With many annual awards ceremonies, even those that brand themselves celebrators of indie filmmaking, seemingly highlighting films that don’t necessarily need the boost, it’s refreshing when one truly highlights the indie spirit. Enter The Indie Awards, “an annual event dedicated to celebrating the spirit of truly independent filmmaking,” backed by Slamdance. Ahead of a ceremony taking place on December 9, 2024, at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles, they’ve now unveiled their nominees.
Among a few picking up multiple nominations are Ryan Martin Brown’s Free Time and Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, two stellar films we recently named among the best of 2024. Also nominated in the Best Narrative Feature section is Chloé Leriche’s Atikamekw Suns.
Co-founded by Ben Umstead, Paul Rachman, and Peter Baxter, the pool of films being considered could not have their premieres at some of the bigger “indie” festivals (Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, etc.) but rather must have premiered at one of these: Creativity Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Hot Docs, Indie Memphis, ImagineNATIVE, MountainFilm Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Provincetown International Film Festival, ReelAbilities: New York, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, and Urbanworld Film Festival.
“Independent U.S. and Indigenous filmmakers feel abandoned and neglected,” said co-founder Paul Rachman. “The current landscape for recognizing fresh voices in cinema is bleak. This inaugural year of The Indies, coinciding with the Slamdance Film Festival’s move to Los Angeles, can help spark the recognition and support these films and filmmakers deserve from Hollywood and the Motion Picture industry at large.”
Ben Umstead added: “To rectify this sense of abandonment, we went straight to the filmmakers. The fact that we weren’t asking them to submit and pay a fee gave them this instant sense of being supported. Knowing the anxiety filmmakers experience from closed-door tactics, being transparent about our development and nomination process was also paramount. We wanted every eligible filmmaker to know that even if they didn’t get a nomination they had our gratitude and solidarity in helping create an antidote to the status quo.”
See the nominees below.
NARRATIVE FEATURES (Jury Awards)
- Best Narrative Feature Nominees (Director and Producer)
- Atikamekw Suns (Chloé Leriche, Director and Producer)
- Free Time (Director Ryan Martin Brown, Director and Producers Mackenzie Jamieson, Justin Zuckerman, Paula González-Nasser, Nolan Kelly)
- The People’s Joker (Director Vera Drew and Producer Joey Lyons)
- Outstanding Storytelling Craft Nominees (Screenwriter and Editor)
- Chloé Leriche (Writer, Editor) and Natalie Lamoureux (Editor) / Atikamekw Suns
- Ryan Martin Brown (Writer, Editor) and Byron Leon (Editor) / Free Time
- Vera Drew (Writer, Editor) and Bri LeRose (Writer) / The People’s Joker
- Outstanding Technical Achievement Nominees (Winner could be Production Design, Score, Sound Design, Special/Visual Effects, Cinematography)
- Glauco Bermudez (Director of Photography) / Atikamekw Suns
- Cooper Vacheron (Visual Effects Artist) / Free Time
- Courtney McIntosh (Production Designer) / The People’s Joker
- Outstanding Ensemble and Casting (Award goes to entire cast and casting director)
- Mirotansa Chilton, Jacques Newashish, Wikwasa Newashish, Carl-David Ottawa (Cast) and Chloé Leriche (Casting Director) / Atikamekw Suns
- Colin Burgess, Rajat Suresh, Holmes, Jessie Pinnick, James Webb, Eric Yates, Alex Bliss, Michael Patrick Nicholson, Rebecca Rose Bulnes, and Steve Young (Cast) / Free Time
- Keris Hope Hill, Melanie Bray, Constant Bernard, Alex Trahan, Josee Young (Cast) and Melanie Bray, John Buchan and Jason Knight (Casting) / Rosie
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES (Jury Awards)
- Best Documentary Feature (Director and Producer)
- All We Carry (Director Cady Voge, and Producers Laura Pilloni, Laura Tatham, Rachel Clara Reed)
- Israelism (Directors Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsan, and Producers Daniel J. Chalfin, Nadia Saah, Erin Axelman)
- Sweetheart Deal (Directors Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller, and Producers Peggy Case, Elisa Levine, Alan Pruzan)
- Outstanding Storytelling Craft (Editor, Director and Writer if credited)
- Cady Voge (Director and Writer) and Rachel Clara Reed (Editor and Writer) / All We Carry
- Kristina Motwani (Editor), Kevin Duncan (Director), Todd Sills (Co-Director), and Yar Tin Tham (Co-Director) / Home Is A Hotel
- Karen Sim (Writer), Elisa Levine (Director), Gabriel Miller (Director), and Brittany Kaplan (Editor) / Sweetheart Deal
- Outstanding Use of Archival Footage (Archivists, Archival Producers and/or Editor)
- James Cude (Editor) / The Little Pageant That Could
- Sara Newens (Editor) and Rebecca Kent (Archival Producer) / Racist Trees
- David Baker (Editor) and National Geographic Society Archivists Lela Sewell-Williams, Sara Mancho, Renee Braden, Karen Cerka, Kelly Miner / The Wonder And The Worry
- Outstanding Cinematography (DP, Camera Operator(s), AC)
- Luke Connor (Cinematography), Ben Giesbrecht (Cinematography), Joshua Manyhands (Assistant Camera), Calvin Stimson (Assistant Camera), and Anthony Stengal (Additional Cinematography) / Aitamaako’tamisskap Natosi: Before The Sun
- Jonathan Lacocque (Director of Photography) / O Pioneer
- George Hupka (Director of Photography), Andrew Manske (Wildlife Cinematography) and Johnny Blerot (Additional Wildlife Cinematography) / Singing Back The Buffalo
SPECIAL HONORARY AWARDS
- The Native Viewpoint Award – Outstanding Indigenous Community Story Collaboration
- Atikamekw Suns (Chloé Leriche, Director and Producer)
- The Native Viewpoint Award – Indigenous Film Critic’s Best Overall Selection
- WaaPaKe (Jules Koostachin, Director)
- Narrative Features Committee Renegade Award
- Vera Drew (Writer, Director, and Editor) / The People’s Joker – For bringing her audacious vision of The People’s Joker to life
- Narrative Features Committee Authenticity Award
- Kelli McNeil (Screenwriter and Producer) / Daruma – honoring excellence in authentic representation of disability on screen
- Kelli McNeil (Screenwriter and Producer) / Daruma – honoring excellence in authentic representation of disability on screen
- Documentary Features Committee Spotlight Award
- Emily Sheshkin (Director)and the Silva Family in honor of Jesslyn Silva / JessZilla
The esteemed individuals that make up the nomination committees and juries are as follows:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES NOMINATION COMMITTEE
- Matt Fagerholm (Former Editor, RogerEbert.com, Chicago Film Critics Association)
- Soham Gadre (The Film Stage, MUBI Notebook)
- Tina Kakadelis (News Editor, Film Obsessive, Editor-in-Chief, Beyond the Cinerama Dome)
- Steve Kopian (founder and chief film critic, unseen films)
- Shelagh Rowan-Legg (Contributing Editor, Screen Anarchy, Second Sight Films essayist)
- Vincent Schilling (founder and editor, Native Viewpoint)
- Peter Wong (Beyond Chron, San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle)
- Special Thanks for Assistance: Jack Hanley (Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast)
NARRATIVE FEATURES NOMINATION COMMITTEE
- Carlos Aguilar (Los Angeles Time, IndieWire, National Society of Film Critics)
- Olga Artemyeva (Screen Anarchy)
- Max Cea (Esquire, Nothing Bogus)
- Kat Hughes (Deputy Editor, The Hollywood News, Online Film Critics Society)
- Ankit Jhunjhunwala (Screen Anarchy, The Playlist)
- Natalia Keogan (Filmmaker Magazine, Paste Magazine)
- Simon Laperrière (Panorama-Cinéma, 24 images)
- Vincent Schilling (founder and editor, Native Viewpoint)
NARRATIVE FEATURES JURY
- Theodore Collators (Director – Palookaville, Queen of Lapa)
- Marie Jamora (Director – What Isn’t There, Queen Sugar)
- Frank Mosley (Actor and Director – Quantum Cowboys, The Event)
- Cheryl Nichols (Director – Cortez, Keep This Between Us)
- Shih-Ching Tsou (Director and Producer – Takeout, The Florida Project)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES JURY
- Angela H. Brown (Deputy Editor, Slug Magazine)
- Joslyn Jensen (Actor and Director – Driftwood, Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme)
- Scott Iwasaki (Arts and Scene Editor, Park Record)
- Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (Director and Actor – Memories of Love Returned, The Chi)
- Pete Ohs (Director and Editor – Erupcja, Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play)
The post The Indie Awards Launch With Nominees Including Free Time, The People’s Joker, and Atikamekw Suns first appeared on The Film Stage.
