Awards Season: Independents are Precious

March 5, 2010

While the Independent Spirit Awards are one of the first to announce their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out the awards. This year the clear winner was Precious, which swept all five categories it was nominated for. However, it wasn't the only winner.

The categories and winners are...

BEST FEATURE

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST FIRST FEATURE

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

BEST SCREENPLAY

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

BEST FEMALE LEAD

BEST MALE LEAD

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST FOREIGN FILM

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film's director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
(Previously Announced)

A Serious Man

Also announced were the winners for the three Filmmaker Grant Awards.

IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award

  • Kyle Patrick Alvarez for Easier With Practice
The 12th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.

  • Bill Ross & Turner Ross for 45365
The 11th annual Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films.

  • Karin Chien for The Exploding Girl & Santa Mesa
Notes and Reactions...

  • Precious won all five awards it was nominated for, which unfortunately isn't a huge predictor for Sunday night's Oscar broadcast. That said, it should generate enough publicity to help the film over the $50 million mark.
  • On the other hand, The Last Station was shut out.
  • Crazy Heart was the only other film to win multiple awards tonight, although A Serious Man won one tonight and had picked up the previously announced Robert Altman Award.
  • There were not a lot of upsets tonight and nothing that happened tonight changed my opinion on what will happened on Sunday when the Oscars are handed out.
  • There were only two results that I would consider real surprises. Firstly, Humpday beating Big Fan was surprising, and in my opinion a little disappointing. (I am a big fan of Patton Oswalt, which undoubtedly affects my opinion in the matter.)
  • On the other hand, the biggest "Woohoo!" moment for me came when Anvil! The Story of Anvil beat Food, Inc., which I considered the heavy favorite.
  • One last note... I still find it funny that An Education is considered a Foreign Film. Usually these categories are Best Foreign Language Film.

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Filed under: Awards Season, (500) Days of Summer, Humpday, An Education, Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), The Messenger, A Serious Man, Crazy Heart, Anvil! The Story of Anvil