By Lia Chang

AsAmNews Arts and Entertainment Reporter

The 31st Film Independent Spirit Award nominations have been announced and Jennifer Phang’s critically lauded sci-fi film Advantageous, winner of a Sundance Film Festival Jury Award for Collaborative Vision, has been been nominated for the John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $500,000.

The cast features Jacqueline Kim, Samantha Kim, Ken Jeong, James Urbaniak, Jennifer Ehle, Freya Adams, Jennifer Ikeda, Olivia Horton, Sameerah Luqmann-Harris, Rex Lee, Troi Zee, Theresa Navarro, Mercedes Griffeth, Jeanne Sakata and Matthew Kim.

Independent Spirit award nominated actress Jacqueline Kim co-wrote the script of Advantageous with Phang, and stars as Gwen, the company spokesperson for a radical technology allowing people to overcome their natural disadvantages and begin life anew in a dystopian society that favors appearances over experience. When Gwen finds herself out of a job due to the inevitable march of time and the future of her only child Jules (Samantha Kim) in crisis, Gwen ponders undergoing the procedure herself. Her compromised partnership with her former boss Fisher (James Urbaniak) threatens any means of her returning to work; while a past indiscretion with her sister’s husband (an almost unrecognizable, dramatic turn for comic actor Ken Jeong) foregrounds her estrangement from her own family. In this world, Advantageous riffs on the destructive contrast between soaring opulence vs. economic hardship, and the compromises that people like Gwen are willing to go through for that better situation.

Phang has developed a dual affinity for science fiction and wry commentary as her storytelling stock-in-trade. Her latest effort, Advantageous (an expansive revisit of her 2003 Festival Golden Reel Award-winning short subject) is the story of a career woman, played by veteran actress Jacqueline Kim, who goes to great lengths to insure a future for her only child. Originally commissioned in 2012 as part of the groundbreaking Independent Television Service series, Future States, Advantageous sparingly lays on the sci-fi while amping up the interpersonal tension and drama. The result is more French New Wave (Chris Marker’s classic La Jetee comes to mind) than anything else, and demonstrates Phang’s increasing mastery of the sci-fi storytelling form — even more impressively than in her well-lauded Half-Life (2008).

Advantageous is produced by Robert Chang, Theresa Navarro, Moon Molson, Ken Jeong and Jacqueline Kim. With cinematography by Richard Wong, editing by Sean Gillane and Gena Bleir, production design by Dara Wishingrad and Aiyana Trotter, VFX animation by Catherine Tate, Ricardo Marmolej and Jean Elston, original score composed by Timo Chen.

Film Independent Members (and members of IFP) vote to determine the winners of the annual Film Independent Spirit Awards. Become a Film Independent Member, by visiting filmindependent.org/membership. All Members must be paid and current as of December 4, 2015 to be eligible to vote. Click here to cast your vote.

The 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be broadcast exclusively on IFC on February 27, 2016, LIVE at 2:00 pm PT / 5:00 pm ET. Congrats to all of nominees.

Below is the full list of nominations.

Best Feature

Award given to the Producer; Executive Producers are not awarded.

Anomalisa

Beasts of No Nation

Carol

Spotlight

Tangerine

Best Director

Cary Joji Fukunaga, Beasts of No Nation

Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson, Anomalisa

David Robert Mitchell, It Follows

Sean Baker, Tangerine

Todd Haynes, Carol

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Screenplay

Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa

Donald Margulies, The End of the Tour

Phyllis Nagy, Carol

S. Craig Zahler, Bone Tomahawk

Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer, Spotlight

Best First Screenplay

Emma Donoghue, Room

Jesse Andrews, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

John Magary, Russell Harbaugh, Myna Joseph, The Mend

Jonas Carpignano, Mediterranea

Marielle Heller, The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Best First Feature

Award given to the director and producer.

James White

Manos Sucias

Mediterranea

Songs My Brothers Taught Me

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Best Female Lead

Bel Powley, The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Brie Larson, Room

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Tangerine

Rooney Mara, Carol

Best Male Lead

Abraham Attah, Beasts of No Nation

Ben Mendelsohn, Mississippi Grind

Christopher Abbott, James White

Jason Segal, The End of the Tour

Koudous Seihon, Mediterranea

Best Supporting Female

Cynthia Nixon, James White

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anomalisa

Marin Ireland, Glass Chin

Mya Taylor, Tangerine

Robin Bartlett, H.

Best Supporting Male

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Kevin Corrigan, Results

Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Paul Dano, Love & Mercy

Richard Jenkins, Bone Tomahawk

Best Documentary

(T)error

Best of Enemies

Heat of a Dog

Meru

The Look of Silence

The Russian Woodpecker

Best Cinematography

Cary Joji Fukunaga, Beasts of No Nation

Ed Lachman, Carol

Joshua James Richards, Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Michael Gioulakis, It Follows

Reed Morano, Meadowland

Best Editing

Julo C. Perez IV, It Follows

Kristan Sprague, Manos Sucias

Nathan Nugent, Room

Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie, Heaven Knows What

Tom McArdle, Spotlight

Best International Film

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

Embrace of the Serpent

Girlhood

Mustang

Son of Saul

John Cassavetes Award

Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director and producer; Executive Producers are not awarded.

Advantageous

Christmas, Again

Heaven Knows What

Krisha

Out of My Hand

Robert Altman Award

Spotlight

Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award

The 22nd annual Someone to Watch Award, sponsored by Kiehl’s Since 1851, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Chloe Zhao, Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Felix Thompson, King Jack

Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, God Bless the Child

Piaget Producers Award

The 19th annual Producers Award, sponsored by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Darren Dean

Mel Eslyn

Rebecca Green & Laura D. Smith

Truer Than Fiction

The 21st annual Truer Than Fiction Award, sponsored by LensCrafters is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by LensCrafters.

Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti, A Woman Like Me

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Incorruptible

Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi, Among the Believers

Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Examiner.com, Broadwayworld.com, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.