”
“Jury Duty”
“Slip”

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 Breakthrough 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”

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