Update: The Lost Daughter, a feature film written and directed by alumna Maggie Gyllenhaal '99 (CC), was the big winner at the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards. Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut took home awards in three major categories, winning Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. The film, which you can read more about below, had previously been nominated in four categories.
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The Lost Daughter, a feature film directed by alumna Maggie Gyllenhaal, scored four nominations at the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards. The adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name competes against four other films in the Best Feature category, the Best Director and Best Screenplay category for Gyllenhall as well as the Best Supporting Female category for actor Jessie Buckley. The winners will be selected by members of Film Independent and will be announced at the Spirit Award on IFC on March 6, 2022.
The nominations were announced by Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall, and Naomi Watts. The awards will return to being held in person in 2022 and set out to highlight movies that are produced and conceived outside of the Hollywood mainstream. In order to qualify, eligible films have to have budgets of less than $22.5 million.
The Lost Daughter is a psychological drama about a college professor who confronts memories of her early motherhood while on vacation in Italy. It has a star cast including Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Paul Mescal, and Jessie Buckley.
The film is Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut and recently received Golden Globe nominations in the Best Director, Motion Picture category and the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama category for Olivia Colman. It was also honored at this year’s Gotham Awards in New York City where it received three nominations. The Lost Daughter premiered at the Venice International Film Festival this year, where it won Best Screenplay.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is an American actress and filmmaker. Gyllenhaal has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, including Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed The Dark Knight. In 2009, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the Scott Cooper drama Crazy Heart. In 2014, she won a Golden Globe for her titular performance in the BBC political-thriller series The Honourable Woman.
