Innovative Movie Talent Shines Once Again With The Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

In case you somehow missed it, the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominees, presented by Lily Collins and Tessa Thompson, an event growing in stature and significance each year. Not only is the roll-out of such exceptional work from the indie film scene an integrated part of the Academy Awards build-up, it is also an exciting, essential recognition of the diverse, unique talent on show.

Oscarologists are likely to get their knickers in a twist over both the films hitting big in many categories, as well as those missing out on several, or not showing up at all. In the meantime, though, let’s continue to celebrate and embrace the innovative work of independent cinema, with these nominations and beyond. 

BEST FEATURE

Call Me By Your Name
Lady Bird
Get Out
The Florida Project
The Rider

BEST FIRST FEATURE

Columbus
Ingrid Goes West
Menashe
Oh Lucy!
Patti Cake$

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

Dayveon
A Ghost Story
Life and nothing more
Most Beautiful Island
The Transfiguration

BEST DIRECTOR

Sean Baker (The Florida Project)
Jonas Carpignano (A Ciambra)
Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name)
Jordan Peele (Get Out)
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie (Good Time)
Chloé Zhao (The Rider)

BEST SCREENPLAY

Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
Azazel Jacobs (The Lovers)
Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Jordan Peele (Get Out)
Mike White (Beatriz at Dinner)

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Kris Avedis, Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman (Donald Cried)
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick)
Ingrid Jungermann (Women Who Kill)
Kogonada (Columbus)
David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer (Ingrid Goes West)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Thimios Bakatakis (The Killing of a Sacred Deer)
Elisha Christian (Columbus)
Hélène Louvart (Beach Rats)
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me by Your Name)
Joshua James Richards (The Rider)

BEST EDITING

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie (Good Time)
Walter Fasano (Call Me by Your Name)
Alex O’Flinn (The Rider)
Gregory Plotkin (Get Out)
Tatiana S. Riegel (I, Tonya)

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Salma Hayek (Beatriz at Dinner)
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)
Shinobu Terajima (Oh Lucy!)
Regina Williams (Life and nothing more)

BEST MALE LEAD

Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)
Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats)
James Franco (The Disaster Artist)
Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
Robert Pattinson (Good Time) 

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Holly Hunter (The Big Sick)
Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
Lois Smith (Marjorie Prime)
Taliah Lennice Webster (Good Time)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Nnamdi Asomugha (Crown Heights)
Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name)
Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer)
Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Bennie Safdie (Good Time)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD

Mudbound (Director: Dee Rees; Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram; Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

BPM (Beats Per Minute), France (Robin Campillo)
A Fantastic Woman, Chile (Sebastián Lelio)
I Am Not a Witch, Zambia (Rungano Nyoni)
Lady Macbeth, U.K. (William Oldroyd)
Loveless, Russia (Andrey Zvyagintsev)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Departure (Lana Wilson)
Faces Places (Agnés Varda, JR; Rosalie Varda)
Last Men in Aleppo (Feras Fayyad; Kareem Abeed, Søeren Steen Jespersen, Stefan Kloos)
Motherland (Ramona S. Diaz; Rey Cuerdo)
Quest (Jonathan Olshefski; Sabrina Schmidt Gordon)

BONNIE AWARD – recognizes mid-career female directors with a $50,000 unrestricted grant.

So Yong Kim
Lynn Shelton
Chloé Zhao

JEEP TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by the Jeep brand.

Shevaun Mizrahi (director of Distant Constellation)
Jonathan Olshefski (director of Quest)
Jeff Unay (director of The Cage Fighter)

KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Amman Abbasi (director of Dayveon)
Justin Chon (director of Gook)
Kevin Phillips (director of Super Dark Times)

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim
Ben LeClair
Summer Shelton

NZIFF Review: The Lost City of Z

The Christchurch leg of the New Zealand International Film Festival is creeping ever closer to the final few days; but there are still magnificent films on offer until the curtain falls this coming weekend. While my chosen films have ranged from the cerebral (Stalker, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) to the heart-warming (Spookers), there have also been selections which definitely appeal to a wider audience – the first being Toa Fraser’s 6 Days (starring Mark Strong, Jamie Bell and Abbie Cornish), the second being James Gray’s The Lost City of Z.

Based on the book by David Grann, The Lost City of Z revolves around Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam delivering a remarkable performance), a military man whose work for the Royal Geographical Society leads him to map hitherto uncharted areas in South America. After initial reluctance to undertake such a mission, Fawcett develops a thirst to uncover what he believes is a place untouched and undiscovered by European explorers: the lost city of Z. At times mocked for his explorations, other times applauded, he delves deep into the jungles of South America, leaving behind his beloved wife Nina and his children in order to achieve his quest.

If you’re expecting a rip-snorting journey through the jungles, the sort of stuff of Boy’s Own annuals (Piranhas! Angry tribesmen! Certain death!), you may come away unsatisfied. Although in the first act of the film it does feature this type of adventure, the story is very much more focused on Fawcett’s inner motivations.

There is a great deal of adventure, but this is less in the vein of anything Indiana Jones would have undertaken, and more a hero’s inner journey. Charlie Hunnam’s Fawcett is not a foaming-at-the-mouth eccentric, in fact he is quite the opposite. And though he is obsessed with finding his lost city, there is a genuine serenity to him. It’s as if the act of searching is enough to quiet his restless soul. Tellingly, when he is forced into World War I on the front lines, it’s not a picture of wife Nina that he carries with him as a talisman…it’s a charcoal sketch of the jungle. His motivation to stay alive during the war is not for the sake of his wife and children, it’s so he can venture through the Amazon again, searching for his lost city.

Hunnam has such remarkable presence as Percy Fawcett, so much so it’s hard not to get wrapped up in his motivations without a thought for Sienna Miller’s Nina. And Miller is equally commanding in her role. While she stays behind in England, looking after the Fawcett children, she’s no simpering brood mare. There is a spark and an energy to Sienna Miller’s performance that elevates the character. And while James Gray’s script gives the character more room to move than other women in the time period, there’s always conditions – Nina is an equal partner in the marriage, but not in exploration. As frustrating as that might be, it’s reasonably authentic to the thinking of the times. Gray tries not to put a modern glaze on a historical time period.

Robert Pattinson (also appearing in NZIFF 2017 selection Good Time) exudes a maturity well beyond his years, almost unrecognizable in his role as Henry Costin. Costin and Fawcett are two sides of the same coin, and Hunnam and Pattinson have a dynamic that works magnificently in this film. And while only appearing in the last third of the film, Spiderman: Homecoming’s Tom Holland (playing Percy’s eldest son, Jack) is a scene-stealer; exuding a remarkable quiet intensity that is both moving and mature. Expect big things from Holland going forward.

And while this is a thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully filmed and acted piece of drama…there are a few places where character or plot development would have been welcome. For instance, Nina Fawcett is credited with assisting Percy to find archived documentation regarding the lost city…but it’s only acknowledged during a Royal Geographic Society meeting and with a single shot of Nina handing the paper proudly to Percy. Seeing her contribution to his research and subsequent journey might have been a welcome interlude.

Also, Pattinson’s Costin is drunkenly thrust upon the audience in the first part of the film. We have little explanation into his character or motivations, and there’s even less information about his background. The father-son dynamic between Jack and Percy is left a little wanting. There’s such a to-do about Percy leaving for the War and Jack’s disillusionment and disappointment (because Percy has been such an absent father in his formative years), but then there’s a giant leap in their relationship years later when there is more than a little hero worship from Jack towards his father and a desire to follow in his footsteps. Perhaps, as a viewer, I ended up so absorbed in the drama that I wanted to know more…perhaps I was swept up in the story and immersed in the characters and their motivations that I was like an outsider in the cold, looking in and wanting to warm myself by the fire and hear their tales. If that’s the case (and I suspect it may well be), then James Gray’s script is made even more remarkable by this fact.

Nevertheless, The Lost City of Z was definitely one of the more audience-friendly picks at NZIFF. It’s more accessible than some of its Film Festival counterparts, and was definitely the best way to spend an evening. Beautifully filmed, remarkable performances from every single cast member, and a wildly engaging tale.

Lynnaire MacDonald, Publicist and Founder, Film Sprites PR