Though the New York indie world has still not yet recovered from the exertions of the Gotham Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards nominations are upon us. Unsurprisingly, Beasts, Bernie, Moonrise Kingdom and The Loneliest Planet feature heavily (as they did at the Gothams), while Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On here also bags a number of nods in top-level categories. Rama Burshtein’s Fill the Void, Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, David Ayer’s End of Watch, Adam Leon’s Gimme the Loot, Zal Batmanglij’s Sound of My Voice, Ben Lewin’s The Sessions, Peter Nicks’ The Waiting Room and Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere also get multiple nominations. Sean Baker’s Starlet is nominated for Starlet and is the winner of the Robert Altman Award for an ensemble.

On a personal note, it’s great to see nods for Filmmaker contributing editor Alicia Van Couvering, and Jonathan Lisecki, whose Gayby is playing at reRun at the moment.

 

BEST FEATURE:
Beasts of the Southern Wild
PRODUCERS: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey & Josh Penn
Bernie
PRODUCERS: Liz Glotzer, Richard Linklater, David McFadzean, Dete Meserve, Judd Payne, Celine Rattray, Martin Shafer, Ginger Sledge, Matt Williams
Keep the Lights On
PRODUCERS: Marie Therese Guirgis, Lucas Joaquin, Ira Sachs
Moonrise Kingdom
PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales, Scott Rudin
Silver Linings Playbook
PRODUCERS: Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev
The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell
Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs
Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin
Beasts of the Southern Wild

BEST SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan
Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh
Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell
Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias
Keep the Lights On

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Fill the Void
DIRECTOR:  Rama Burshtein
PRODUCER:  Assaf Amir
Gimme the Loot
DIRECTOR:  Adam Leon
PRODUCERS:  Dominic Buchanan, Natalie Difford, Jamund Washington
Safety Not Guaranteed
DIRECTOR:  Colin Trevorrow
PRODUCERS:  Derek Connolly, Stephanie Langhoff, Peter Saraf, Colin Trevorrow, Marc Turtletaub
Sound of My Voice
DIRECTOR:  Zal Batmanglij
PRODUCERS:  Brit Marling, Hans Ritter, Shelley Surpin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
DIRECTOR:  Stephen Chbosky
PRODUCERS:  Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Russell Smith

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Rama Burshtein
Fill the Void
Derek Connolly
Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford
Robot & Frank
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack
Celeste and Jesse Forever
Jonathan Lisecki
Gayby

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.
Breakfast with Curtis
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Laura Colella
Middle of Nowhere
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Ava DuVernay
PRODUCERS:  Howard Barish, Paul Garnes
Mosquita y Mari
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Aurora Guerrero
PRODUCER:  Chad Burris
Starlet
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Sean Baker
PRODUCERS:  Blake Ashman-Kipervaser, Kevin Chinoy, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Francesca Silvestri
The Color Wheel
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER:  Alex Ross Perry
WRITER:  Carlen Altman

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Linda Cardellini
Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi
Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence
Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhané Wallis
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Smashed

BEST MALE LEAD
Jack Black
Bernie
Bradley Cooper
Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes
The Sessions
Thure Lindhardt
Keep the Lights On
Matthew McConaughey
Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce
Four

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Rosemarie DeWitt
Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd
Compliance
Helen Hunt
The Sessions
Brit Marling
Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint
Middle of Nowhere

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Matthew McConaughey
Magic Mike
David Oyelowo
Middle of Nowhere
Michael Péna
End of Watch
Sam Rockwell
Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis
Moonrise Kingdom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Yoni Brook
Valley of Saints
Lol Crawley
Here
Ben Richardson
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov
End of Watch
Robert Yeoman
Moonrise Kingdom

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
How to Survive a Plague
DIRECTOR:  David France
PRODUCERS:  David France, Howard Gertler
Marina Abramovi?: The Artist is Present
DIRECTOR:  Matthew Akers
PRODUCERS:  Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre
The Central Park Five
DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS:  Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
The Invisible War
DIRECTOR:  Kirby Dick
PRODUCERS: Tanner King Barklow, Amy Ziering
The Waiting Room
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER:  Peter Nicks
PRODUCERS:  Linda Davis, William B. Hirsch

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Amour
(France)
DIRECTOR:  Michael Haneke
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia
(Turkey)
DIRECTOR:  Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust And Bone
(France/Belgium)
DIRECTOR:  Jacques Audiard
Sister
(Switzerland)
DIRECTOR:  Ursula Meier
War Witch
(Democratic Republic of Congo/Canada)
DIRECTOR:  Kim Nguyen

16th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 16th annual Piaget Producers Award 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.
Nobody Walks
PRODUCER: Alicia Van Couvering
Prince Avalanche
PRODUCER: Derrick Tseng
Stones in the Sun
PRODUCER: Mynette Louie

19th ANNUAL SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 19th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.  The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Pincus
DIRECTOR: David Fenster
Gimme the Loot
DIRECTOR: Adam Leon
Electrick Children
DIRECTOR: Rebecca Thomas

STELLA ARTOIS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 18th annual Truer Than Fiction Award 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.
Leviathan
DIRECTOR: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
The Waiting Room
DIRECTOR: Peter Nicks
Only the Young
DIRECTOR: Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mims

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Starlet
Director: Sean Baker
Casting Director: Julia Kim
Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ransone