Spirit Award Nominations 2018: We the Animals Leads with Five Nominations

The nominees for best feature are “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Leave No Trace,” and “You Were Never Really Here.”

“We the Animals” received nominations for best first feature, best supporting male actor for Raul Castillo, cinematography, editing, and the Someone to Watch award for Jeremiah Zagar, who directed and adapted the script from Justin Torres’ debut novel of the same name. The movie, which focuses on a mixed-race family in upstate New York, opened at the Sundance Film Fest in January.

Bo Burnham’s comedy-drama “Eighth Grade” took nods for feature, first feature, actress for Elsie Fisher, and supporting male actor for Josh Hamilton.

“First Reformed” earned nominations for feature, director and screenplay for Paul Schrader, and male lead for Ethan Hawke.

Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really” scored for feature, director, editing, and male lead for Joaquin Phoenix.

Tamara Jenkins’ “Private Life” nabbed three nominations for director, screenplay, and supporting female actor for Kayli Carter.

Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Talk” picked up thre nominations for feature, director, and supporting female for Regina King.

Debra Granik’s PTSD drama “Leave No Trace” received three nominations for best feature, director and supporting female actor for Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie.

“Suspiria” director Luca Guadagnino, the cast and casting directors were awarded the Robert Altman Award.

A24, which handled “Eighth Grade” and “First Reformed,” was the top distributor with 12 nominations, followed by Amazon, Netflix, and the Orchard with six each.

Nominations were announced Friday, November 16, by “Crazy Rich Asians” star Gemma Chan and Molly Shannon at the W Hotel in Hollywood.

The awards ceremony will take place on February 23, the day before the Oscar Awards,  in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California.  The show, now in its 34th year, will air on IFC.

The Spirit Awards nominations are chosen by a 46-member committee and the awards are voted on by the 6,000-plus members of Film Independent. The eligibility rules require that movies be produced in the U.S. for less than $20 million. “Get Out” won the best feature film trophy this year.

In the prior four years, “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” “Birdman,” and “12 Years a Slave” won both the Spirit Award and the Oscar for best picture.

Best Supporting Female Actor

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 Cinematography

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 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)

The Truer Than Fiction Award

Alexandria Bombach, ON HER SHOULDERS

Bing Liu, MINDING THE GAP

RaMell Ross, HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING

Producers Award

Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams

Gabrielle Nadig

Shrihari Sathe

The Someone to Watch Award

Alex Moratto, SÓCRATES

Ioana Uricaru, LEMONADE

Jeremiah Zagar, WE THE ANIMALS

The Bonnie Award

Debra Granik

Tamara Jenkins

Karyn Kusama