Independent Spirit Awards Nominees
The Independent Spirit Award nominees were just announced.
Of note, Lance Hammer's Ballast was nominated for Best Feature, and Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy was nominated for Best First Feature.
Both Hammer and Jenkins are also Best Director nominees.
Steve McQueen's Hunger is a nominee in the Best Foreign Film category.
And Sean Baker's Prince Of Broadway is up for the John Cassavetes Award, for best feature made for under $500,000.
The Independent Spirit Awards ceremony is currently in its 23rd year, and the event will take place on February 21, 2009, in Santa Monica, CA.
The entire list of nominees follows below. One thing that irks me about it is the number of studio financed, produced, and/or distributed films on the list - after all, the event is called the Independent Spirit Awards.
I suppose "independent spirit" could have several interpretations. But, when I think about what the phrase means to me, films like The Wrestler, Synecdoche NY, Rachel Getting Married, Vicky Christina Barcelona, and Milk don't quite register, for obvious reasons. I'd much rather see truly independently films, minus "name" actors/actresses assuming roles, especially starring roles. And films like the 5 I just mentioned, don't meet one or both criteria.
BEST FEATURE
Ballast
Frozen River
Rachel Getting Married
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Afterschool
Medicine for Melancholy
Sangre De Mi Sangre
Sleep Dealer
Synecdoche, New York
BEST DIRECTOR
Ramin Bahrani - Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme - Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Tom McCarthy - The Visitor
BEST MALE LEAD
Javier Bardem - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Sean Penn - Milk
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Summer Bishil - Towelhead
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Tarra Riggs - Ballast
Michelle Williams - Wendy and Lucy
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
James Franco - Milk
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott - Frozen River
JimMyron Ross - Ballast
Haaz Sleiman - The Visitor
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez - The Take
Misty Upham - Frozen River
Debra Winger - Rachel Getting Married
BEST SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck - Sugar
Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman - Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla - Sangre De Mi Sangre
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maryse Alberti - The Wrestler
Lol Crawley - Ballast
James Laxton - Medicine for Melancholy
Harris Savides - Milk
Michael Simmonds - Chop Shop
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
Man on Wire
The Order of Myths
Up the Yangtze
BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Class (France)
Gomorra (Italy)
Hunger (U.K./Ireland)
Secret of the Grain (France)
Silent Light (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany)
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Prince of Broadway (Sean Baker, Darren Dean)
Take Out (Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou)
The Signal (David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh)
Turn the River (Chris Eigeman, Ami Armstrong)
In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge, Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy)
For more on the Independent Spirit Awards, and information on how to become a member, visit FilmIndependent.org. For those who really love discovering great independent film and previously unseen talent, it is a great organization to be a part of.
It's a pretty good list. Slumdog Millionaire should have been on there though.
Slumdog will likely get some Oscar consideration...