34th Independent Spirit Awards

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The 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2018, were presented by Film Independent on February 23, 2019.^[1]^[2]^[3] The nominations were announced on November 16, 2018 by actresses Molly Shannon and Gemma Chan.^[4]^[5]^[6] The ceremony was televised in the United States by IFC, taking place inside its usual tent setting on a beach in Santa Monica, California. It was hosted by Aubrey Plaza.^[7]

34th Independent Spirit Awards
Awarded for	Best in independent film
Date	February 23, 2019
Site	Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Hosted by	Aubrey Plaza
Highlights
Best Feature	If Beale Street Could Talk
Most awards	If Beale Street Could Talk (3)
Most nominations	Eighth Grade, First Reformed, We the Animals and You Were Never Really Here (4)
Television coverage
Channel	IFC
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Winners and nominees

Best Feature	Best Director
If Beale Street Could Talk Eighth Grade First Reformed Leave No Trace You Were Never Really Here	Barry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk Debra Granik – Leave No Trace Tamara Jenkins – Private Life Lynne Ramsay – You Were Never Really Here Paul Schrader – First Reformed
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
*Ethan Hawke – First Reformed* as Pastor Ernst Toller** John Cho – Searching as David Kim Daveed Diggs – Blindspotting as Collin Hoskins Christian Malheiros – Sócrates as Sócrates Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here as Joe	*Glenn Close – The Wife* as Joan Castleman** Toni Collette – Hereditary as Annie Graham Elsie Fisher – Eighth Grade as Kayla Day Regina Hall – Support the Girls as Lisa Conroy Helena Howard – Madeline's Madeline as Madeline Carey Mulligan – Wildlife as Jeanette Brinson
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
*Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?* as Jack Hock** Raúl Castillo – We the Animals as Paps Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman as Detective Philip "Flip" Zimmerman Josh Hamilton – Eighth Grade as Mark Day John David Washington – Monsters and Men as Dennis Williams	*Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk* as Sharon Rivers** Kayli Carter – Private Life as Sadie Barrett Tyne Daly – A Bread Factory as Dorothea Thomasin McKenzie – Leave No Trace as Tom J. Smith-Cameron – Nancy as Ellen Lynch
Best Screenplay	Best First Screenplay
Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty – Can You Ever Forgive Me? Richard Glatzer, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, and Wash Westmoreland – Colette Tamara Jenkins – Private Life Boots Riley – Sorry to Bother You Paul Schrader – First Reformed	Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade Christina Choe – Nancy Cory Finley – Thoroughbreds Jennifer Fox – The Tale Laurie Shephard and Quinn Shephard – Blame
Best First Feature	Best Documentary Feature
Boots Riley – Sorry to Bother You Ari Aster – Hereditary Paul Dano – Wildlife Jennifer Fox – The Tale Jeremiah Zagar – We the Animals	Won't You Be My Neighbor? Hale County This Morning, This Evening Minding the Gap Of Fathers and Sons On Her Shoulders Shirkers
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – Suspiria Ashley Connor – Madeline's Madeline Diego García – Wildlife Benjamin Loeb – Mandy Zak Mulligan – We the Animals	Joe Bini – You Were Never Really Here Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates, and Jeremiah Zagar – We the Animals Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill, and Julian Hart – American Animals Anne Fabini, Alex Hall, and Gary Levy – The Tale Nick Houy – Mid90s
Best International Film
Roma ( Mexico) Burning ( South Korea) The Favourite ( United Kingdom) Happy as Lazzaro ( Italy) Shoplifters ( Japan)

Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
4	Eighth Grade
	First Reformed
	We the Animals
	You Were Never Really Here
3	If Beale Street Could Talk
	Leave No Trace
	Private Life
	Sócrates
	The Tale
	Wildlife
2	A Bread Factory
	Can You Ever Forgive Me?
	Hale County This Morning, This Evening
	Hereditary
	Madeline's Madeline
	Minding the Gap
	Nancy
	On Her Shoulders
	Sorry to Bother You
	Suspiria

Films that won multiple awards
Awards	Film
3	If Beale Street Could Talk
2	Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award

En el séptimo día

A Bread Factory
Never Goin' Back
Sócrates
Thunder Road

Robert Altman Award (Best Ensemble)

(The award is given to its film director, casting director, and ensemble cast)

Suspiria

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.

Alex Moratto – Sócrates
- Ioana Uricaru – Lemonade
- Jeremiah Zagar – We the Animals

The BONNIE Award

Recognizes mid-career women directors with a body of work that demonstrates uniqueness of vision and a groundbreaking approach to film making. The award includes a $50,000 unrestricted grant funded by American Airlines.

Debra Granik
- Tamara Jenkins
- Karyn Kusama

Piaget Producers Award

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.

Shrihari Sathe
- Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
- Gabrielle Nadig

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.

Bing Liu – Minding the Gap
- Alexandria Bombach – On Her Shoulders
- RaMell Ross – Hale County This Morning, This Evening

References

External links

Film Independent Spirit Awards official website

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