“Tangerine” The Trans Film Shot On An iPhone Snags 4 Spirit Award Nominations

November 24, 2015• byMichael Strangeways

The indie film starring trans actors, TANGERINE earns 4 Spirit Award nominations.

It was the darling of the film festival circuit this year and an indie hit…TANGERINE, that fascinating film about two trans women getting revenge on one of the women’s cheating boyfriend/pimp. The plot:

On Christmas Eve, trans woman sex worker Sin-Dee Rella, who has just finished a twenty-eight day prison sentence, meets her best friend Alexandra, also a trans sex worker, at Donut Time in Hollywood. Alexandra informs Sin-Dee that Sin-Dee’s boyfriend and pimp Chester has been cheating on her with a white cisgender woman, Dinah. Outraged, Sin-Dee storms out of Donut Time to search the neighborhood for Chester and Dinah, the “fish” he has been sleeping with.

Tangerine was also unusual as it was shot on three iPhone 5 smart phones. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, earned rave reviews, then went on to successful film festival screenings and an art house release this summer.

Now the film has earned 4 Spirit Award nominations including Best Film. The Spirit Awards are the indie film world’s equivalent of the Oscar, a highly valued recognition of quality films. Tangerine also earned nominations for director Sean Baker and acting noms for Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Best Actress and Mya Taylor in the Supporting Actress category. Rodriguez and Taylor are the first trans actors to be nominated for a Spirit Award.

Out gay director Todd Hayne’s CAROL, the lesbian themed romance starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara picked up six nominations including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actress nods for both Blanchett and Mara, as well as nominations for the script and the cinematography. The highly acclaimed film, based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, will be released in Seattle in December.

For a full list of this year’s Spirit noms, go here.

The 31st Independent Spirit Awards will be broadcast exclusively on IFC on February 27, 2016, LIVE at 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET.

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.