25th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards

Last night Film Independent gave out its Spirit Awards for excellence in independent filmmaking.  Started in 1984, under the name Friends of Independents Awards, the ceremony was a way to showcase achievements in independent film.  The original awards given to the winners featured acrylic glass pyramids suspended by shoestrings to represent the trivial budgets most filmmakers had to work with.  The awards given out today depict a bird sitting on a pole with the original shoestring tied around it.

Last night’s big winner was Lee Daniels’ “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.”  The film swept all the major categories and won every award it was nominated for.  Other Oscar nominees such as “Crazy Heart,” “An Education,” and “A Serious Man” also walked away with awards.  Fan favorites “(500) Days of Summer” and “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” took home Best Screenplay and Best Documentary surely pleasing fans who believe that both films were snubbed by the Oscars in their respective categories.

A complete list of the winners and nominees can be found below.

2010 SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS (WINNERS IN BOLD)

BEST FEATURE
“(500) Days Of Summer” - Producers: Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe
“Amreeka” - Producers: Paul Barkin, Christina Piovesan
“Precious” – Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness
“Sin Nombre” – Producer: Amy Kaufman
“The Last Station” – Producers: Bonnie Arnold, Chris Curling, Jens Meuer

BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – “A Serious Man”
Lee Daniels – “Precious”
Cary Joji Fukunaga – “Sin Nombre”
James Gray – “Two Lovers”
Michael Hoffman – “The Last Station”

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 FEATURE
“A Single Man” – Director: Tom Ford, Producers: Tom Ford, Andrew Miano, Robert Salerno, Chris Weitz
“Crazy Heart” – Director: Scott Cooper, Producers: T Bone Burnett, Judy Cairo, Rob Carliner, Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall
“Easier With Practice” – Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Producer: Cookie Carosella
“Paranormal Activity” – Director: Oren Peli, Producer: Jason Blum, Oren Peli
“The Messenger” – Director: Oren Moverman, Producers: Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes – “Cold Souls”
Scott Cooper – “Crazy Heart”
Cherien Dabis – “Amreeka”
Geoffrey Fletcher – “Precious”
Tom Ford, David Scearce – “A Single Man”

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
“Big Fan” – Writer/Director: Robert Siegel, Producers: Elan Bogarin, Jean Kouremetis
“Humpday” – Writer/Director/Producer: Lynn Shelton
“The New Year Parade” – Writer/Director: Tom Quinn, Producers: Steve Beal, Tom Quinn
“Treeless Mountain” - Writer/Director: So Yong Kim, Producers: Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe, So Yong Kim, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy
“Zero Bridge” – Writer/Director: Tariq Tapa, Producers: Josée Lajoie, Hilal Ahmed Langoo, Tariq Tapa

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”
Souléymane Sy Savané - “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
Jemaine Clement – “Gentlemen Broncos”
Woody Harrelson – “The Messenger”
Christian McKay – “Me and Orson Welles”
Raymond McKinnon – “That Evening Sun”
Christopher Plummer – “The Last Station”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – “A Serious Man”
Adriano Goldman – “Sin Nombre”
Anne Misawa – “Treeless Mountain”
Andrij Parekh – “Cold Souls”
Peter Zeitlinger – “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” – Director: Sacha Gervasi
“Food, Inc.” – Director: Robert Kenner
“More Than A Game” – Director: Kristopher Belman
“October Country” – Directors: Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri
“Which Way Home” – Director: Rebecca Cammisa

BEST FOREIGN FILM
“A Prophet (Un Prophete)” (France) – Director: Jacques Audiard
“An Education (UK/France)”- Director: Lone Scherfig
“Everlasting Moments” (Sweden) – Director: Jan Troell
“Mother” (South Korea) -Director: Bong Joon-Ho
“The Maid” (Chile) – Director: Sebastián Silva

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Kyle Patrick Alvarez – “Easier With Practice”
Asiel Norton – “Redland”
Tariq Tapa – “Zero Bridge”

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Natalia Almada – “El General”
Jessica Oreck – “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo”
Bill Ross, Turner Ross – “45365″

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Karin Chien – “The Exploding Girl”, “Santa Mesa”
Larry Fessenden – “I Sell the Dead”, “The House of the Devil”
Dia Sokol – “Beeswax”, “Nights & Weekends”