‘First Reformed,’ ‘Eighth Grade,’ ‘We the Animals’ earn Film Independent Spirit Awards noms
Ethan Hawke in First Reformed (A24) 
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (A24)
Jeremiah Zagar’s ‘We the Animals’ surprises with five mentions including the Someone to Watch award
Everything was gucci for A24 this morning with the announcement of the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards as two of their films, First Reformed and Eighth Grade, made off with four nominations apiece including Best Feature for both and a Best Female Lead for Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher and a Best Male Lead nom for Ethan Hawke in First Reformed. Another A24 film, Hereditary, earned nominations for Female Lead (Toni Collette) and First Feature (Ari Aster).
The Best Director lineup made Spirit Awards history as three women were nominated in the same year for the first time in Film Independent’s 34-year history. Debra Granik (Leave No Trace), Tamara Jenkins (Private Life) and Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here) were all nominated with Granik and Ramsay’s films also in Best Feature.
Some surprises came in the form of a screenplay nomination for Colette, Christian Malheiros in Sócrates for Male Lead and Tyne Daly in A Bread Factory for Supporting Female. Daveed Diggs in Blindspotting, John David Washington and Raúl Castillo in Supporting Male for Monsters and Men and We the Animals, respectively earned applause from the crowd watching the nomination announcement. We the Animals made a strong showing elsewhere too, popping up in Editing, Cinematography and First Feature and actually earned the most nominations with five and managed without a director or screenplay mention.
Snubs, some of them major, came with BlacKkKlansman earning just single nomination – Supporting Male for Adam Driver; Melissa McCarthy not making it in 6-nominee field for Female Lead while her Can You Ever Forgive Me? supporting male co-star Richard E. Grant did.
Two big Oscar contenders, ROMA and The Favourite, were only eligible for Best International Film and both showed up there. Poland’s Cold War and Lebanon’s Capernaum were surprising misses there.
Nominations will be announced by Film Independent President Josh Welsh, actress Gemma Chan and actress and Spirit Award winner Molly Shannon beginning at 10m PT from The W Hotel Hollywood.
The 34th Spirit Awards ceremony will be held Saturday, February 23, 2019 at the Beach in Santa Monica and be broadcast live exclusively on IFC at 2pm PT / 5pm ET.
Here is the full list of nominees:
Best Feature
EIGHTH GRADE
FIRST REFORMED
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
LEAVE NO TRACE
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Best Director
Debra Granik, LEAVE NO TRACE
Barry Jenkins, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Tamara Jenkins, PRIVATE LIFE
Lynne Ramsay, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Paul Schrader, FIRST REFORMED
Best First Feature
HEREDITARY
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
THE TALE
WE THE ANIMALS
WILDLIFE
Best Female Lead
Glenn Close, THE WIFE
Toni Collette, HEREDITARY
Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE
Regina Hall, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
Helena Howard, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Carey Mulligan, WILDLIFE
Best Male Lead
John Cho, SEARCHING
Daveed Diggs, BLINDSPOTTING
Ethan Hawke, FIRST REFORMED
Christian Malheiros, SÓCRATES
Joaquin Phoenix, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Best Supporting Female
Kayli Carter, PRIVATE LIFE
Tyne Daly, A BREAD FACTORY
Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
J. Smith-Cameron, NANCY
Best Supporting Male
Raúl Castillo, WE THE ANIMALS
Adam Driver, BLACKKKLANSMAN
Richard E. Grant, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Josh Hamilton, EIGHTH GRADE
John David Washington, MONSTERS AND MEN
Best Screenplay
Richard Glatzer (Writer/Story By), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, COLETTE
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Tamara Jenkins, PRIVATE LIFE
Boots Riley, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
Paul Schrader FIRST REFORMED
Best First Screenplay
Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
Christina Choe, NANCY
Cory Finley, THOROUGHBREDS
Jennifer Fox, THE TALE
Quinn Shephard (Writer/Story By) and Laurie Shephard (Story By), BLAME
Best Cinematography
Ashley Connor, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Diego Garcia, WILDLIFE
Benjamin Loeb, MANDY
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, SUSPIRIA
Zak Mulligan, WE THE ANIMALS
Best Editing
Joe Bini, YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates & Jeremiah Zagar, WE THE ANIMALS
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill & Julian Hart, AMERICAN ANIMALS
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy, THE TALE
Nick Houy, MID90S
John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,00)
A BREAD FACTORY
EN EL SÉPTIMO DÍA
NEVER GOIN’ BACK
SÓCRATES
THUNDER ROAD
Robert Altman Award
SUSPIRIA
Best Documentary
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
MINDING THE GAP
OF FATHERS AND SONS
ON HER SHOULDERS
SHIRKERS
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
Best International Film
BURNING (South Korea)
THE FAVOURITE (United Kingdom)
HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Italy)
ROMA (Mexico)
SHOPLIFTERS (Japan)
Piaget Producers Award
Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
Gabrielle Nadig
Shrihari Sathe
Someone to Watch Award
Alex Moratto, SÓCRATES
Ioana Uricaru, LEMONADE
Jeremiah Zagar, WE THE ANIMALS
Truer Than Fiction Award
Alexandria Bombach, ON HER SHOULDERS
Bing Liu, MINDING THE GAP
RaMell Ross, HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
Annual Bonnie Award
Debra Granik
Tamara Jenkins
Karyn Kusama
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- ‘Shōgun,’ ‘Ripley,’ ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Earn Casting Society (CSA) Artios Awards Television Nominations - November 1, 2024
- Trailer Watch: ‘Unstoppable,’ ‘Paddington in Peru,’ ‘Cruel Intentions,’ ‘Squid Game 2’ and More - November 1, 2024
- SFFILM to Screen Mike Leigh’s ‘Hard Truths’ with Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Person - October 31, 2024
‘Shōgun,’ ‘Ripley,’ ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Earn Casting Society (CSA) Artios Awards Television Nominations 
Trailer Watch: ‘Unstoppable,’ ‘Paddington in Peru,’ ‘Cruel Intentions,’ ‘Squid Game 2’ and More 
‘Separated’ Review: Errol Morris Hasn’t Forgotten Trump’s Immigration Policy Cruelty and Neither Should We | Chicago International Film Festival 
‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ Review: There’s No Place Like Gnome | AFI FEST