‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ leads Spirit Award noms

By Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press on November 22, 2022.

The multiverse-hopping adventure film “Everything Everywhere All At Once” led the nominations for the Film Independent Spirit Awards with nods for best feature, best director, best lead actor for Michelle Yeoh, supporting actors Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis and breakthrough for Stephanie Hsu.

The organization announced nominees for its 38th edition on Tuesday, where other top contenders include Todd Field’s classical music thriller “Tár,” nominated for feature, director, actor for Cate Blanchett and supporting actor for Nina Hoss, Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All.”

The awards celebrate the best in independent filmmaking and recently raised the budget cap from $22.5 million to $30 million for the main prizes and $1 million for the John Cassavetes Award. The organization also shifted to gender neutral acting awards. The main acting categories now have 10 nominees each.

“Zola’s” Taylour Paige and “The Inspection’s” Raúl Castillo read the nominations, which are chosen by committees made up of film critics, producers, festival programmers, filmmakers, past winners and Film Independent’s Board of Directors. Film independent president Josh Welsh said they considered 409 films.

The budget cap means that films like “White Noise” and “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” were not eligible.

At the 37th edition earlier this year, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrente adaptation “The Lost Daughter” won best feature, best director and best screenplay.

The Spirit Awards also hand out awards to television shows, but those nominees won’t be announced until Dec. 13. The beachside ceremony will be held in Santa Monica on March 4, 2023, the weekend before the Oscars.

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