Students and alumni of the undergraduate and graduate film programs at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts were honored with 18 Independent Spirit Award nominations, which were announced on Tuesday, November 24, 2015. The Independent Spirit Awards are given annually in recognition of excellence in independent filmmaking.

nyu-tisch-filmmakers-garner-15-independent-spirit-nominations
Chloe Zhao on the set of of Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which earned her Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best First Feature and the Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award.

Students and alumni of the undergraduate and graduate film programs at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts were honored with 18 Independent Spirit Award nominations, which were announced on Tuesday, November 24, 2015. The Independent Spirit Awards are given annually in recognition of excellence in independent film making.

Cary Fukunaga (Kanbar, Graduate Film) received three nominations for Beasts of No Nation, including Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. Charlie Kaufman '80 (BFA, Kanbar, Film & TV) also receive three nominations for Anomalisa, including Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay.  Sean Baker '98 (BFA, Kanbar, Film & TV) received two nominations, Best Feature and Best Director, for Tangerine, which he wrote together with fellow alumnus Chris Bergoch '94 (BFA, Kanbar, Film & TV) and which was shot entirely with an iPhone 5.

Four of the five nominees for Best First Feature were NYU Tisch filmmakers, including Josh Mond (Kanbar, Film & TV), director of James White; Joseph Wladyka, '13, (MFA, Kanbar, Graduate Film), director of Manos Sucias; thesis student Jonas Carpignano (Kanbar, Graduate Film) and director of Mediterranea; and Chloe Zhao (Kanbar, Graduate Film) and Mollye Asher, '13 (MFA, Kanbar, Graduate Film), director and producer, respectively, of Songs My Brothers Taught Me.

Carpignano’s Mediterranea was also nominated in the category of Best First Screenplay. Songs My Brothers Taught Me received an additional nomination for current student Joshua James Richards (Kanbar, Graduate Film) for Best Cinematography, a category that also included Reed Morano, '01 (BFA, Kanbar, Film & TV) for Meadowlands. Zhao and Felix Thompson, '05 (BFA, Kanbar, Film & TV), director of King Jack, were two of the three nominees for the Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award, which recognizes “a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition” and comes with a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Finally, Lazlo Nemes (Kanbar, Graduate Film) was nominated in the category of Best Foreign Film for Son of Saul.

The Independent Spirit Awards will be held on February 27, 2016, and will be broadcast on IFC.

About Tisch School of the Arts
For 50 years, the Tisch School of the Arts has drawn on the vast resources of New York City and New York University to create an extraordinary training ground for artists, scholars of the arts, and creative entrepreneurs. One of the world's leading centers of undergraduate and graduate study in the arts, the Tisch School of the Arts offers acting, dance, design, performance, film, animation, writing for musical theatre, stage, screen & television, preservation, recorded music, photography, interactive media, games, and public policy.
 

Press Contact

Shonna Keogan
Shonna Keogan
(212) 998-6796