’Anora,’ ’I Saw the TV Glow’ lead Spirit Award 2024 nominations
’Anora,’ ’I Saw the TV Glow’ lead Spirit Award 2024 nominations
Sean Baker’s Anora, an odyssey about a New York stripper, and Jane Schoenbrun’s psychological horror I Saw the TV Glow led the nominations for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, each earning six nods, including Best Film and Best Director. The nonprofit organization announced the nominations on Wednesday via a YouTube livestream.
Three actors from Anora, which previously won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival, were recognized for their performances: Mikey Madison for her leading role, and Yura Borisov and Karren Karagulian for their supporting roles. The Spirit Awards’ acting categories are gender-neutral, with 10 nominees in each. From I Saw the TV Glow, Justice Smith was nominated in the lead category, while Brigette Lundy-Paine earned a nod for supporting.
Joining Anora and I Saw the TV Glow in the Best Feature Film category were RaMell Ross’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Nickel Boys, Greg Kwedar’s incarceration drama Sing Sing, and Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance.
In the Best Director category, nominees included Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, the film’s sole nomination despite its strong showing with the New York Film Critics Circle earlier this week, Ali Abbasi for The Apprentice, and Alonso Ruizpalacios for La Cocina. Sebastian Stan received recognition for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, earning a lead performer nomination but missing out for his role in A Different Man.
Other lead performer nominees included Amy Adams for Nightbitch, Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, Demi Moore for The Substance, June Squibb for Thelma, Hunter Schafer for Cuckoo, Keith Kupferer for Ghostlight, and Ryan Destiny for The Fire Inside.
In the supporting category, a mix of veterans and newcomers were recognized, including Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), Carol Kane (Between the Temples), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Adam Pearson (A Different Man), Joan Chen (Dìdi), Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson), and Kani Kusruti (Girls Will Be Girls).
The Spirit Awards often overlap with major Oscar contenders, as seen in the year of Everything Everywhere All At Once, but they sometimes diverge. Last year’s big winners included Celine Song’s Past Lives and Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction. The awards limit eligibility to productions with budgets under $30 million, excluding films like Wicked and Dune: Part Two.
The International Film category nominees were Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light (India’s Oscars submission rejection), Black Dog from China, the animated adventure Flow, Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths. Netflix entries Emilia Pérez and Maria were eligible only for International Feature but failed to make the shortlist.
The Robert Altman Award, which honors an ensemble cast, went to His Three Daughters, Azazel Jacobs’ moving portrait of three women—played by Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen—grappling with their father’s hospice care.
In television, nominees for new fiction and non-fiction series included Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, Shōgun, and Ren Fair.
Since adopting gender-neutral categories in 2022, the organization highlighted that 46% of this year’s nominees are women, and 30% are people of color. A24 once again dominated the awards, receiving 19 nominations for releases such as I Saw the TV Glow, Sing Sing, and The Brutalist.
The Spirit Awards will take place on Saturday, February 22, in Santa Monica, California, streaming live on IMDb and Film Independent’s YouTube channels. Comedian Aidy Bryant will return as host.
