39th Independent Spirit Awards

39th Independent Spirit Awards
Awarded for	Best in independent film and independent television
Date	February 25, 2024
Site	Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Host	Aidy Bryant
Highlights
Most nominations	American Fiction / May December / Past Lives (5)
Television coverage
Network	YouTube (through @filmindependent + @imdb)

The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2023, will be presented by Film Independent on February 25, 2024. The ceremony will take place at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, and will be hosted by American actress and comedian Aidy Bryant. For the second year in a row, the ceremony will be streamed live on the YouTube channels of both IMDb and Film Independent, among other social platforms.

The nominations were announced live via YouTube on December 5, 2023, by actors Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales. American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives led the film nominations with five each, followed by The Holdovers and Passages with four apiece. For the television categories, I'm a Virgo and The Last of Us received the most nominations with four each.

The grant recipients for the Emerging Filmmakers Awards were announced on January 6, 2024.

Changes

This year, Film Independent added a new category: Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. This move evens the number of performance categories for film and TV; three on the film side (Best Lead Performance, Best Supporting Performance, and Best Breakthrough Performance) and three on the television side (Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series, Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series, and now Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series).

Nominees

Film

Best Feature	Best Director
All of Us Strangers – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Sarah Harvey American Fiction – Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, and Ben LeClair May December – Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, and Christine Vachon Passages – Michel Merkt and Saïd Ben Saïd Past Lives – David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, and Christine Vachon We Grown Now – Minhal Baig and Joe Pirro	Andrew Haigh – All of Us Strangers Todd Haynes – May December William Oldroyd – Eileen Ira Sachs – Passages Celine Song – Past Lives
Best Lead Performance	Best Supporting Performance
Jessica Chastain – Memory as Sylvia Greta Lee – Past Lives as Nora Moon Trace Lysette – Monica as Monica Natalie Portman – May December as Elizabeth Judy Reyes – Birth/Rebirth as Celie Franz Rogowski – Passages as Tomas Andrew Scott – All of Us Strangers as Adam Teyana Taylor – A Thousand and One as Inez de la Paz Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison Teo Yoo – Past Lives as Hae Sung	Erika Alexander – American Fiction as Coraline Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction as Clifford "Cliff" Ellison Noah Galvin – Theater Camp as Glenn Winthrop Anne Hathaway – Eileen as Rebecca Glenn Howerton – BlackBerry as Jim Balsillie Marin Ireland – Eileen as Rita Polk Charles Melton – May December as Joe Yoo Da'Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers as Mary Lamb Catalina Saavedra – Rotting in the Sun as Señora "Vero" Verónica Ben Whishaw – Passages as Martin
Best Breakthrough Performance	Best Screenplay
Marshawn Lynch – Bottoms as Mr. G Atibon Nazaire – Mountains as Xavier Tia Nomore – Earth Mama as Gia Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers as Angus Tully Anaita Wali Zada – Fremont as Donya	American Fiction – Cord Jefferson Birth/Rebirth – Laura Moss and Brendan J. O'Brien Bottoms – Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott The Holdovers – David Hemingson Past Lives – Celine Song
Best First Feature	Best First Screenplay
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt – Raven Jackson (director); Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, and Adele Romanski (producers) Chronicles of a Wandering Saint – Tomás Gómez Bustillo (director); Gewan Brown and Amanda Freedman (producers) Earth Mama – Savanah Leaf (director); Sam Bisbee, Shirley O'Connor, Medb Riordan, and Cody Ryder (producers) A Thousand and One – A. V. Rockwell (director); Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, and Brad Weston (producers) Upon Entry – Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez (directors); Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, and Xosé Zapata (producers)	Chronicles of a Wandering Saint – Tomás Gómez Bustillo May December – Samy Burch; story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik The Starling Girl – Laurel Parmet Theater Camp – Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, and Ben Platt Upon Entry – Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez
Best Documentary Feature	Best International Film
Bye Bye Tiberias – Lina Soualem (director); Jean-Marie Nizan (producer) Four Daughters – Kaouther Ben Hania (director); Nadim Cheikhrouha (producer) Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project – Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson (directors); Tommy Oliver (producer) Kokomo City – D. Smith (director); Bill Butler and Harris Doran (producers) The Mother of All Lies – Asmae El Moudir (director/producer)	Anatomy of a Fall (France) – Justine Triet Godland (Denmark / Iceland) – Hlynur Pálmason Mami Wata (Nigeria) – C.J. "Fiery" Obasi Tótem (Mexico) – Lila Avilés The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom / Poland / United States) – Jonathan Glazer
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt – Jomo Fray Chronicles of a Wandering Saint – Pablo Lozano The Holdovers – Eigil Bryld Monica – Katelin Arizmendi We Grown Now – Pat Scola	How to Blow Up a Pipeline – Daniel Garber Rotting in the Sun – Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz, and Sofía Subercaseaux Theater Camp – Jon Philpot Upon Entry – Emanuele Tiziani We Grown Now – Stephanie Filo

Films with multiple nominations

Films that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Film
5	American Fiction
	May December
	Past Lives
4	The Holdovers
	Passages
3	All of Us Strangers
	Birth/Rebirth
	Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
	Eileen
	Rotting in the Sun
	Theater Camp
	Upon Entry
	We Grown Now
2	All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
	Bottoms
	Earth Mama
	Fremont
	Monica
	Mountains
	A Thousand and One

Television

Best New Scripted Series	Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Beef – Lee Sung Jin (creator/executive producer); Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Jake Schreier, Ravi Nandan, and Alli Reich (executive producers); Alice Ju and Carrie Kemper (co-executive producers) (Netflix) Dreaming Whilst Black – Adjani Salmon (creator/executive producer); Maximilian Evans, Natasha Jatania, and Laura Seixas (executive producers); Tanya Qureshi, Dhanny Joshi, Bal Samra, and Thomas Stogdon (co-executive producers) (Showtime) I'm a Virgo – Boots Riley (creator/executive producer); Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Jharrel Jerome, and Rebecca Rivo (executive producers); Marcus Gardley and Carver Karaszewski (co-executive producers) (Prime Video) Jury Duty – Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (creators/executive producers); David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Cody Heller, Todd Schulman, Jake Szymanski, and Andrew Weinberg (executive producers) (Amazon Freevee) Slip – Zoe Lister-Jones (creator/executive producer); Ro Donnelly, Dakota Johnson, Katie O'Connell Marsh, David Fortier, and Ivan Schneeberg (executive producers) (The Roku Channel)	Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court – Vinnie Malhotra, Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, and Dawn Porter (executive producers) (Showtime) Dear Mama – Lasse Järvi, Quincy "QD3" Jones III, Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles D. King, Peter Nelson, Adel "Future" Nur, Jamal Joseph, Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes, Steve Berman, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, John Janick, Nicholas Ferrall, and Nigel Sinclair (executive producers) (FX) Murder in Big Horn – Matthew Galkin and Vinnie Malhotra (executive producers); Lisa Kalikow and Joshua Levine (co-executive producers) (Showtime) Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence – Mindy Goldberg, Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Zach Heinzerling, Krista Parris, Daniel Barban Levin, and Felicia Rosario (executive producers); Julie Gaither (co-executive producer) (Hulu) Wrestlers – Greg Whiteley and Ryan O'Dowd (executive producers); Alejandro Melendez and Adam Leibowitz (co-executive producers) (Netflix)
Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series	Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series
Emma Corrin – A Murder at the End of the World as Darby Hart (FX on Hulu) Dominique Fishback – Swarm as Andrea "Dre" Greene (Prime Video) Betty Gilpin – Mrs. Davis as Sister Simone (Peacock) Jharrel Jerome – I'm a Virgo as Cootie (Prime Video) Zoe Lister-Jones – Slip as Mae Cannon (The Roku Channel) Bel Powley – A Small Light as Miep Gies (Nat Geo) Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us as Ellie (HBO) Ramón Rodríguez – Will Trent as Will Trent (ABC) Ali Wong – Beef as Amy Lau (Netflix) Steven Yeun – Beef as Danny Cho (Netflix)	Murray Bartlett – The Last of Us as Frank (HBO) Billie Eilish – Swarm as Eva (Prime Video) Jack Farthing – Rain Dogs as Selby (HBO) Nick Offerman – The Last of Us as Bill (HBO) Adina Porter – The Changeling as Lillian Kagwa (Apple TV+) Lewis Pullman – Lessons in Chemistry as Calvin Evans (Apple TV+) Benny Safdie – The Curse as Dougie Schecter (Showtime) Luke Tennie – Shrinking as Sean (Apple TV+) Olivia Washington – I'm a Virgo as Flora (Prime Video) Jessica Williams – Shrinking as Gaby (Apple TV+)
Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series	Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
Clark Backo – The Changeling as Emma "Emmy" Valentine (Apple TV+) Aria Mia Loberti – All the Light We Cannot See as Marie-Laure LeBlanc (Netflix) Adjani Salmon – Dreaming Whilst Black as Kwabena (Showtime) Keivonn Montreal Woodard – The Last of Us as Sam (HBO) Kara Young – I'm a Virgo as Jones (Prime Video)	Jury Duty – Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball, Pramode Kumar, Trisha LaFache, Mekki Leeper, James Marsden, Edy Modica, Kerry O'Neill, Rashida Olayiwola, Whitney Rice, Maria Russell, Ishmel Sahid, Ben Seaward, Ron Song, and Evan Williams

Series with multiple nominations

Series that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Series
4	I'm a Virgo
	The Last of Us
3	Beef
2	The Changeling
	Dreaming Whilst Black
	Jury Duty
	Shrinking
	Slip
	Swarm

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award

(The award is given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

• The Artifice Girl – Franklin Ritch (director/writer); Aaron B. Koontz and Ashleigh Snead (producers)
• Cadejo Blanco – Justin Lerner (director/writer/producer); Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, and Jack Patrick Hurley (producers)
• Fremont – Babak Jalali (director/writer); Carolina Cavalli (writer); Rachael Fung, Chris Martin, Marjaneh Moghimi, George Rush, Sudnya Shroff, and Laura Wagner (producers)
• Rotting in the Sun – Sebastián Silva (director/writer); Pedro Peirano (writer); Jacob Wasserman (producer)
• The Unknown Country – Morrisa Maltz (director/writer/producer); Lily Gladstone (writer); Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux and Vanara Taing (writers/producers); Katherine Harper, Laura Heberton, and Tommy Heitkamp (producers)

Robert Altman Award

(The award is given to the film's director, casting director, and ensemble cast)

• Showing Up – Kelly Reichardt (director); Gayle Keller (casting director); André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James LeGros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez, and Michelle Williams (cast)

Emerging Filmmakers Awards

Producers Award

The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.

• Monique Walton
  • Rachael Fung
  • Graham Swon

Someone to Watch Award

The award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

• Monica Sorelle – Mountains
  • Joanna Arnow – The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
  • Laura Moss – Birth/Rebirth

Truer than Fiction Award

The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

• Set Hernandez – Unseen
  • Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli – Lakota Nation vs. United States
  • Sierra Urich – Joonam

See also

• 96th Academy Awards
• 81st Golden Globe Awards
• 77th British Academy Film Awards
• 44th Golden Raspberry Awards
• 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards
• 29th Critics' Choice Awards

External links

• Official website