You Were Never Really Here

Source: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

You Were Never Really Here

We The Animals earned five nominations for the upcoming 2019 Spirit Awards, while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.

You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods.

We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.

You Were Never Really Here is also in contention for director Lynne Ramsay, male lead Joaquin Phoenix and editor Joe Bini. First Reformed earned additional nods for Paul Schrader in the director and screenplay categories, and Ethan Hawke for male lead, while Eighth Grade is in the running for female lead for Elsie Fisher, first screenplay, and supporting male.

Leave No Trace is nominated for director Debra Granik and supporting female Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, while Sundance horror sensation Hereditary is in contention for Toni Collette in female lead and best first feature.

ROMA (Mexico) and The Favourite (UK) were nominated in the international film category and were ineligible for other awards. Also ineligible were Vice, The Sisters Brothers and Mary Queen Of Scots.

Glenn Close (The Wife), Collette (Hereditary), Fisher (Eighth Grade), Regina Hall (Support The Girls), Helena Howard (Madeline’s Madeline), and Carey Mulligan (Wildlife) are the female lead nominees. Contesting the male lead category are: John Cho (Searching), Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting), Hawke (First Reformed), Christian Malheiros (Sócrates) and Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here).

By distributor, A24 leads the pack on 12 nominations, followed by Amazon Studios, Netflix and The Orchard on six, and Annapurna on five.

“This year’s nominees reflect the bold originality that is the heart of independent film,” said Film Independent president Josh Welsh. “At a time when huge tentpole franchises threaten to dominate our film culture, this year’s films and filmmakers offer something completely different – something vital, uncompromising, and needed. The nominees also show that, when it comes to diversity and inclusion, independent film is leading the way for the rest of the industry.”

The awards ceremony will take place on February 23, 2019, in a tent on Santa Monica Beach. The full list of nominees appears below:

Best Feature
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No Trace
You Were Never Really Here

Best Director
Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here
Paul Schrader, First Reformed

Best First Feature
Hereditary
Sorry To Bother You
The Tale
We The Animals
Wildlife

Best Female Lead
Glenn Close, The Wife
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Regina Hall, Support The Girls
Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline
Carey Mulligan, Wildlife

Best Male Lead
John Cho, Searching
Daveed Diggs, Blindspotting
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Christian Malheiros, Sócrates
Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here

Best Supporting Female
Kayli Carter, Private Life
Tyne Daly, A Bread Factory
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Leave No Trace
J Smith-Cameron, Nancy

Best Supporting Male
Raúl Castillo, We The Animals
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade
John David Washington, Monsters And Men

Best Screenplay
Richard Glatzer (writer/story by), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, Colette
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
Boots Riley, Sorry To Bother You
Paul Schrader, First Reformed

Best First Screenplay
Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
Christina Choe, Nancy
Cory Finley, Thoroughbreds
Jennifer Fox, The Tale
Quinn Shephard (writer/story by) and Laurie Shephard (Story By), Blame

Best Cinematography
Ashley Connor, Madeline’s Madeline
Diego Garcia, Wildlife
Benjamin Loeb, Mandy
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Suspiria
Zak Mulligan, We The Animals

Best Editing
Joe Bini, You Were Never Really Here
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates & Jeremiah Zagar, We The Animals
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill & Julian Hart, American Animals
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy, The Tale
Nick Houy, Mid90s

John Cassavetes Award
A Bread Factory
En El Séptimo Día
Never Goin’ Back
Sócrates
Thunder Road

Robert Altman Award to one film’s cast and director
Suspiria

Best Documentary
Hale County This Morning, This Evening Minding The Gap
Of Fathers And Sons
On Her Shoulders
Shirkers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Best International Film
Burning (South Korea)
The Favourite (United Kingdom)
Happy As Lazzaro (Italy)
ROMA (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)

Piaget Producers Award finallists
Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
Gabrielle Nadig
Shrihari Sathe

Annual Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award finallists
Alex Moratto, Sócrates
Ioana Uricaru, Lemonade
Jeremiah Zagar, We The Animals

Truer Than Fiction Award finallists
Alexandria Bombach, On Her Shoulders
Bing Liu, Minding The Gap
RaMell Ross, Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Annual Bonnie Award finallists
Debra Granik
Tamara Jenkins
Karyn Kusama