Last year, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Tár, and Women Talking dominated the indie-centric awards circuit all season long—a trend best snapshotted when all three were nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for best feature before going on to equivalent best-picture nominations at the Oscars. This year, a similar grouping is starting to take shape, with the Spirit Awards announcing their 2023 nominees on Tuesday. 

Following their strong showings at the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, May December and Past Lives dominated once again, the only titles to receive multiple acting nominations while also competing in best picture, director, and screenplay—major shows of support in a year with several major bigger-budget contenders.

The best-feature category included other Oscar hopefuls as well, including Amazon MGM’s American Fiction and Searchlight’s All of Us Strangers, both of which earned rave reviews out of the fall festivals. (Both films’ lead actors, Jeffrey Wright and Andrew Scott, were recognized in lead performance; Fiction’s screenplay and two of its supporting cast members were also nominated, as was Strangers’ Andrew Haigh for best director.) The category was rounded out by an indie awards darling in Passages (coming off Franz Rogowski’s upset NYFCC win for best actor) and a left field choice—as this group blessedly tends to include—in We Grown Now, which Sony Pictures Classics has yet to release in theaters.

A guide to Hollywood’s biggest races

In terms of other eligible high-profile titles, Focus’s The Holdovers missed out on the top category—perhaps it hewed a bit conventional for the group’s tastes; the awards snubbed eventual Oscar champ CODA in best feature a few years back—but popped up in key races including screenplay (David Hemingson) and supporting performance (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). (Focus’s other big player, A Thousand and One, scored a lead-performance nom for Teyana Taylor.) But with a good chunk of the awards-season players out of the way here—from Neon’s Origin and Ferrari to A24’s The Iron Claw to Searchlight’s Poor Things to blockbuster fare from Warner Bros. (Barbie, The Color Purple), Universal (Oppenheimer), and the streamers (Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Napoleon), none of which could compete—underdogs got a chance to shine. Room was made for the tender family drama Monica and its breakout lead, Trace Lysette; the likes of BlackBerry’s Glenn Howerton and Eileen’s Anne Hathaway found love in the supporting field as they jockey for space in competitive Oscar categories.

And the Spirits are often where surprise Oscar nominees first pop up. Think Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter two years ago, or Brian Tyree Henry for Causeway just last year. It’s as crowded as it gets this season, so every boost helps. The casts and crews behind May December and Past Lives have perhaps the most to celebrate right now, but for many studios, there are glimmers of hope and pleasant signs of support in these nominations.

Check out the full list below.

BEST FEATURE 

All of Us Strangers

American Fiction

May December

Passages

Past Lives

We Grown Now

BEST FIRST FEATURE

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Earth Mama

A Thousand and One

Upon Entry

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD 

The Artifice Girl

Cadejo Blanco

Fremont

Rotting in the Sun

The Unknown Country

BEST DIRECTOR

Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers

Todd Haynes, May December

William Oldroyd, Eileen

Celine Song, Past Lives

Ira Sachs, Passages

BEST SCREENPLAY

American Fiction

Birth/Rebirth

Bottoms

Past Lives

The Holdovers

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

May December

The Starling Girl

Theater Camp

Upon Entry

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

The Holdovers

Monica

We Grown Now

BEST EDITING

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Rotting in the Sun

Theater Camp

Upon Entry

We Grown Now

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Jessica Chastain, Memory

Greta Lee, Past Lives

Trace Lysette, Monica

Natalie Portman, May December

Judy Reyes, Birth/Rebirth

Franz Rogowski, Passages

Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers

Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One

Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Teo Yoo, Past Lives

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Erika Alexander, American Fiction

Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction

Noah Galvin, Theater Camp

Anne Hathaway, Eileen

Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry

Marin Ireland, Eileen

Charles Melton, May December

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Catalina Saavedra, Rotting in the Sun

Ben Whishaw, Passages

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Marshawn Lynch, Bottoms

Atibon Nazaire, Mountains

Tia Nomore, Earth Mama

Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

Anaita Wali Zada, Fremont

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD 

Showing Up

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

Bye Bye Tiberias

Four Daughters

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Kokomo City

The Mother of All Lies

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM 

Anatomy of a Fall

Godland

Mami Wata

Tótem

The Zone of Interest

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES 

Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court

Dear Mama

Murder in Big Horn

Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence

Wrestlers

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES 

 Beef

Dreaming Whilst Black

I’m a Virgo

Jury Duty

Slip

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Emma Corrin, A Murder at the End of the World

Dominique Fishback, Swarm

Betty Gilpin, Mrs. Davis

Jharrel Jerome, I’m a Virgo

Zoe Lister-Jones, Slip

Bel Powley, A Small Light

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

Ramón Rodriguez, Will Trent

Ali Wong, Beef

Steven Yeun, Beef

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Murray Bartlett, The Last of Us

Billie Eilish, Swarm

Jack Farthing, Rain Dogs

Nick Offerman, The Last of Us

Adina Porter, The Changeling

Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry

Benny Safdie, The Curse

Luke Tennie, Shrinking

Olivia Washington, I’m a Virgo

Jessica Williams, Shrinking

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Jury Duty