Just a few moments ago, the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were revealed to the public, continuing on with Phase One of the awards season. This precursor marks another new point in the race, as many of these movies nominated today will be contending for Oscar attention as well. Removed from the Academy Award race though, this is just a great precursor because of what it nominates. The films are small in budget and often need a leg up, so this is a spotlight on what the viewing public should be searching out in theaters and at home on Blu-Ray or VOD. Congrats to the nominees and read on to see who and what they were…

You’ll see all of the nominees below, but as you’ll be able to tell, it appears to be a race between Call Me By Your Name, The Florida Project, Get Out, and Lady Bird, at least for the moment. Right now, any could take home the top prizes, so it’ll be a fascinating one to watch in March. Also doing well was Columbus, Good Time, and The Rider, while it was somewhat of a soft showing for The Big Sick, The Disaster Artist, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Nothing is set in stone yet, but those movies were looking for more love than they got. The films cited heavily though, they got a small boost at least.

Here now are the Spirit Award nominations in full:

BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)

Call Me by Your Name
Producers: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory, Howard Rosenman

The Florida Project
Producers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Duncan, Alex Saks, Francesca Silvestri, Shih-Ching Tsou

Get Out
Producers: Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird
Producers: Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill, Scott Rudin

The Rider
Producers: Mollye Asher, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Chloé Zhao

BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to the director and producer)

Columbus
Director: Kogonada
Producers: Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Aaron Boyd, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz

Ingrid Goes West
Director: Matt Spicer
Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, Trevor White

Menashe
Director/Producer: Joshua Z. Weinstein
Producers: Yoni Brook, Traci Carlson, Daniel Finkelman, Alex Lipschultz

Oh Lucy!
Director/Producer: Atsuko Hirayanagi
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Yukie Kito, Han West

Patti Cake$
Director: Geremy Jasper
Producers: Chris Columbus, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Noah Stahl, Rodrigo Teixeira

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. (Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)

Dayveon
Writer/Director/Producer: Amman Abbasi
Writer: Steven Reneau
Producers: Lachion Buckingham, Alexander Uhlmann

A Ghost Story
Writer/Director: David Lowery
Producers: Adam Donaghey, Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston

Life and nothing more
Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza
Producers: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández, Pedro Hernández Santos

Most Beautiful Island
Writer/Director/Producer: Ana Asensio
Producers: Larry Fessenden, Noah Greenberg, Chadd Harbold, Jenn Wexler

The Transfiguration
Writer/Director: Michael O’Shea
Producer: Susan Leber

BEST DIRECTOR

Sean Baker
The Florida Project

Jonas Carpignano
A Ciambra

Luca Guadagnino
Call Me by Your Name

Jordan Peele
Get Out

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Good Time

Chloé Zhao
The Rider

BEST SCREENPLAY

Greta Gerwig
Lady Bird

Azazel Jacobs
The Lovers

Martin McDonagh
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Jordan Peele
Get Out

Mike White
Beatriz at Dinner

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Kris Avedisian
Story By: Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman
Donald Cried

Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani
The Big Sick

Ingrid Jungermann
Women Who Kill

Kogonada
Columbus

David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer
Ingrid Goes West

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Thimios Bakatakis
The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Elisha Christian
Columbus

Hélène Louvart
Beach Rats

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
Call Me by Your Name

Joshua James Richards
The Rider

BEST EDITING

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie
Good Time

Walter Fasano
Call Me by Your Name

Alex O’Flinn
The Rider

Gregory Plotkin
Get Out

Tatiana S. Riegel
I, Tonya

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Salma Hayek
Beatriz at Dinner

Frances McDormand
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margot Robbie
I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan
Lady Bird

Shinobu Terajima
Oh Lucy!

Regina Williams
Life and nothing more

BEST MALE LEAD

Timothée Chalamet
Call Me by Your Name

Harris Dickinson
Beach Rats

James Franco
The Disaster Artist

Daniel Kaluuya
Get Out

Robert Pattinson
Good Time

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Holly Hunter
The Big Sick

Allison Janney
I, Tonya

Laurie Metcalf
Lady Bird

Lois Smith
Marjorie Prime

Taliah Lennice Webster
Good Time

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Nnamdi Asomugha
Crown Heights

Armie Hammer
Call Me by Your Name

Barry Keoghan
The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Sam Rockwell
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Benny Safdie
Good Time

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast

Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

The Departure
Director/Producer: Lana Wilson

Faces Places
Directors: Agnés Varda, JR
Producer: Rosalie Varda

Last Men in Aleppo
Director: Feras Fayyad
Producers: Kareem Abeed, Søeren Steen Jespersen, Stefan Kloos

Motherland
Director/Producer: Ramona S. Diaz
Producer: Rey Cuerdo

Quest
Director: Jonathan Olshefski
Producer: Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

BPM (Beats Per Minute)
France
Director: Robin Campillo

A Fantastic Woman
Chile
Director: Sebastián Lelio

I Am Not a Witch
Zambia
Director: Rungano Nyoni

Lady Macbeth
U.K.
Director: William Oldroyd

Loveless
Russia
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

BONNIE AWARD – Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo joined American Airlines in 1973 at age 24, becoming the first female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline. In her honor, the inaugural Bonnie Award will recognize a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant, sponsored by American Airlines.

So Yong Kim
Lynn Shelton
Chloé Zhao

JEEP TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 23rd annual Truer Than Fiction Award, funded by the Jeep brand, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by the Jeep brand.

Shevaun Mizrahi
Director of Distant Constellation

Jonathan Olshefski
Director of Quest

Jeff Unay
Director of The Cage Fighter

KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 24th annual Someone to Watch Award, funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Amman Abbasi
Director of Dayveon

Justin Chon
Director of Gook

Kevin Phillips
Director of Super Dark Times

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 21st annual Producers Award, funded by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim
Ben LeClair
Summer Shelton

Stay tuned to see who and what emerges victorious in a few months when the Film Independent Spirit Award winners for 2017 are revealed on March 3rd!