Awards Season 2025: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

It's been a busy couple of months for Watchers Productions, as we've ventured into the world of theatre and are putting on a play. Twinkle - a one-man show about a vengeful pantomime dame - will hit the stage in Cardiff next week. Tickets are available here. It's a perfect alternative Christmas night out for those of you who like your festive entertainment a little darker. 

Anyway, with all this going on, I'm sure the handful of awards season aficionados will forgive me for letting this creep up on me. 

Today (Wednesday 4th December) saw the announcement of the nominees for the 40th Independent Spirit Awards. The nominations were announced via YouTube video by Cooper Hopkins and Lauren Melton. You will no doubt be aware by now that these awards recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system. 

Below is a selection of nominations:

Best Feature

Anora

I Saw The TV Glow

Nickel Boys

Sing Sing

The Substance

Best Director

Ali Abbasi (The Apprentice)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Alonso Ruizpalacios (La Cocina)

Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw The TV Glow) 

Best Lead Performance

Amy Adams (Nightbitch)

Ryan Destiny (The Fire Inside)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) 

Keith Kupferer (Ghostlight) 

Mikey Madison (Anora) 

Demi Moore (The Substance) 

Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo) 

Justice Smith (I Saw The TV Glow) 

June Squibb (Thelma) 

Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) 

Best Supporting Performance

Yura Borisov (Anora) 

Joan Chen (Didi)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) 

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Carol Kane (Between The Temples) 

Karren Karagulian (Anora) 

Kani Kusruti (Girls Will Be Girls)

Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw The TV Glow)

Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing) 

Adam Pearson (A Different Man) 

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Anora (a romantic comedy-drama about the whirlwind marriage between a Brooklyn stripper [Mikey Madison] and the dissolute son of a Russian oligarch [Mark Eydelshteyn], which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival) and I Saw The TV Glow (a psychological horror about two troubled high school students [Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine] whose connection to their favourite TV show - The Pink Opaque - leads them to question their realities) lead the field with six nominations apiece. 

There are some interesting nominations in the television categories. Shogun leads the way with five nods, with Baby Reindeer and English Teacher both getting four. However, what surprised me were the three nominations for Agatha All Along (rightly recognising the stellar work of Kathryn Hahn, Patti LuPone, and Joe Locke) and a very well-deserved nomination for Cristin Miloti for her superb performance as Sofia Falcone in The Penguin. Andrew Scott also gets a nod for Ripley, which is nice. 

The 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony will take place at the usual Santa Monica beachside tent on 22nd February 2025, hosted by Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live, Human Resources, The Big Sick) for the second year in a row. 

Congratulations to all the nominees!

As I didn't get a chance to do my usual "For Your Consideration" post, I'm going to include the important dates here. The timetable for the major movie awards in 2025 is as follows:

Golden Globes

Nominations announced: 9th December 2024

Awards ceremony: 5th January 2025 (hosted by Nikki Glaser)

Critics' Choice Award

Nominations announced: 12th December 2024

Awards ceremony: 12th January 2025 (hosted by Chelsea Handler)

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards

Nominations announced: 8th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 23rd February 2025

Directors' Guild Of America (DGA) Award

Nominations announced: 8th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 8th February 2025

Writers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award

Nominations announced: 9th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 15th February 2025

Producers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award

Nominations announced: 10th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 8th February 2025

BAFTA Film Awards

Nominations announced: 15th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 16th February 2025

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)

Nominations announced: 16th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 1st March 2025

The 97th Academy Awards (Oscars)

Nominations announced: 17th January 2025

Awards ceremony: 2nd March 2025 (hosted by Conan O'Brien)

So, as a very wise lizard woman from the dawn of time once said,