Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Today the Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced. Below is a full list of the nominees, plus a little column with my 2 cents.

Best Feature
"(500) Days of Summer"
"Amreeka"
"Precious"
"Sin Nombre"
"The Last Station"

Best Director
Ethan and Joel Coen, "A Serious Man"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Cary Fukunaga, "Sin Nombre"
James Gray, "Two Lovers"
Michael Hoffman, "The Last Station"

Best First Feature
"A Single Man"
"Crazy Heart"
"Easier With Practice"
"The Messenger"
"Paranormal Activity"

Best Lead Female
Maria Bello, "Downloading Nancy"
Nisreen Faour, "Amreeka"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Gwyneth Paltrow, "Two Lovers"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"

Best Lead Male
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer"
Souleymane Sy Savane, "Goodbye Solo"
Adam Scott, "The Vicious Kind"

Best Supporting Female
Mo'Nique, "Precious"
Dina Korzun, "Cold Souls"
Samantha Morton, "The Messenger"
Natalie Press, "Fifty Dead Men Walking"
Mia Wasikowska, "That Evening Sun"

Best Supporting Male
Jemaine Clement, "Gentlemen Broncos"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christian McKay, "Me and Orson Welles"
Ray McKinnon, "That Evening Sun"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"

Best Screenplay
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, "The Messenger"
Michael Hoffman, "The Last Station"
Lee Toland Krieger, "The Vicious Kind"
Greg Mottola, "Adventureland"
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, "(500) Days of Summer"

Best First Screenplay
Sophie Barthes, "Cold Souls"
Scott Cooper, "Crazy Heart"
Cherien Dabis, "Amreeka"
Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious"
Tom Ford, "A Single Man"

Best Foreign Film
"A Prophet," directed by Jacques Audiard
"An Education," directed by Lone Scherfig
"Everlasting Moments," directed by Jan Troell
"Mother," directed by Bong Joon-ho
"The Maid," directed by Sebastián Silva

Best Documentary Feature
"Anvil! The Story of Anvil"
"Food, Inc"
"More Than A Game"
"October Country"
"Which Way Home"

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins , "A Serious Man"
Adriano Goldman, "Sin Nombre"
Anne Misawa, "Treeless Mountain"
Andrij Parekh, "Cold Souls"
Peter Zeitlinger, "The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"

John Cassavetes Award
"Big Fan"
"Humpday"
"The New Year Parade"
"Treeless Mountain"
"Zero Bridge"

Robert Altman Award
"A Serious Man"

Acura Someone to Watch Award
Kyle Patrick Alvarez, "Easier With Practice"
Tariq Tapa, "Zero Bridge"
Asiel Norton, "Redland"

Piaget Producers Award
Karin Chien, "Santa Mesa" and "The Exploding Girl"
Larry Fessenden, "I Sell the Dead" and "House of the Devil"
Dia Sokol, "Beeswax," "Nights and Weekends"

Truer than Fiction Award
Natalia Almada, "El General"
Bill and Turner Ross, "45365"
Jessica Oreck, "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo"

[Photos: "The Last Station," Sony Classics, 2009; "The Messenger," Oscilloscope, 2009; "Treeless Mountain," Oscilloscope, 2009; "Downloading Nancy," Strand Releasing, 2009]

Credit: http://www.ifc.com

Britt's 2 cents:

First off, I have to say how stoked I am for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's nomination for (500) Days of Summer! That has honestly been one of the best films I've seen all year (the best..actually) and he deserves it. He's a talented actor who was horribly overlooked for films such as 'Brick', 'Mysterious Skin', 'The Lookout' etc. I could go on and on, but I'm glad he's getting his due here. Hopefully the Globes and Oscar voters will take notes. Good to see 'Summer' up for best picture as well.

Another one I'm happy with is 'The Last Station'. I've been dying to see that ever since James McAvoy was announced in the cast, and this is good news. I haven't caught any reviews of it yet, but obviously it's got some people talking. 'Precious' is the front runner for the Oscars this year and it's nominations were pretty obvious. I haven't yet gotten to see that, but I've got high hopes, nonetheless. Who ever thought they'd hear 'Mo'Nique' and 'Oscar' in the same sentence?

Good to see Maria Bello up for 'Downloading Nancy', that movie sort of creeped me out a bit but it was definetly a controversial part to play. Good for her, she deserves it. Paranormal Activity deserves it's "first feature" nom as well.

Overall I'm satisfied with the noms, how about you?