Breaking News! Moonlight Eclipses Competition for 2017 Spirit Award Noms

For three years in a row, the Film Independent Spirit Award best film has gone on to win the Oscar for best picture. Is 2016’s Best Picture among the nominees this year?

A24 is on a hot streak leading the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Nominations with as many as 18 noms split between American Honey, Moonlight, 20th Century Women, Swiss Army Men and The Witch. Among those films leading with noms, Moonlight counts six (including a Robert Altman award), American Honey also six, Amazon’s Manchester By The Sea boasts five with Fox Searchlight’s Jackie counting four.

“Moonlight,”  despite co-leading the field of nominees — failed to pick up a single performance nomination. That’s alright though.  I am confident that both Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris will be considered strong Oscar contenders. Not to mention director Barry Jenkins, casting director Yesi Ramirez and the entire cast have already been tapped to receive the annual Robert Altman Award.

Full list of nominees below. The 32nd annual Spirit Awards will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25.

Best Feature
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”

Best Director
Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”)
Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”)
Pablo Larrain (“Jackie”)
Jeff Nichols (“Loving”)
Kelly Reichardt (“Certain Women”)

Best First Feature
“The Childhood of a Leader”
“The Fits”
“Other People”
“Swiss Army Man”
“The Witch”

Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”)
David Harewood (“Free in Deed”)
Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”)
Jesse Plemons (“Other People”)
Tim Roth (“Chronic”)

Best Female Lead
Annette Bening (“20th Century Women”)
Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”)
Sasha Lane (“American Honey”)
Ruth Negga (“Loving”)
Natalie Portman (“Jackie”)

Best Supporting Male
Ralph Fiennes (“A Bigger Splash”)
Ben Foster (“Hell or High Water”)
Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”)
Shia LaBeouf (“American Honey”)
Craig Robinson (“Morris from America”)

Best Supporting Female
Edwina Findley (“Free in Deed”)
Paulina Garcia (“Little Men”)
Lily Gladstone (“Certain Women”)
Riley Keough (“American Honey”)
Molly Shannon (“Other People”)

Best Screenplay
“Hell or High Water”
“Little Men”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“20th Century Women”

Best First Screenplay
“Barry”
“Christine”
“Jean of the Joneses”
“Other People”
“The Witch”

Best International Film
“Aquarius”
“Chevalier”
“My Golden Days”
“Toni Erdmann”
“Under the Shadow”

Best Documentary Feature
“13th”
“Cameraperson”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“O.J.: Made in America”
“Sonita”
“Under the Sun”

Best Cinematography
“American Honey”
“Childhood”
“Free in Deed”
“Eyes of My Mother”
“Moonlight”

Best Editing
“Hell or High Water”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Swiss Army Man”

John Cassavetes Award
“Free in Deed”
“Hunter Gatherer”
“Lovesong”
“Nakom”
“Spa Night”

Robert Altman Award
“Moonlight”

Piaget Producers Award
Lisa Kjerulff
Jordana Mollick
Melody C. Roscher
Craig Shilowich

Truer Than Fiction Award
Kristi Jacobson (“Solitary”)
Sara Jordeno (“Kiki”)
Nanfu Wang (“Holligan Sparrow”)

Someone to Watch Award
Andrew Ahn (“Spa Night”)
Claire Carre (“Embers”)
Anna Rose Holmer (“The Fits”)
Ingrid Jungermann (“Women Who Kill”)