The 2020 Independent Spirit Awards nominations have recently been announced with Roger Eggers “The Lighthouse” and Benny Safdie and  Josh Safdie‘s “Uncut Gems” being nominated for five awards including Best Director. The other big films to receive multiple nominations also include Alma Har’el‘s “Honey Boy” and Music Box’s comedy “Give Me Liberty”. Out of the six directors nominated for best director, two of the nominees are female filmmakers: Alma Har’el along with “Hustlers” director Lorene Scafaria.

Best Feature sees Lulu Wang‘s “The Farewell” and Chinonye Chukwu “Clemency” up against the likes of “A Hidden Life”, “Marriage Story” and “Uncut Gems”. For Best First Feature Olivia Wilde‘s “Booksmart” has been nominated along with “The Mustang”, and the fun fact is that both films have made our ITOL Top 50 Films of the decade countdown.

For her role in Scafaria’s “Hustlers”, Jennifer Lopez has earned a supporting female nomination, but she is up against the likes of Zhao Shuzhen from Lulu Wang‘s “The Farewell”, Taylor Russell in “Waves“, Octavia Spencer in “Luce” and Lauren “Lolo” Spencer from “Give Me Liberty”.  Best Female Lead sees Elisabeth Moss (who plays a rockstar spiralling out of control in “Her Smell”), going up against the likes of Renée Zellweger for “Judy“, Alfre Woodard for the hard-hitting drama “Clemency”, Mary Kay Place for “Diane”, Hong Chau for “Driveways”, and Karen Allen for “Colewell”.

The nominees for Best Male Lead include Chris Galust for “Give Me Liberty”, Adam Sandler for his turn in “Uncut Gems”, the amazing Kelvin Harrison Jr. for his stunning performance in “Waves”, Robert Pattinson for “The Lighthouse” proving yet again that he has come a long way since his days as the sparkling vampire from the “Twilight” saga,  and Matthias Schoenaerts for his role in “The Mustang” which coincidentally made our ITOL Top 50 films of the decade list.

“Honey Boy” continues with the nominations, as Noah Jupe and Shia LaBeouf are going up against each other for Best Supporting Male. Willem Dafoe is also nominated for Best Supporting Male for his performance as the fellow lighthouse keeper in “The Lighthouse”. The other nominees include Jonathan Majors for “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and Wendell Pierce for “Burning Crane”.

“Hustlers” cinematographer Todd Banhazl has also been nominated. Banhazl’s competition is “Honey Boy” cinematographer Natasha Braie, “The Lighthouse” cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, “The Third Wife” cinematographer Chananun Chotrungro and “Midsommar” cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski.

Chinonye Chukwu is the only female writer to be nominated for Best Screenplay for “Clemency” going up against the likes of Tarell Alvin Mccraney for “High Flying Bird”, Noah Baumbach for “Marriage Story“, Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, and Josh Safdie for “Uncut Gems” and Jason Begue and Shawn Snyder for “To Dust”.

In Best First Screenplay there are more female nominees including Jocelyn Deboer and  Dawn Luebbe for “Greener Grass“, Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy for “Blow the Man Down” and Hannah Bos (along with co-writer Paul Thureen) for “Driveways”.

Zazie Beetz and Natasha Lyonne announced the nominees for the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Thursday morning at The Line LA. Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent, said 45% of Spirit Awards directing and writing nominees are women and 30% are people of colour.

The ceremony will be held in Santa Monica on Feb. 8 — the day before the Academy Awards.

The Full list of nominees are listed below:

Best Feature
A HIDDEN LIFE
CLEMENCY
THE FAREWELL
MARRIAGE STORY
UNCUT GEMS

Best Director
Robert Eggers – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Alma Har’el – HONEY BOY
Julius Onah – LUCE
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Lorene Scafaria – HUSTLERS

Best First Feature
BOOKSMART
THE CLIMB
DIANE
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE MUSTANG
SEE YOU YESTERDAY

Best Female Lead
Karen Allen – COLEWELL
Hong Chau – DRIVEWAYS
Elisabeth Moss – HER SMELL
Mary Kay Place – DIANE
Alfre Woodard – CLEMENCY
Renée Zellweger – JUDY

Best Male Lead
Chris Galust – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Kelvin Harrison Jr. – LUCE
Robert Pattinson – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Adam Sandler – UNCUT GEMS
Matthias Schoenaerts – THE MUSTANG

Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Lopez – HUSTLERS
Taylor Russell – WAVES
Zhao Shuzhen – THE FAREWELL
Lauren “Lolo” Spencer – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Octavia Spencer – LUCE

Best Supporting Male
Willem Dafoe – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Noah Jupe – HONEY BOY
Shia LaBeouf – HONEY BOY
Jonathan Majors – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Wendell Pierce – BURNING CANE

Best Screenplay
Noah Baumbach – MARRIAGE STORY
Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder – TO DUST
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Chinonye Chukwu – CLEMENCY
Tarell Alvin Mccraney – HIGH FLYING BIRD

Best First Screenplay
Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol – SEE YOU YESTERDAY
Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen – DRIVEWAYS
Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe – GREENER GRASS
James Montague, Craig W. Sanger – THE VAST OF NIGHT

Best Cinematography
Todd Banhazl – HUSTLERS
Jarin Blaschke – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Natasha Braier – HONEY BOY
Chananun Chotrungroj – THE THIRD WIFE
Pawel Pogorzelski – MIDSOMMAR

Best Editing
Julie Béziau – THE THIRD WIFE
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Tyler L. Cook – SWORD OF TRUST
Louise Ford – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Kirill Mikhanovsky – GIVE ME LIBERTY

John Cassavetes Award
BURNING CANE
COLEWELL
GIVE ME LIBERTY
PREMATURE
WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY

Robert Altman Award
“Marriage Story”

Best Documentary
AMERICAN FACTORY
APOLLO 11
FOR SAMA
HONEYLAND
ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS

Best International Film
INVISIBLE LIFE, Brazil
LES MISERABLES, France
PARASITE, South Korea
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, France
RETABLO, Peru
THE SOUVENIR, United Kingdom

Piaget Producers Award
Mollye Asher
Krista Parris
Ryan Zacarias

Someone to Watch Award
Rashaad Ernesto Green – PREMATURE
Ash Mayfair – THE THIRD WIFE
Joe Talbot – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

Truer Than Fiction Award
Khalik Allah – BLACK MOTHER
Davy Rothbart – 17 BLOCKS
Nadia Shihab – JADDOLAND
Erick Stoll & Chase Whiteside – AMÉRICA

Annual Bonnie Award
Marielle Heller
Lulu Wang
Kelly Reichardt