Independent Spirit Awards nominee list
A DOUCHE - a possible sign from the Bob Dylan inspired “I’m Not There”
In the latter half of the last century, right before the Y2K Virus sent our world spiraling down into a mire of chaos where televised executions, zombie plagues and roving bands of crossbow-wielding gay bikers haunt our daily existence, there was a more innocent time known as the 1990’s. The economy was rock-solid; we had a president who knew how to “rock the vote” and could bust out a rock sax solo like Clarence Clemons; everyone was rocking flannel shirts and goatees and steel-toed Doc Marten skinhead curb-stompers and they pre-ironically rockin’ MEANT it; and a little rock band out of New Rock City called the SPIN DOCTORS took the rock world by storm with rock hits like “Two Princes” and “Pocket Full of Kryptonite.”
Instead of Red Bull people drank MICROBREWS. Instead of cocaine people snorted HEROIN. Instead of slipping girls rohypnol we simply exploited their want to experiment with multiple partners of multiple genders because HEY MAN… this was the 1990’s. We were sexually EMPOWERED. We had cock rings and clit rings and all sorts of rings pretty much anywhere you could put a ring. It was the Age of Lollapolooza. It was the age of the tribal tattoo.
And of course, we had indie film. Guys like Kevin Smith and Edward Burns were blowing our MINDS in ways that Jim Jarmusch had only dreamed of. No taboo was off limits. No situation wherein a struggling artist’s (Ethan Hawke) existential ennui left him disenchanted with his slacker friends (Steve Buscemi, Giovanni Ribisi) until the cute girl who ran poetry slam night at the organic coffee house (Winona Ryder) taught him to live his dreams (starting a band/publishing a ‘zine) — was left with its comedo-dramatic potential untapped.
Well believe it or not, indie films still exist. Granted no one watches them, but they’re still out there getting financed by European film funds and naïve dentists, filming in Canada and screening at empty theaters across Los Angeles and New York and perhaps one other major city. Yes the SPIRIT is still alive, and the SPIRIT AWARDS exist to pay tribute to these relics of a dead epoch. Here are this year’s nominees.
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Best feature
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
“I’m Not There”
“Juno”
“A Mighty Heart”
“Paranoid Park”
Best director
Todd Haynes, “I’m Not There”
Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages”
Jason Reitman, “Juno”
Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Gus Van Sant, “Paranoid Park”
Best first feature
“2 Days in Paris”
“Great World of Sound”
“The Lookout”
“Rocket Science”
“Vanaja”
John Cassavetes Award
“August Evening”
“Owl and the Sparrow”
“The Pool”
“Quiet City”
“Shotgun Stories”
Best screenplay
Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages”
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner, “Starting Out in the Evening”
Adrienne Shelly, “Waitress”
Mike White, “Year of the Dog”
Best first screenplay
Jeffrey Blitz, “Rocket Science”
Zoe Cassavetes, “Broken English”
Diablo Cody, “Juno”
Kelly Masterson, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
John Orloff, “A Mighty Heart”
Best female lead
Angelina Jolie, “A Mighty Heart”
Sienna Miller, “Interview”
Ellen Page, “Juno”
Parker Posey, “Broken English”
Tang Wei, “Lust, Caution”
Best male lead
Pedro Castaneda, “August Evening”
Don Cheadle, “Talk to Me”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Savages”
Frank Langella, “Starting Out in the Evening”
Tony Leung, “Lust, Caution”
Best supporting female
Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
Anna Kendrick, “Rocket Science”
Jennifer Jason Leigh, “Margot at the Wedding”
Tamara Podemski, “Four Sheets to the Wind”
Marisa Tomei, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
Best supporting male
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Talk to Me”
Marcus Carl Franklin, “I’m Not There”
Kene Holliday, “Great World of Sound”
Irrfan Khan, “The Namesake”
Steve Zahn, “Rescue Dawn”
Best cinematography
Mott Hupfel, “The Savages”
Janusz Kaminski, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Milton Kam, “Vanaja”
Mihai Malaimare, Jr., “Youth Without Youth”
Rodrigo Prieto, “Lust, Caution”
Best documentary
“Crazy Love”
“Lake of Fire”
“Manufactured Landscapes”
“The Monastery”
“The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair”
Best foreign film
“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” Romania
“The Band’s Visit,” Israel
“Lady Chatterley,” France
“Once,” Ireland
“Persepolis,” France
Robert Altman Award
“I’m Not There,” Todd Haynes (director); Laura Rosenthal (casting director); Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood (ensemble cast)
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