Los Angeles (AFP)

Hollywood got a first glimpse of potential favorites in the film awards race on Tuesday with nominations for the Spirit Awards, an independent film festival where "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" came out on top.

The film, a tale of an unwanted teenage pregnancy in rural America, won seven nominations in total, edging out “Minari,” a portrait of a Korean-American family, and two heavyweights of the season. awards, "Nomadland" and "Le blues de Ma Rainey".

The Spirit Awards only take into consideration films with a budget of less than $ 22.5 million but are an indicator followed by the film industry because they often make it possible to identify independent films with their chances in the race for Oscars.

This is all the more true this year with a pandemic that has shaken the Hollywood calendar.

“Obviously 2020 has been hell, but one of the great things that has kept us going over the last few months has been the ability to watch all of these movies and series,” said festival president Josh Welsh.

"Never Rarely Sometimes Always" was presented a year ago at the Sundance Festival, and won second prize at the Berlin Festival last February, just before the pandemic.

In this feature-length film by Eliza Hittman, Sidney Flanigan plays a 17-year-old teenager who is forced to leave her native Pennsylvania and travel to New York to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

The actress is in contention for a Spirit Award, as is her partner Talia Ryder.

“Minari,” who follows a family of Korean descent as they move to rural Arkansas in the 1980s in search of a new life, hopes to repeat the feat of “Parasite” at the Oscars last year.

The film landed six nominations.

- Hats off to Chadwick Boseman -

Chadwick Boseman ("Black Panther"), who died last August of cancer, will be nominated posthumously for his performance in "The Blues of Ma Rainey", which takes place in the music world of 1920s Chicago. .

With five nominations, the Netflix production is on par with the astonishing “Nomadland,” which features a community of old nomadic idealists crisscrossing America in age-old vans.

The work, directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Frances McDormand, has won awards in Venice and Toronto and is an Oscar favorite.

These four films are in contention for the best film category.

However, over the past ten years, the Spirit Awards have recognized once in two films in this category that were also to win at the Oscars, including "Moonlight", "Spotlight" and "Birdman".

The coronavirus pandemic has also turned the film awards calendar upside down, many of which have postponed their edition.

The Golden Globes and the SAG Awards will unveil their selection next week while it will be until March to know the selection of the Oscars.

The Spirit Awards will be presented on April 22 in a virtual ceremony.

© 2021 AFP