31st Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

A few moments ago Film Independent had the press conference where Elizabeth Olsen and John Boyega announced the nominations for the 2015 Spirit Awards and can't deny that I'm very pleased with Carol by Todd Haynes leading the pack with six (6) nominations closely followed by Tom McCarthy's Spotlight and Cary Joji Fukunaga's Beasts of no Nation with five (5) each.

There are many omissions but for me most notorious is the absence of a movie I was hoping could make it to the American Indie awards, Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas.  Know that I'm not alone as many seem to have huge deception with the film snub.

The best news come from the Best Female Lead as BOTH Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara have a nomination, which means that some (hope ALL) award organizers recognize both actresses as lead in Carol.

Best Feature
Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson
Beasts of No Nation, Cary Joji Fukunaga
Carol, Todd Haynes
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy
Tangerine, Sean Baker

Best First Feature
The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller
James White, Josh Mond
Manos Sucias, Josef Kubota Wladyka
Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano
Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Chlo� Zhao

Best Director
Sean Baker for Tangerine
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts of No Nation
Todd Haynes for Carol
Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson for Anomalisa
Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
David Robert Mitchell for It Follows

Best Screenplay
Charlie Kaufman for Anomalisa
Donald Margulies for The End of the Tour
Phyllis Nagy for Carol
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight
S. Craig Zahler for Bone Tomahawk

Best First Screenplay
Jesse Andrews for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jonas Carpignano for Mediterranea
Emma Donoghue for Room
Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Magary, Russell Harbaugh and Myna Joseph for The Mend

Best Female Lead
Cate Blanchett in Carol
Brie Larson in Room
Rooney Mara in Carol
Bel Powley in The Diary of A Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriquez in Tangerine

Best Supporting Female
Robin Bartlett in H.
Marin Ireland in Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh in Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon in James White
Mya Taylor in Tangerine

Best Male Lead
Christopher Abbott for James White
Abraham Attah for Beasts of No Nation
Ben Mendelsohn for Mississippi Grind
Jason Segel for The End of the Tour
Koudous Seihon for Mediterranea

Best Supporting Male
Kevin Corrigan in Results
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy
Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation
Richard Jenkins in Bone Tomahawk
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes

Best Documentary
(T)error, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe
Heart of Dog, Laurie Anderson
The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer
Meru, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
The Russian Woodpecker, Chad Gracia

Best International Film
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Roy Andersson
Embrace the Serpent, Ciro Guerra
Girlhood, C�line Sciamma
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Erg�ven
Son of Saul, L�szl� Nemes

Best Cinematography
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts of No Nation
Ed Lachman for Carol
Michael Gioulakis for It Follows
Reed Morano for Meadlowland
Joshua James Richards for Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Best Editing
Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie for Heaven Knows What
Julio C. Perez IV for It Follows
Kristian Sprague for Manos Sucias
Nathan Nuget for Room
Tom McArdle for Spotlight

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Under $500,000)
Advantageous, Jennifer Phang
Christmas, Again, Charles Poekel
Heaven Knows What, Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie
Krisha, Trey Edward Shults
Out of My Hand, Takeshi Fukunaga

Robert Altman Award Honors this year the Director Tom McCarthy, Casting Director Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee, and Ensemble Cast of Spotlight
Ensemble Cast: Billy Crudup, Brian d'Arcy James, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Sheridan, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci.

Filmmaker Grants

Kiehl�s Someone to Watch Award
Chloe Zhoa for Songs My Brothers Taught Me
Felix Thompson for King Jack
Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck for God Bless the Child

Piaget Producers Award
Darren Dean
Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith

Truer than Fiction Award
Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti for A Woman Like Me
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for Incorruptible
Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi for Among the Believers

Awards ceremony will be on February 27, 2016; will be broadcast exclusively on IFC live at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET. Jessica Chastain is the Honorary Chair for this year's Spirit Awards.  If you wish to check info about each of the above films at the official site go here.