30th Independent Spirit Award Noms: Birdman Leads Boyhood, Selma & Nightcrawler by a Nose

Odd how a live announcement is beat by the complete rundown of all the awards from a major trade, but here are the complete nominations for the 3oth anniversary edition. Fox Searchlight’s 18 million bet proved to be a good one as Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) leads Boyhood, Nightcrawler and Selma by a busted up nose in the number of most nominations with six, while Linklater, Gilroy and DuVernay’s latest secured five noms a piece. Looking at the final five, we have a Best Feature category with a breakdown that resembles two parts Hollywood and three parts 4-5 million dollar indie range in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Selma being joined by Boyhood, Love is Strange, Whiplash. Here are the complete noms.

BEST FEATURE
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Ava DuVernay – Selma
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
David Zellner – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

BEST SCREENPLAY
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski – Big Eyes
J.C. Chandor – A Most Violent Year
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
Jim Jarmusch – Only Lovers Left Alive
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias – Love is Strange

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night – Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Dear White People – Director/Producer: Justin Simien
Nightcrawler – Director: Dan Gilroy
Obvious Child – Director: Gillian Robespierre
She’s Lost Control – Director/Producer: Anja Marquardt

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Desiree Akhavan – Appropriate Behavior
Sara Colangelo – Little Accidents
Justin Lader – The One I Love
Anja Marquardt – She’s Lost Control
Justin Simien – Dear White People

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Blue Ruin – Writer/Director: Jeremy Saulnier
It Felt Like Love – Writer/Director/Producer: Eliza Hittman
Land Ho! – Writers/Directors: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Man From Reno – Writer/Director: Dave Boyle
Test – Writer/Director/Producer: Chris Mason Johnson

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive

BEST MALE LEAD
André Benjamin – Jimi: All Is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
John Lithgow – Love is Strange
David Oyelowo – Selma

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Emma Stone – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Alfred Molina – Love is Strange
Edward Norton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji – The Immigrant
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Sean Porter – It Felt Like Love
Lyle Vincent – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Bradford Young – Selma

BEST EDITING
Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Tom Cross – Whiplash
John Gilroy – Nightcrawler
Ron Patane -A Most Violent Year
Adam Wingard – The Guest

BEST DOCUMENTARY
20,000 Days on Earth – Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
CITIZENFOUR – Director/Producer: Laura Poitras
Stray Dog – Director: Debra Granik
The Salt of the Earth – Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders
Virunga – Director/Producer: Orlando von Einsiedel

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Force Majeure – (Sweden) Director: Ruben Östlund
Ida (Poland) – Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan – (Russia) Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Mommy – (Canada) Director: Xavier Dolan
Norte, the End of History – (Philippines) Director: Lav Diaz
Under the Skin – (United Kingdom) Director: Jonathan Glazer

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis
Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD
Foxcatcher
Director/Producer: Bennett Miller
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik
Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Actors: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum

18th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson

21st ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night – Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
H. – Directors: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia
The Retrieval – Director: Chris Eska

20th ANNUAL LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Approaching the Elephant – Director: Amanda Rose Wilder
Evolution of a Criminal – Director: Darius Clark Monroe
The Kill Team – Director: Dan Krauss
The Last Season – Director: Sara Dosa