What is probably my favorite movie awards show of the season airs tonight at 11pm(est) on the IFC. The much more laid back version of the Oscars known as the Independent Spirit Awards (hosted by King Hussein of Jordan) should be a real hoot tonight for all involved (if Will Farrell is there for some reason, be prepared for some intense shenanigans).
We’ll be right there in the third row and updating the winners (below) as they are announced. Leave your commentary in the appropriate section below as we’ll be in there quite laboriously as well. There might be some fun *expletive deleted* happening on Twitter as the night goes on and more and more alcohol is imbibed.
This post will return to the top of the page at time of airing. For now, all of the nominees are below and you’ll see the winners show up in bold red as they are announced later tonight.
Best Feature
- (500) Days Of Summer
- Amreeka
- Precious
- Sin Nombre
- The Last Station
Best Director(s)
- 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 – Tom Ford, dir; Tom Ford, Andrew Miano, Robert Salerno, Chris Weitz, prds.
- Crazy Heart – Scott Cooper, dir; T Bone Burnett, Judy Cairo, Rob Carliner, Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall, prds.
- Easier With Practice – Kyle Patrick Alvarez, dir; Cookie Carosella, pdr.
- Paranormal Activity – Oren Peli, dir. Jason Blum, Oren Peli, prds.
- The Messenger – Oren Moverman, dir. Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zack Miller, prds.
Best Screenplay
- Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman – The Messenger
- Michael Hoffman – The Last Station
- Lee Toland Krieger – The Vicious Kind
- Greg Mottola – Adventureland
- Scott Neustadter, 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, David Scearce – A Single Man
Best Female Lead
- Maria Bello – Downloading Nancy
- Nisreen Faour – Amreeka
- Helen Mirren – The Last Station
- Gwyneth Paltrow – Two Lovers
- Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Best Male Lead
- Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
- Colin Firth – A Single Man
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 500 Days of Summer
- Souleymane Sy – Goodbye Solo
- Adam Scott – The Vicious Kind
Best Supporting Female
- Dina Korzun – Cold Souls
- Mo’Nique – Precious
- Samantha Morton – The Messenger
- Natalie Press – Fifty Dead Men Walking
- Mia Wasikowska – That Evening Sun
Best Supporting Male
- Jermaine Clement – Gentleman Broncos
- Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
- Christian McKay – Me And Orson Welles
- Raymond McKinnon – That Evening Sun
- Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Best Foreign Film
- A Prophet (France) – Jacques Audiard
- An Education (UK/France) – Lone Scherfig
- Everlasting Moments (Sweden) – Jan Troell
- Mother (South Korea) Bong Joon-ho
- The Maid (Chile) – Sebastian Silva
Best Documentary
- Anvil! The Story Of Anvil – Sacha Gervasi
- Food, Inc – Robert Kenner
- More Than A Game – Kristopher Bellman
- October Country – Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri
- Which Way Home – Rebecca Cammisa
Best Cinematography
- Roger Deakins – A Serious Man
- Adriano Goldman – Sin Nombre
- Anne Misawa – Treeless Mountain
- Andrij Parekh – Cold Souls
- Peter Zeitlinger – Bad Lieutenant: Post Of Call New Orleans
John Cassavetes Award (best feature made for under $500,000)
- Big Fan – Robert Siegel, dir. Elan Bogarin, Jean Kouremetis, prds.
- Humpday – Lynn Shelton, dir/prd.
- The New Year Parade – Tom Quinn, dir. Steve Beal, Tom Quinn, prds.
- Treeless Mountain – Kim So Yong, dir. Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe, Kim So Yong, Lars Knusden, Jay Van Hoy, prds.
- Zero Bridge – Tariq Tapa, dir. Josee Lajoie, Hilal Ahmed Langoo, Tariq Tapa, prds.
Acura Someone To Watch Award (presented to a film-maker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes as $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Acura.)
- Kyle Patrick Alvarez – Easier With Practice
- Asiel Norton – Redland
- Tariq Tapa – Zero Bridge
Truer Than Fiction Award (presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes as $25,000 unrestricted grant.)
- Natalie Almada – El General
- Jessica Oreck – Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
- Bill Ross, Turner Ross – 45356
Piaget Producers Award (presented to emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films. The award includes as $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.)
- Karin Chien – The Exploding Girl, Santa Mesa
- Larry Fessenden – I Sell The Dead, The House Of The Devil
- Dia Sokol – Beeswax, Nights & Weekends
Robert Altman Award (presented to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)
- A Serious Man
Dirs, Ethan and Joel Coen
Casting directors, Ellen Chenoweth and Rachel Tenner
Ensemble cast: Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Jessica McManus, Fred Melamed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff













I’m not sure I’ve ever watched the Independent Spirit Awards. Planning to be around tonight for them, so see you then!
It’s a load of fun Jandy. Way better than the Oscars. You’ll like it. Get out the wine glasses and the beer!
I’m out of wine, unfortunately. I should remedy that at some point. But I do have both beer and other adult beverages.
Woody was kind of the front runner wasn’t he?
Yeah, I’d think so. He was a standout in The Messenger (which everyone else seemed to like better than I did, but I did like him in it).
We are tweeting up a storm.
@rowthree
Relatedly, my rum & coke is kicking in. Which has a tendency to make my tweeting more…interesting. #justsaying
So Precious won every category it was nominated in? Wow. I guess I should see it. Nice timing for the DVD to come out the week AFTER the Spirits and Oscars.
Precious is good. Very well directed, a good lead performance. It doesn’t have the balls to stay realistic and becomes Oprah Winfrey-like hollywood stuff at times, but it’s thankfully kept in somewhat check.
I am so glad to see (500) Days of Summer get some love somewhere. I should be checking out Precious very soon, I hope… it looks great and everything that I have heard from people backs that up.
Disappointed by all of the Precious love. The only category it truly deserved to win was the Best Supporting actress. I guess even the Spirit Awards get it wrong some times.
Precious is looking to be this year’s Crash. Like Crash, it felt a bit too much like by the numbers tragedy bingo for my taste, and awards shows gleefully disagreed with me
I hear yeah Chris, I hear yeah.