Gabrielle Union, Regina Hall, Jeremy Pope Among Independent Spirit Awards Nominees

And just like that, awards season is upon us.

The 2023 Independent Spirit Awards film nominations were announced on Tuesday and there are several stand-out Black projects being recognized. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Film Independent has changed the Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories to the gender-neutral Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance, which each have 10 nominees.

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Two of our favorites are up for Best Lead Performance, with Regina Hall receiving well-deserved recognition for her sublime work in Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul, and Jeremy Pope getting a nod for his heart-wrenching performance in The Inspection. Taylor Russell is also up for the same award for the critically-acclaimed Bones and All. Elegance Bratton’s beautiful film, The Inspection, is also nominated for Best First Feature and national treasure Gabrielle Union received a nod for Best Supporting Performance. I truly hope this is the first step in a long awards season run for the actress/producer. Among the star-studded crowd, Union is up against for Best Supporting Performance is Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway, Theo Rossi in Emily the Criminal and Trevante Rhodes in Bruiser.

While I’m thrilled to see these awesome performers get their due, as usual, there really should be more. Both Aftershock and Descendant are missing from the Best Documentary category and it would have been great to see Regina’s partner-in-crime, Sterling K. Brown, get a nod for his work as a desperate, over-the-top pastor in Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the spectacular Everything Everywhere All at Once, which leads all nominees with eight. Michelle Yeoh is just amazing and I can’t recommend this film enough. It definitely belongs on your 2022 end-of-the-year binge list.

The 2023 Independent Spirit Awards take place on March 4 at the beach near the Santa Monica Pier.

Notable Independent Spirit Awards nominees:

Best Feature

• Bones and All

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Our Father, the Devil

• Tar

• Women Talking

Best Director

• Todd Field – Tar

• Kogonada – After Yang

• Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Sarah Polley – Women Talking

• Halina Reijn – Bodies Bodies Bodies

Best Lead Performance

• Cate Blanchett – Tar

• Dale Dickey – A Love Song

• Mia Goth – Pearl

• Regina Hall – Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul

• Paul Mescal – Aftersun

• Aubrey Plaza – Emily the Criminal

• Jeremy Pope – The Inspection

• Taylor Russell – Bones and All

• Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie

• Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Performance

• Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway

• Nina Hoss – Tar

• Brian D’Arcy James – The Cathedral

• Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Trevante Rhodes – Bruiser

• Theo Rossi – Emily the Criminal

• Mark Rylance – Bones and All

• Jonathan Tucker – Palm Trees and Power Lines

• Gabrielle Union – The Inspection

Best Screenplay

• After Yang

• Catherine Called Birdy

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Tar

• Women Talking

Best First Screenplay

• Bodies Bodies Bodies

• Emergency

• Emily the Criminal

• Fire Island

• Palm Trees and Power Lines

Best First Feature

• Aftersun

• Emily the Criminal

• The Inspection

• Murina

• Palm Trees and Power Lines

Documentary

• House Made of Splinters

• All that Breathes

• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

• Midwives

• Riotsville, U.S.A.

Best Breakthrough Performance

• Frankie Corio – Aftersun

• Garcija Filipovic – Murina

• Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Lilly McInerny – Palm Trees and Power Lines

• Daniel Zolghardi – Funny Pages

Someone to Watch Award

• Adamma Ebo – Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul

• Nikyatu Jusu – Nanny

• Araceli Lemos – Holy Emy

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