'Eighth Grade,' 'Beale Street' land Indie Spirit nominations

[November 17, 2018]    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Coming-of-age movie "Eighth Grade" and family drama "If Beale Street Could Talk" scored best feature nominations on Friday for the Independent Spirit Awards, the annual honors given to Hollywood's lower-budget movies.

"We the Animals," a film about three biracial brothers, led all movies with five nods, including one for best first feature from director Jeremiah Zagar.

"Eighth Grade" was in the running for the top prize alongside "First Reformed," "Beale Street," "Leave No Trace" and "You Were Never Really Here."

The best female lead category included nominations for Glenn Close for "The Wife" and Toni Collette for "Hereditary." Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for best male lead for his performance in "You Were Never Really Here" and was up against "First Reformed" star Ethan Hawke, among others.

The Spirit Awards, to be held on Feb. 23, and hosted by the Film Independent organization, celebrate artistic films made for under $20 million at an informal lunch on the Santa Monica, California beach the day before Hollywood's glitzy Academy Awards ceremony.

In four of the past five years, the best feature winner at the Independent Spirit Awards has gone on to win best picture at the Oscars. Those winners were "Moonlight," "Spotlight," "Birdman" and "12 Years a Slave."

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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