The 2020 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations are in — and a wide selection of women-directed pics, including “The Farewell,” “Booksmart,” and “Clemency,” are up for honors. The prizes will be given out on February 8.
Two of the five Best Feature nods are for women-helmed films: Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” which sees a family conspiring to not tell their grandmother of her terminal cancer, and Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency,” the portrait of a morally conflicted prison warden overseeing executions.
Alfre Woodard is up for Best Female Lead for her turn in “Clemency,” and Chukwu is the sole woman nominated in the Best Screenplay category. Lorene Scafaria and Alma Har’el received Best Director nods for “Hustlers,” a crime drama about strippers scamming their Wall Street bro clients, and “Honey Boy,” the story of a child actor’s fraught relationship with is alcoholic father, respectively. Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) and Zhao Shuzhen (“The Farewell”) are among the Best Supporting Female nominees.
Two of the six Best First Feature nominees, “Booksmart” and “The Mustang,” are from women directors. From Olivia Wilde, the former centers on overachieving high schoolers who decide to let loose and attend a party the night before graduation. The latter, helmed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, sees a convict working with wild horses as part of a rehabilitation program.
“Wild Nights With Emily,” Madeleine Olnek’s Emily Dickinson biopic starring Molly Shannon, is the sole woman-directed film up for the John Cassavetes Award. The honor recognizes features made for under $500K.
Four of the five Best Documentary nominees are directed or co-directed by women. They include Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar’s “American Factory,” which chronicles the culture clash that occurred when a Chinese billionaire opened a factory in Ohio, and Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama,” a message to al-Kateab’s daughter, and the story of her life in Aleppo through five years of the Syrian revolution. Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s portrait of the last woman working as a wild beekeeper in Europe, “Honeyland,” and Gabrielle Brady’s Christmas Island-set exploration of the migration crisis, “Island of the Hungry Ghosts,” are also nominated.
Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir” are the only women-directed pics among the six Best International Film nominees. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” traces the romance that develops between a young woman and the artist secretly painting her wedding portrait. “The Souvenir,” based on Hoggs’ experiences, follows a young filmmaker as she embarks on a tense relationship with an older man.
Check out the other women up for Film Indie Spirit Awards below. List adapted from The Hollywood Reporter.
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Karen Allen
Colewell
Hong Chau
Driveways
Elisabeth Moss
Her Smell
Mary Kay Place
Diane
Alfre Woodard
Clemency
Renée Zellweger
Judy
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jennifer Lopez
Hustlers
Taylor Russell
Waves
Lauren “LoLo” Spencer
Give Me Liberty
Octavia Spencer
Luce
Zhao Shuzhen
The Farewell
BEST DIRECTOR
Alma Har’el
Honey Boy
Lorene Scafaria
Hustlers
BEST SCREENPLAY
Chinonye Chukwu
Clemency
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Fredrica Bailey & Stefon Bristol
See You Yesterday
Hannah Bos & Paul Thureen
Driveways
Bridget Savage Cole & Danielle Krudy
Blow the Man Down
Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe
Greener Grass
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Natasha Braier
Honey Boy
Chananun Chotrungroj
The Third Wife
BEST EDITING
Julie Béziau
The Third Wife
Louise Ford
The Lighthouse
BONNIE AWARD
(Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo joined American Airlines in 1973 at age 24, becoming the first female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline. In her honor, the third Bonnie Award will recognize a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant, sponsored by American Airlines.)
Marielle Heller
Kelly Reichardt
Lulu Wang
PRODUCERS AWARD
(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.)
Mollye Asher
Krista Parris
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
(Recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.)
Ash Mayfair
Director of The Third Wife
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
(Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.)
Nadia Shihab
Director of Jaddoland