Eighth Grade, We The Animals, and First Reformed lead Spirit Awards nominations
There’s no clear frontrunner in the Spirit Awards nominations, which were announced today, but rather a handful of disparate features duking it out in the major categories. The ceremony, which celebrates U.S. films produced for less than $20 million, will see Bo Burnham’s touching coming-of-age comedy Eighth Grade, Paul Schrader’s existential First Reformed, and Lynne Ramsey’s eviscerating You Were Never Really Here competing in its top categories, with each nabbing four nominations. All three can be found in its best feature category, which also includes Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and Debra Janik’s Leave No Trace.
Out-ranking all of them in nominations, however, is Sundance breakout We The Animals, which scored five nominations, including best first feature and best cinematography.
But what really stands out is the host of young, rising talent on the list, which includes acting nominations for Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher, Private Life’s Kayli Carter, Socrates’ Christian Malheiros, Madeline’s Madeline’s Helena Howard, and Leave No Trace’s Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, all of whom forecast a rich future for the industry.
The Spirit Awards tend to be a strong barometer for what will unfold at the Oscars, as four out of the last five years saw the same films—Moonlight, Spotlight , Birdman, and 12 Years a Slave—win both the Spirit Award and the Oscar for best picture. See how it all shakes out when the ceremony airs on IFC on February 23, one day before the Academy Awards.
See the full list of nominations below.
Best Feature
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk