The 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards have announced their nominations – and they have a rather welcome (and surprising) European touch. Not only have the usual US-European co-productions in the English language appeared in some categories, but this year, a number of 100%-European productions are vying for the main statuettes.

Such is the case for Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara [+lire aussi :
critique
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interview : Jonas Carpignano
fiche film], the third instalment in the filmmaker’s “Gioia Tauro trilogy”, which world-premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, where it took home the Europa Cinemas Label. The film, an Italian-French co-production, is nominated for Best Feature, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Secondly, Pleasure [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ninja Thyberg
fiche film], the first feature by Swedish filmmaker Ninja Thyberg, and a Swedish-Dutch-French co-production, is present in the Best Director category, as well as Best Supporting Female for the work of Revika Anne Reustle.

In fact, both features have connections to the USA, since Carpignano, born and raised in New York, has always worked with US-based talent, such as cinematographer Tim Curtin and editor Affonso Gonçalves (both nominated), as well as filmmaker Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and collaborator Dan Romer for the music of his films. Pleasure, on the other hand, is set in the Los Angeles porn industry. This fact is probably what is behind the films’ prominence in the awards, which however now seem more open to European and global arthouse films after the Parasite phenomenon, the numerous nominations for European talent during the recent awards seasons, and the complicated situation for adult-orientated, quality films in the US industry.

As for the Best International Film category, we find further proof of the powerful traction of Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers [+lire aussi :
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interview : Juho Kuosmanen
fiche film] by Juho Kuosmanen (also nominated for a Golden Globe) and the critics’ darling Petite Maman [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Céline Sciamma (who had previously been nominated for Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+lire aussi :
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interview : Céline Sciamma
fiche film]), as well as Tatiana Huezo’s Mexican-European co-production Prayers for the Stolen [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], Drive My Car by Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Pebbles by India’s PS Vinothraj.

Another European sensation, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jonas Poher Rasmussen
fiche film] (the recent winner of two European Film Awards – see the news – and also nominated for a Golden Globe), is vying for the Best Documentary Award. It is worth noting that Flee had already won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, the festival where Maltese talent Alex Camilleri unveiled his first feature, Luzzu [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alex Camilleri
fiche film], now nominated in the Someone to Watch Award category.

The English-language European co-productions in the mix are Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], nominated for four awards, including Best Feature and Best Director, and Rebecca Hall’s Passing [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], while in the series categories, the British productions It’s a Sin and We Are Lady Parts have secured two nominations each, including Best New Scripted Series.

Here is the list of nominees:

Film

Best Feature
A Chiara [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jonas Carpignano
fiche film] – Jonas Carpignano (Italy/France)
C’mon C’mon – Mike Mills
The Lost Daughter [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Maggie Gyllenhaal (USA/Greece/UK/Israel)
The Novice – Lauren Hadaway
Zola – Janicza Bravo

Best Director
Janicza Bravo - Zola
Maggie Gyllenhaal - The Lost Daughter
Lauren Hadaway - The Novice
Mike Mills - C’mon, C’mon
Ninja Thyberg – Pleasure [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ninja Thyberg
fiche film] (Sweden/Netherlands/France)

Best First Feature
7 Days - Roshan Sethi
Holler - Nicole Riegel
Queen of Glory - Nana Mensah
Test Pattern - Shatara Michelle Ford
Wild Indian - Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr

Best Female Lead
Isabelle Fuhrman - The Novice
Brittany S Hall - Test Pattern
Patti Harrison - Together Together
Taylour Paige - Zola
Kali Reis - Catch the Fair One

Best Male Lead
Clifton Collins, Jr - Jockey
Frankie Faison - The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Michael Greyeyes - Wild Indian
Udo Kier - Swan Song
Simon Rex - Red Rocket

Best Supporting Female
Jessie Buckley - The Lost Daughter
Amy Forsyth - The Novice
Ruth Negga - Passing [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] (USA/UK/Canada)
Revika Anne Reustle - Pleasure
Suzanna Son - Red Rocket

Best Supporting Male
Colman Domingo - Zola
Meeko Gattuso - Queen of Glory
Troy Kotsur - CODA (USA/France)
Will Patton - Sweet Thing
Chaske Spencer - Wild Indian

Best Screenplay
Mike Mills - C’mon, C’mon
Maggie Gyllenhaal - The Lost Daughter
Todd Stephens - Swan Song
Nikole Beckwith - Together Together
Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O Harris - Zola

Best First Screenplay
Sheldon D Brown, Matthew Fifer - Cicada
Fran Kranz - Mass
Vanessa Block, Michael Sarnoski - Pig (USA/UK)
Shatara Michelle Ford - Test Pattern
Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr - Wild Indian

Best Cinematography
Tim Curtin - A Chiara
Ante Cheng, Matthew Chuang - Blue Bayou
Lol Crawley - The Humans
Eduard Grau - Passing
Ari Wegner - Zola

Best Editing
Affonso Gonçalves - A Chiara
Enrico Natale - The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Lauren Hadaway, Nathan Nugent - The Novice
Ali Greer - The Nowhere Inn
Joi McMillon - Zola

Best International Film
Compartment No. 6 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Juho Kuosmanen
fiche film] – Juho Kuosmanen (Finland/Russia/Estonia/Germany)
Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Parallel Mothers [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
making of
fiche film] – Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
Pebbles - PS Vinothraj (India)
Petite Maman [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Céline Sciamma (France)
Prayers for the Stolen [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Tatiana Huezo (Mexico/Germany/Brazil/Switzerland/USA)

Best Documentary
Ascension - Jessica Kingdon (China)
Flee [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jonas Poher Rasmussen
fiche film] - Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark/France/Norway/Sweden)
In the Same Breath - Nanfu Wang
Procession - Robert Greene
Summer of Soul – Questlove

Robert Altman Award
The director, cast, and casting director of Mass

Someone to Watch Award
Alex Camilleri - Luzzu [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alex Camilleri
fiche film] (Malta/USA)
Gillian Wallace Horvat - I Blame Society
Michael Sarnoski - Pig

Truer Than Fiction Award
North by Current - Madsen Minax
Faya Dayi - Jessica Beshir (Ethiopia/USA/Qatar/Mexico)
Try Harder! - Debbie Lum

John Cassavetes Award
Cryptozoo - Dash Shaw
Jockey - Clint Bentley
Shiva Baby - Emma Seligman
Sweet Thing - Alexandre Rockwell
This Is Not a War Story - Talia Lugacy

Producers Award
Brad Becker-Parton
Pin-Chun Liu
Lizzie Shapiro

Series

Best New Scripted Series
Blindspotting
It’s a Sin (UK)
Reservation Dogs
The Underground Railroad
We Are Lady Parts (UK)

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Black and Missing
The Choe Show
The Lady and the Dale
Nuclear Family
Philly D.A.

Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series
Thuso Mbedu - The Underground Railroad
Anjana Vasan - We Are Lady Parts
Jana Schmieding - Rutherford Falls
Jasmine Cephas Jones - Blindspotting
Deborah Ayorinde - THEM: Covenant

Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series
Ollie Alexander - It’s a Sin
Murray Bartlett - The White Lotus
Michael Greyeyes - Rutherford Falls
Ashley Thomas - THEM: Covenant
Lee Jung-jae - Squid Game

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
Reservation Dogs