The nominations for the Film Independent Spirit Awards are in, and while the indie film world — including its own awards circuit — is slightly more hospitable to female filmmakers than Hollywood at large, exactly zero women directors are up for this year’s Best Director award. More bad news: Five films are competing for the Best Feature award — “Anomalisa,” Beasts of No Nation,” “Carol,” “Spotlight” and “Tangerine” — none of which are directed by women. The top award is, however, granted to the producer of the film, not the director, and happily all of the nominated producing teams include at least one female producer.
Of the five filmmakers nominated for Best First Feature, two are women — Marielle Heller for “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” and Chloe Zhao for “Songs My Brother Taught Me.”
On the writing front, only one of the five nominees for Best Screenplay is a woman, Phyllis Nagy, who adapted Patricia Highsmith’s novel “The Price of Salt” into “Carol” for the big screen. As for Best First Screenplay, two screenwriting rookies of the five nominated are women: author Emma Donoghue, who adapted her own novel, “Room,” and Marielle Heller for her adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel “The Diary of a Teenage Girl.”
As is usually the case, women directors are better represented in the documentary category, with three of the six Best Documentary nominees helmed by women: “(T)ERROR, directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, Laurie Anderson’s “Heart of a Dog” and “Meru” by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.
Not one woman is nominated for Best Editing. Reed Morano is the only female competitor in the Best Cinematography category, nominated for her work in “Meadowland,” which also marked her directorial debut. “I partly decided to do both jobs so I could prove that I could, because I felt like I could and I would be happier,” Morano told Women and Hollywood. “It would be a better creative experience for me If I could control that aspect. I can’t turn off that side of my brain, the DP part. That’s something I feel I really know how to do. I thought maybe I could do it with my eyes closed then spend my time thinking about the actors, the arc, and if I was feeling [what was happening]. I put my camera on my shoulder and just followed them. Because I was in control of the cinematography I could decide how to do it that would completely cater to what I wanted for the actors, which was complete freedom.”
The Spirit Awards will take place on February 27, 2016. The ceremony will be broadcast live on IFC at 2 pm PT/5 pm ET.
Check out all of the women nominees below. List adapted from a press release.
BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the Producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)
Anomalisa
Producers: Duke Johnson, Charlie
Kaufman, Dino Stamatopoulos, Rosa Tran
Beasts
of No Nation
Producers: Daniel Crown, Idris Elba,
Cary Joji Fukunaga, Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker
Carol
Producers: Elizabeth Karlsen, Christine
Vachon, Stephen Woolley
Spotlight
Producers: Blye Pagon Faust, Steve
Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Michael Sugar
Tangerine
Producers: Sean Baker, Karrie Cox, Marcus Cox, Darren Dean, Shih-Ching
Tsou
BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to the director and producer)
The
Diary of a Teenage Girl
Director: Marielle Heller
Producers:
Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit
Songs
My Brothers Taught Me
Director/Producer: Chloé Zhao
Producers: Mollye Asher, Nina Yang
Bongiovi, Angela C. Lee, Forest Whitaker
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD — Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given
to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not
awarded.
Advantageous
Writer/Director/Producer: Jennifer Phang
Writer/Producer: Jacqueline Kim
Producers: Robert Chang, Ken Jeong, Moon Molson, Theresa Navarro
BEST SCREENPLAY
Phyllis
Nagy
Carol
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Emma Donoghue
Room
Marielle Heller
The
Diary of a Teenage Girl
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Reed Morano
Meadowland
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett
Carol
Brie Larson
Room
Rooney Mara
Carol
Bel Powley
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez
Tangerine
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Robin Bartlett
H.
Marin Ireland
Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon
James White
Mya Taylor
Tangerine
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
(T)ERROR
Directors/Producers: Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe
Producer: Christopher St. John
Heart of a Dog
Director/Producer: Laurie Anderson
Producer: Dan Janvey
Meru
Directors/Producers: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth
Chai Vasarhelyi
Producer: Shannon Ethridge
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Girlhood
(France)
Director: Céline Sciamma
Mustang
(France, Turkey)
Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
19th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD — The 19th annual
Producers Award, sponsored by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite
highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision
required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a
$25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.
Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith
22nd ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD — The 22nd annual
Someone to Watch Award, sponsored by Kiehl’s Since 1851, recognizes a talented
filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate
recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by
Kiehl’s Since 1851.
Songs
My Brothers Taught Me
Director: Chloé Zhao
21st TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD — The 21st annual Truer
Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features
who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a
$25,000 unrestricted grant.
Incorruptible
Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
A Woman Like Me
Directors: Elizabeth Giamatti and Alex
Sichel
