The Independent Spirit Awards, anteroom of the Oscars, announce their nominations – Les Inrocks

Traditionally held on the Saturday before the final Oscar vote, the Independent Spirit Awards are viewed by the profession as the antechamber to the big annual Academy Awards, but on a more independent side.

Indeed, the Spirit Awards exclusively distinguish films and artists from the independent circuit, that is to say escaping the influence of the majors, the big Hollywood studios. In the past, films like After Hours by Martin Scorsese (during the first edition in 1986), pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino in 1995 or even Nomadland by Chloé Zhao in 2021.

A24 at the top

This year, the A24 company dominates the nominations with several of its films represented: at the top of the list is Zola of Janicza Bravo, passed by Sundance, which deploys the nightmarish stay of a young waitress accompanied by her new friend in the middle of the striptease. The film in black and white Our children’s souls by Mike Mills, with Joaquin Phoenix as a depressed journalist reinvigorated by his nephew, also produced under the A24 banner, obtained three nominations.

Among the named, we can also note the presence of The Lost Daughter by Maggie Gyllenhaal, with Olivia Colman and Dakota Fanning: produced by Netflix, the film caused a sensation in Venice last summer by winning the award for screenplay and also twice in the Golden Globes list, published earlier this week .

Céline Sciamma appointed

Céline Sciamma’s French presence, with her feature film Little mom nominated in the best international film category, is quite surprising: the filmmaker was also among the nominees in 2019 for her film Portrait of the girl on fire.

This year, she is present alongside Pedro Almodóvar, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi and Juho Kuosmanen, all three nominated for the Golden Globes as well. The absence of Titanium of Julia Ducournau, representative of France at the Oscars, is thus saved by the presence of Céline Sciamma.

Note also, among the price categories, a section entitled John Cassavetes Award, reserved for films with a budget of less than 500,000 dollars, in homage to the filmmaker who disobeyed the Hollywood economy. Among these films, we can notice the presence of the first astonishing feature of Emma Seligman, Shiva Baby, produced by the independent cinema platform MUBI; the story of a young woman who comes across during Shiv’ah (a period of mourning observed in the Jewish religion) her sugar daddy as well as his former girlfriend, creating an interior chaos in her, surrounded by her family.

The Independent Spirit Awards ceremony will take place March 6, 2022, while the Oscars will be awarded on March 27.