Slamdance Sets The Indies Awards Show with ‘The People’s Joker’ Leading 2024 Nominees

Slamdance is celebrating the best indie films from 2024 with an inaugural awards ceremony aptly titled The Indies.

The Slamdance Film Festival announced that its new annual ceremony will toast “the spirit of truly independent filmmaking” on December 9 at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles. Actor/comedians Nic Novicki (“Boardwalk Empire,” “The Sopranos,” “Ramy”) and Steve Way (“Ramy”) will host. 

An interesting caveat, though: For films to be eligible at the ceremony, features must not have held their world premieres at Sundance, SXSW, or Tribeca. However, nominees must have played at one or more domestic film festivals over the last calendar year leading into the ceremony.

The Indies also are staying domestic, with a focus on narrative and documentary features from filmmakers only in North America.

“Independent U.S. and Indigenous filmmakers feel neglected and abandoned,” said co-founder Paul Rachman in a press statement. “The current landscape for recognizing fresh voices in cinema has never been more bleak due to the ongoing toll of a studio, tech, subscription-controlled landscape. This inaugural year of The Indies, coinciding with the Slamdance Film Festival’s move to Los Angeles, can spark the recognition and support these films and filmmakers deserve from Hollywood and the Motion Picture industry at large.”

Slamdance was founded in 1995 to balance out the then newly mainstream Sundance Film Festival. Instead, Slamdance focused on even smaller-budget films with rising filmmakers. The 2025 Slamdance Film Festival will mark its 30th year with a move to Los Angeles and a slightly later run beginning February 20 through 26. Slamdance historically took place during Sundance in Park City, Utah.

Past filmmakers who screened at the festival include Christopher Nolan, Rian Johnson, the Russo Brothers, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sean Baker, and Bong Joon Ho.

Slamdance Indie Award nominees will be selected from a nomination committee, including film critics, filmmakers, and scholars.

The 2024 nominations are dominated by Vera Drew’s superhero parody “The People’s Joker,” which was first slated to screen at TIFF before being pulled from the festival in 2022.

Check out the full list of nominees below.

Best Narrative Feature 

“Atikamekw Suns” (Chloé Leriche, Director and Producer)

“Free Time” (Director Ryan Martin Brown, Director and Producers Mackenzie Jamieson, Justin Zuckerman, Paula González-Nasser, Nolan Kelly)

“The People’s Joker” (Director Vera Drew and Producer Joey Lyons)

Ryan Martin Brown (Writer, Editor) and Byron Leon (Editor), “Free Time”

Vera Drew (Writer, Editor) and Bri LeRose (Writer), “The People’s Joker”

Outstanding Technical Achievement Nominees 

Glauco Bermudez (DP), “Atikamekw Suns”

Cooper Vacheron (Visual Effects Artist), “Free Time”

Courtney McIntosh (Production Designer), “The People’s Joker”

Outstanding Ensemble and Casting

Mirotansa Chilton, Jacques Newashish, Wikwasa Newashish, Carl-David Ottawa (Cast) and Chloé Leriche (Casting Director), “Atikamekw Suns”

Colin Burgess, Rajat Suresh, Holmes, Jessie Pinnick, James Webb, Eric Yates, Alex Bliss, Michael Patrick Nicholson, Rebecca Rose Bulnes, and Steve Young (Cast), “Free Time”

Keris Hope Hill, Melanie Bray, Constant Bernard, Alex Trahan, Josee Young (Cast) and Melanie Bray, John Buchan and Jason Knight (Casting), “Rosie”

Best Documentary Feature

“All We Carry” (Director Cady Voge, and Producers Laura Pilloni, Laura Tatham, Rachel Clara Reed)

“Israelism” (Directors Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsan, and Producers Daniel J. Chalfin, Nadia Saah, Erin Axelman)

“Sweetheart Deal” (Directors Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller, and Producers Peggy Case, Elisa Levine, Alan Pruzan)

Outstanding Storytelling Craft 

Cady Voge (Director and Writer) and Rachel Clara Reed (Editor and Writer), “All We Carry”

Kristina Motwani (Editor), Kevin Duncan (Director), Todd Sills (Co-Director), and Yar Tin Tham (Co-Director), “Home Is A Hotel”

Karen Sim (Writer), Elisa Levine (Director), Gabriel Miller (Director), and Brittany Kaplan (Editor), “Sweetheart Deal”

Outstanding Use of Archival Footage

James Cude (Editor), “The Little Pageant That Could”

Sara Newens (Editor) and Rebecca Kent (Archival Producer), “Racist Trees”

David Baker (Editor) and National Geographic Society Archivists Lela Sewell-Williams, Sara Mancho, Renee Braden, Karen Cerka, Kelly Miner, “The Wonder And The Worry”

Outstanding Cinematography 

Luke Connor (Cinematography), Ben Giesbrecht (Cinematography), Joshua Manyhands (Assistant Camera), Calvin Stimson (Assistant Camera), and Anthony Stengal (Additional Cinematography) / “Aitamaako’Tamisskap Natosi: Before The Sun”

Jonathan Lacocque (Director of Photography) / “O Pioneer”

George Hupka (Director of Photography), Andrew Manske (Wildlife Cinematography) and Johnny Blerot (Additional Wildlife Cinematography), “Singing Back The Buffalo”

Special Honorary Awards

The Native Viewpoint Award – Outstanding Indigenous Community Story Collaboration 

“Atikamekw Suns”

The Native Viewpoint Award – Indigenous Film Critic’s Best Overall Selection 

“WaaPaKe” (Jules Koostachin, Director)

Narrative Features Committee Renegade Award

Vera Drew, “The People’s Joker”

Narrative Features Committee Authenticity Award 

Kelli McNeil (Screenwriter and Producer) / Daruma – honoring excellence in authentic representation of disability on screen

Documentary Features Committee Spotlight Award

Emily Sheshkin (Director) and the Silva Family in honor of Jesslyn Silva, “JessZilla”