'Moonlight' & 'American Honey' Each Land Six Nominations for Independent Spirit Awards

Here is the full list of nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards.

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The nominations for the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards were announced on Tuesday afternoon, and Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and Andrea Arnold's American Honey scored big. The two films racked up a leading six nominations at the award ceremony. 

Moonlight, which tells the coming-of-age story of a young man in Miami during the War on Drugs, didn't score any nominations for acting, but did receive a number of honors for directing, casting, and screenplay writing. The film was also selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is given to the film's directors and ensemble cast. Moonlight originally premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in Sept. 2016, grossing $6 million. The movie's stars, including Luke Cage's Mahershala Ali, Trevante Rhodes, and Janelle Monae, all received rave reviews for their performances. 

American Honey tells the the coming-of-age story of a troubled teen growing up in the American Midwest. Shia LaBeouf and Magic Mike star Riley Keough first brought the film to life at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and it was later given a theatrical debut in the United States in Sept. 2016. LaBeouf and Keough earned nominations for best supporting roles in the film. 

Other notable nominations include Ava DuVernay's highly acclaimed and controversial film 13th, which was put in the running for Best Documentary alongside ESPN's popular 30 for 30 series entry O.J.: Made in America. Barry, the biographical film that chronicles President Obama's college experience at Columbia University was also nominated for an award for Best First Screenplay thanks to Adam Mansbach's handy work. Netflix recently released the official trailer for the film after announcing that the streaming service would be picking it up. 

The 32nd Independent Spirit Awards will air the ceremony live on IFC on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. ET. Here's the complete list of nominations. 

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

American Honey
Producers: Thomas Benski, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Lucas Ochoa, Pouya Shahbazian, Alice Weinberg

Chronic
Producers: Michel Franco, Gina Kwon, Gabriel Ripstein, Moisés Zonana

Jackie
Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin, Ari Handel, Juan de Dios Larraín, Mickey Liddell

Manchester by the Sea
Producers: Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward, Kevin J. Walsh

Moonlight
Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski

BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Awarded to the director and producer)

The Childhood of a Leader
Director: Brady Corbet
Producers: Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Chris Coen, Ron Curtis, Helena Danielsson, Mona Fastvold, István Major

The Fits
Director/Producer: Anna Rose Holmer
Producer: Lisa Kjerulff

Other People
Director: Chris Kelly
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Adam Scott, Naomi Scott

Swiss Army Man
Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Producers: Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon, Jonathan Wang

The Witch
Director: Robert Eggers
Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Rodrigo Teixeira

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Award given to the writer, director and producer)

Free In Deed
Writer/Director: Jake Mahaffy
Producers: Mike Bowes, Mike S. Ryan, Brent Stiefel

Hunter Gatherer
Writer/Director: Josh Locy
Producers: Michael Covino, April Lamb, Sara Murphy, Isaiah Smallman

Lovesong
Writer/Director: So Yong Kim
Writer/Producer: Bradley Rust Gray
Producers: David Hansen, Alex Lipschultz, Johnny Mac

Nakom
Writer/Director/Producer: TW Pittman
Director/Producer: Kelly Daniela Norris
Writer/Producer: Isaac Adakudugu
Producer: Giovanni Ximénez

Spa Night
Writer/Director: Andrew Ahn
Producers: David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Kelly Thomas

BEST DIRECTOR

Andrea Arnold, American Honey

Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Pablo Larraín, Jackie

Jeff Nichols, Loving

Kelly Reichardt, Certain Women

BEST SCREENPLAY

Moonlight, Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney

Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan

20th Century Women, Mike Mills

Little Men, Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias

Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

The Witch, Robert Eggers

Other People, Chris Kelly

Barry, Adam Mansbach

Jean of the Joneses, Stella Meghie

Christine, Craig Shilowich

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Free In Deed, Ava Berkofsky

The Childhood of a Leader, Lol Crawley

The Eyes of My Mother, Zach Kuperstein

Moonlight, James Laxton

American Honey, Robbie Ryan

BEST EDITING

Swiss Army Man, Matthew Hannam

Manchester by the Sea, Jennifer Lame

Moonlight, Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders

Hell or High Water, Jake Roberts

Jackie, Sebastián Sepúlveda

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Annette Bening, 20th Century Women

Isabelle Huppert, Elle

Sasha Lane, American Honey

Ruth Negga, Loving

Natalie Portman, Jackie

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 SUPPORTING FEMALE

Edwina Findley, Free In Deed

Paulina Garcia, Little Men

Lily Gladstone, Certain Women

Riley Keough, American Honey

Molly Shannon, Other People

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

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

Moonlight
Director: Barry Jenkins
Casting Director: Yesi Ramirez
Ensemble Cast: Mahershala Ali, Patrick Decile, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders

BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Awarded to the director and producer)

13th
Director/Producer: Ava DuVernay
Producers: Spencer Averick, Howard Barish
Director/Producer: Kirsten Johnson
Producer: Marilyn Ness

I Am Not Your Negro
Director/Producer: Raoul Peck
Producers: Rémi Grellety, Hérbert Peck

O.J.: Made in America
Director/Producer: Ezra Edelman
Producers: Nina Krstic, Tamara Rosenberg, Caroline Waterlow

Sonita
Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Producer: Gerd Haag

Under the Sun
Director: Vitaly Mansky
Producer: Natalya Manskaya

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
(Given to the director)

Aquarius (Brazil)
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

Chevalier (Greece)
Director: Athina Tsangari

My Golden Days (France)
Director: Arnaud Desplechin

Toni Erdmann (Germany and Romania)
Director: Maren Ade

Under the Shadow (Iran and U.K.)
Director: Babak Anvari

20th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
(Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.)

Lisa Kjerulff

Jordana Mollick

Melody C. Roscher & Craig Shilowich

23rd ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
(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.)

Andrew Ahn
Director of Spa Night

Claire Carré
Director of Embers

Anna Rose Holmer
Director of The Fits

Ingrid Jungermann
Director of Women Who Kill

22nd TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
(Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.)

Kristi Jacobson
Director of Solitary

Sara Jordenö
Director of Kiki

Nanfu Wang
Director of Hooligan Sparrow

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