Independent Spirit Awards 2023: A Full List of Nominations
by Rubaditsha
Updated Dec 07, 2023
Independent Spirit Awards
The Film Independent Spirit Awards, originating as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards in 1984, annually honor independent filmmakers. Managed by the non-profit organization Film Independent, previously associated with the LA Film Festival, winners are determined through votes by Film Independent members.
The ceremony, traditionally held in a beachside Santa Monica parking lot, precedes the Academy Awards. Formerly aired on IFC until 2023, it moved to YouTube and other platforms. Winners used to receive shoestring-suspended acrylic glass pyramids, symbolizing indie film budgets, replaced by a bird-topped metal trophy since 2006. Notable changes include TV categories introduced in 2020 and gender-neutral acting categories in 2022.
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Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)
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 $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer)
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 (Award given to the director and producer)
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 (Award given to the director)
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 presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 27th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.
Rachael Fung
Graham Swon
Monique Walton
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 30th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.
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 – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 29th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.
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 (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
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 (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
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 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
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
Independent Spirit Awards Date and Venue
Scheduled for February 25, 2024, the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards will spotlight outstanding independent films and TV series from 2023. The event, hosted by the talented Aidy Bryant, unfolds at the Santa Monica Pier in California, promising a vibrant celebration of creativity.
Notably, the awards ceremony will be available for live streaming on both IMDb and Film Independent's YouTube channels, extending the viewing experience to various social platforms for the second consecutive year.
The nominations, unveiled live on YouTube by Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales on December 5, 2023, showcased American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives as the leading film contenders with five nominations each. Meanwhile, The Holdovers and Passages secured four nominations each.
In the television realm, I'm a Virgo and The Last of Us emerged as the most nominated programs, each earning four nods. This year's Spirit Awards promise an exciting recognition of independent cinematic excellence in a dynamic and accessible format.
Independent Spirit Awards:FAQs
The Independent Spirit Awards, initially known as FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, annually recognizes outstanding achievements in independent filmmaking since 1984.
The awards are managed by the non-profit organization Film Independent, formerly associated with the LA Film Festival.
The ceremony is traditionally held in a tent at a Santa Monica beach parking lot, usually preceding the Academy Awards.
The 39th Independent Spirit Awards are scheduled for February 25, 2024.
The 39th edition will take place at the Santa Monica Pier in California.