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Ballet drama "Black Swan" triumphed at the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards and won for Best Feature, Best Director for Darren Aronofsky, Best Female Lead for Natalie Portman, and Best Cinematography for Matthew Libatique.

Oscar nominee Natalie Portman added this victory to her impressive collection of awards she took home this season, including a Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Award for Best Actress. Best Supporting Female went to Dale Dickey for "Winter's Bone."

15 Facts about Natalie Portman!

With all the "Black Swan" hoopla, am I the only one who thinks that the film, while well-made, is not deserving of all these hyper-crazed adulations? Portman was good, but I prefer Annette Bening's understated performance in "The Kids Are All Right." Or heck, Jennifer Lawrence's "Winter's Bone" performance could easily outdance Portman's delusional ballerina portrayal any day.

And "Winter's Bone," celebrating its true independent spirit, was virtually snubbed at last night's Independent Spirit Awards. Sure, the excellent supporting cast was honored with Dale Dickey winning Best Supporting Female and John Hawkes for Best Supporting Male, but the engaging and deeply haunting Debra Granik movie (with the most nominations totaling to seven nods) lost out to...you guessed it, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan." (Check out my "Winter's Bone" movie review right here)

And yes, I do admire Aronofsky, I thought "The Wrestler" was one of his personal...

Well, every year the Independent Spirit Awards are handed out the night before the Oscars, and every year, it seems that they are honouring a completely different set of films, despite having a number of overlapping nominees. At this point, it almost seems like you don't want to win a Spirit Award because if you do, it means you won't end up winning the Oscar. Assuming history repeats itself, James Franco's chances of winning Best Actor for 127 Hours just got a little worse (not that he really had a shot in the first place), and Natalie Portman might not be the lock that everyone thinks she is. Black Swan also ended up taking home Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Cinematography, while John Hawkes and Dale Dickey took home Supporting Actor and Actress awards for Winter's Bone. The Kids Are All Right ended up getting Best Screenplay, while Exit Through the Gift Shop...

The debate rages on as to whether the doomed Nina really did dance a "perfect" performance of "Swan Lake" in "Black Swan."

But the Independent Spirit Awards have certainly acknowledged that the movie itself came pretty close to perfection.

"Black Swan" swept the Spirit Awards with wins for Best Feature, Best Female Lead, Best Director and Best Cinematography. Darren Aronofsky's operatic tale of fear, loathing and madness at the New York City Ballet won in every category for which it was nominated.

While Natalie Portman may have beaten Jennifer Lawrence in the Best Female Lead category, "Winter's Bone" did take home awards for the performances of two of its supporting players, Dale Dickey and Jack Hawkes.

Meanwhile, the co-host of this year's Oscars, James Franco, won for his lead performance in "127 Hours." The newly PG-13-rated "The King's Speech" won Best Foreign Film and "Exit Through the Gift Shop" won Best Documentary,...

I went 10/13 with my predictions of the Indie Spirits today -- my misfires came in the Best Picture and Best Actress categories thinking that Winter's Bone had the edge over Black Swan. Not that Winter's Bone didn't have a good night (it won in the Best Supporting categories - I thought that Bill Murray had the edge over John Hawkes is where I flubbed as well) but it was indeed a Black Swan event -- with additional wins for Directing (Darren Aronofsky) and Cinematography (Matthew Libatique). You can find the winners in bold below. Best Feature 127 Hours Black Swan Greenberg The Kids Are All Right Winter's Bone Best Director Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan Danny Boyle, 127 Hours Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right Debra Granik, Winter's Bone John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole Best Screenplay Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone Nicole Holofcener,...

The 2011 Independent Spirit Awards were handed out a few hours ago and Black Swan won in all four categories it was nominated in including Best Picture, Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), Best Actress (Natalie Portman) and Best Cinematography (Matthew Libatique). Winter's Bone earned the most nominations at seven and dominated the supporting categories with wins for both Dale Dickey and John Hawkes, of the two only Hawkes earned an Oscar nomination, but he'll be facing off against both Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush tomorrow night so I'm not counting on two awards in two days, though his performance in that film is one to remember.

Elsewhere, James Franco won Best Actor for 127 Hours, though he wasn't facing the stiffest of competition when it comes to most talked about performances of the year as he is the only one of the five nominees to also be nominated for an Oscar. Exit Through the Gift Shop...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: The day before the annual Academy Awards ceremony belongs to the Spirit Awards, when Hollywood’s independent film community – which currently reflects the Oscar community thanks to double-dipping films like “Black Swan,” “Winter’s Bone” and “The Kids Are All Right” – takes to the sands in Santa Monica for what host Joel McHale calls “the coolest awards show, because it’s casual, in a tent on a beach, and people are drinking, and vomiting.”

Let’s hope there isn’t as much throw up as McHale predicts. We wouldn’t want 2011 Spirit Awards nominees Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Ben Stiller or John C. Reilly slipping in someone else’s vomit on the way to the stage.

All kidding aside, the Spirit Awards are a laid-back affair, a lighter appetizer to the glamorous Oscars. The ceremony will be televised in IFC beginning at 10 p.

We're just about a day away from the Spirit Awards (airing on some channel whose name escapes me at 10 pm eastern and pacific). If you're watching the show and want to hear more about the individual nominees and the year and indie film in general, you should surf over to IFC.com's 2011 Spirit Awards Watch & Chat which I'll be hosting with my friend and film critic supreme James Rocchi. James and I will be debating this year's crop of Spirit Award nominees, who got overlooked and overpraised, and commenting on the show as well. Plus, we'll fighting to see who can predict more of the winners, a fight I am almost sure to lose because I am legendarily terrible at this sort of thing. Our chat runs the same time as the Spirit Awards 10pm - 1am eastern (no pacific, sorry, otherwise we'd have to talk for 6 hours straight).

Speaking of those predictions,...

As a way of celebrating this year's nominees for the Spirit Awards in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, we reached out to as many as we could in an effort to better understand what went into their films, what they've gotten out of the experience, and where they've found their inspiration, both in regards to their work and other works of art that might've inspired them from the past year. Their answers will be published on a daily basis throughout February.

Frazer Bradshaw has held nearly position on a film crew imaginable, from his beginnings as an editor to a cinematographer who continues to work on other people's films such as "Babies" and the recent Sundance entry "These Amazing Shadows." So after creating a collection of shorts over the past decade, it was high time for the filmmaker to put it all together for "Everything Strange and New,...

Frazer Bradshaw was first drawn to filmmaking through experimental cinema. His first feature, "Everything Strange and New" is currently nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best First Feature Category. The film follows a man as he struggles to understand himself and his adulthood. indieWIRE caught up with Bradshaw over an e-mail interview last week and this is what he had to say. Being engaged by the challenges in the ...

Frazer Bradshaw was first drawn to filmmaking through experimental cinema. His first feature, "Everything Strange and New" is currently nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best First Feature Category. The film follows a man as he struggles to understand himself and his adulthood. indieWIRE caught up with Bradshaw over an e-mail interview last week and this is what he had to say. Being engaged by the challenges in the ...

Last week I completed my quest to see all 35 of the independent films nominated for this year’s Spirit Awards. This meant weeks upon weeks of trekking to Tribeca through snow drifts, slick ice and high winds, and sitting through some heartbreaking moments, some grotesque sequences, and some deeply pretentious drivel. But I also saw a lot of truly daring and enthralling cinema – much of it on its way to theaters near you this year!

So now that I’ve done the legwork it’s time to vote. Below I break down my thoughts on who will win, and who should win.

—–

Best Foreign Film

The King’s Speech, Mademoiselle Chambon, Kisses, Of Gods and Men, and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Unlike the Oscars, the Spirit Award’s foreign film eligibility is defined by place of origin — not language. So, English-language pictures are not disqualified from this category.

"Dogtooth" (2009)

Directed by Giorgos Lanthimos

Released by Kino

"Enter the Void" (2010)

Directed by Gaspar Noé

Released by Mpi Home Video

Somehow it's fitting that two of last year's most dangerous films will be hitting DVD shelves the same week, both being favorites of the IFC.com staff. "Dogtooth," Lanthimos' much-debated Un Certain Regard winner from Cannes, concerns the lives of three culturally isolated children -- two daughters and a son, who range from mid-teens to early 20s -- fenced in by their parents' country home, who receive a reeducation when their lone connection to the outside world, a female security guard for their parents' business, introduces them to the joys of sex and Sylvester Stallone films. Meanwhile, "Irreversible" provocateur Noé's latest is a wildly ambitious 155-minute extravaganza set inside the mind of a drug dealer told from the first-person perspective. Nathaniel Brown and "Boardwalk Empire" star Paz de la Huerta...

So last week was admittedly a slog of subversive family drama. Thankfully this week offered some truly intriguing indie efforts.

First I was introduced to the marvelous and miniature world of Marwencol, next subjected to the dreary worldview of Everything Stranger and New, then exposed to the heart-filled weight loss journey of Lbs., and finally watched a truly enchanting tale of young love unfold in Kisses.

———-

Marwencol ~ Directed by Jeff Malmberg

This carefully crafted doc unfolds the story of Mark Hogancamp, a drunk whose life changed dramatically after he was beaten within an inch of his life outside a local bar. His attackers “kicked every memory of [his] head,” leaving Hogancamp to relearn basic motor skills and grappling to rediscover himself. His method of self-made therapy: constructing a model town named Marwencol that he peoples with miniature doppelgangers of his loved ones. With these figures he enacts winding wishful narratives,...

Best DirectorDarren Aronofsky'Black Swan'In many ways, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is similar to his previous film, "The Wrestler." Both lead characters are dedicated artists struggling with inner demons. To express themselves, they have only their bodies. Their age, injuries, and mental stability threaten to undermine their art.However, in "Black Swan," Aronofsky masterfully adds another layer. He parallels the journey of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) with the tale of "Swan Lake," the tragic ballet in which she performs. The astute viewer will notice his use of black and white in the set pieces of almost every scene, alluding to the contrast between the white and black swans. He adds elements of horror, drama, and paranoia, all of which exist in "Swan Lake." He directs the actors in such a way that you aren't ever sure what is fantasy and what is reality. All of these elements add...

Every year, the Spirit Awards celebrate the best in independent film.

The nominees were announced for the 26th Annual Spirits, to be handed out on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 10pm Et/Pt, live on the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

After winning the top prize at the Gotham Awards, Winter’s Bone leads with seven nominations.

Winter’s Bone was nominated for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography.

The Best Film nominees also include 127 Hours, Greenberg, The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan.

The Kids Are All Right had five nominations while Black Swan, Greenberg and Rabbit Hole each landed four.

127 Hours, Jack Goes Boating and Tiny Furniture found three each.

Rabbit Hole received nominations for its performances from Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart playing grieving parents, as well as a director’s nod for John Cameron Mitchell, best known...

The nominations of 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards have been announced on Tuesday, November 30 in Los Angeles by Jeremy Renner and Eva Mendes. And some movies which have received Oscar buzz such as "127 Hours" and "Black Swan" are touted for Best Feature at the upcoming Spirit Awards.

For this title, the two movies will fight against "Greenberg", "The Kids Are All Right" and "Winter's Bone". The latest mentioned flick, which is fresh from grabbing two kudos at Gotham Independent Film Awards, has a chance to be a big winner at Spirits Awards since it takes the most nods.

The drama leads Debra Granik to be a contender for Best Director prize. She will face a tight competition with Darren Aronofsky, Danny Boyle in addition to Lisa Cholodenko and John Cameron Mitchell for this title.

The cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Dale Dickey and John Hawkes are additionally up for Best Female Lead,...

Natalie Portman is going to get a stiff competition from Jennifer Lawrence at 2011 Independent Spirit Awards. The nominees for the annual awards dedicated to independent filmmakers have been announced on Tuesday, November 30, and both actresses were unraveled to be among those up for Best Female Lead.

29-year-old Natalie received the nomination for her portrayal of a ballet dancer in "Black Swan", while 20-year-old Jennifer got her nod for her role as a teen on a desperate search to find her missing father in "Winter's Bone". Both of them were nominated along with Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams.

In addition to Natalie's acting nom, her psychological thriller "Black Swan" has nabbed three other nods. It is vying for Best Feature along with "Winter's Bone", "127 Hours", "Greenberg" and "The Kids Are All Right". Additionally, it also collected nomination for its director Darren Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique.

Jennifer's "Winter's Bone", in the meantime,...

The gritty Ozarks drama "Winter's Bone," directed by Debra Granik, scored seven Independent Spirit Award nominations -- including nods for Best Feature, Best Director and Best Actress for star Jennifer Lawrence.

Other Best Feature nominees include Danny Boyle's "127 Hours," Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan," Noah Baumbach's "Greenberg" and Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right."

"Extra" also caught up with "Community's" Joel McHale, who is set to host the Indie Spirit Awards ceremony.

The 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominees have been announced, and there are a lot of great films that are being recognized. Winter's Bone racked up seven nominations after it won Best Feature at the Gotham Awards. Other films on the list include, 127 Hours, Black Swan, Greenberg, and The Kids Are All Right.There's some great competition this year, 127 Hours, Black Swan, and Winter's Bone are three of the best movies I've seen this year, but I think Winter's Bone will take the win on this one.

These nominations are only given to films which were produced for under $20 million. The awards will be handed out on February 26 live on IFC with host Joel McHale.

Check out the nominee list below and let us know what you think! Who would you like to see win?

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer)

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right...

Haven't seen a little indie called "Winter's Bone" yet? You might want to go ahead and add it to your Netflix queue... that is, if you're interested in seeing what will likely be a top contender for this year's Best Picture Oscar.

After taking home the prizes for best feature and best ensemble performance at last night's 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards, the film was thrown an even juicier awards-season bone this morning, when it received seven nods -- including best feature -- to dominate the Independent Spirit Awards nominations.

Debra Granik scored two nods for directing and co-writing (with Anne Rosellini) "Bone," while Jennifer Lawrence scored a best lead female nomination for her riveting, star-making turn as a woman searching for her father in backwoods Arkansas. Her "Winter's Bone" costars, John Hawkes and Dale Dickey, nabbed nominations for best supporting male and female, respectively. And Michael McDonough earned the film's seventh nod,...

The nominees for the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning from Los Angeles, once again honouring the year's best independent films shot on shoestring budgets (specifically under $20 million). Leading the pack was Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, which picked up seven nods including Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Male and Female Leads. Considering that the film also just won Best Feature at The Gotham Awards [1] this week, could it be gaining momentum as a possible Oscar contender? Other films with multiple nominations include Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. It was also pretty cool to see The Last Exorcism picking up a few mentions, although Never Let Me Go seems to have been snubbed, getting just one nomination for Best Cinematography. Ouch. We won't find out who wins until Saturday, February 26th, 2011, with a...

Every year after the Gotham Awards choose their winners, the nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards are announced. Leading with nominations this year is Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone. All three may make my best of the year list and each and every year I wholeheartedly agree with their picks. It is by far my favorite awards show and while I sometimes disagree with the winners I am always excited to see the smaller productions receive recognition for their amazing work.

The nominations are only given to films which were produced for under $20 million and the awards will be handed out on February 26 live on IFC.

Missing in action:

Where is Gareth Edwards’ Monsters? It was his first feature and he produced it for under ten grand.

Honestly Rabbit Hole deserves the nomination for best picture more than The Kids Are Alright.

This morning, Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner presented the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations and last night's Gotham Awards big winner, Winter's Bone was this morning's leading nominee with a total of seven nominations including Best Feature, Best Director (Debra Granik), Best Screenplay (Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini), Best Female Lead (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Female (Dale Dickey), Best Supporting Male (John Hawkes) and Best Cinematography (Michael McDonough).

Coming in second on the nomination list was The Kids are All Right with five, followed by Black Swan, Greenberg and Rabbit Hole, all with four. The only nominee for Best Feature not to have at least four nominations was Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, which earned three noms.

A few things of note when quickly glancing through the list, Winter's Bone is not only making a hard push for a Best Picture nomination, which now appears to be a certainty just as...

The top nominations for this year’s Indie Spirit Awards are no surprise. Winter’s Bone continues its march through the woods to find its father and an Oscar with 7 nominations (which is almost all it was even eligible for). In a close second, The Kids Are All Right finds itself with 5 nominations. If you’re a fan of female directors, this year is celebrating a number of them in the top spots, but it’s also incredibly important to point out that Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Murray are finally up for the same award. The Indepdenent Spirit Awards make a good primer for the films that might make their way into the Academy Award nominee pool. In recent tradition, the winner of the Best Feature prize goes on to be an Oscar contender (and occasional winner). Examples of that include Precious, The Wrestler, Juno, and Brokeback Mountain. The full list of nominees continues below: Best...

I'm so glad that "Winter's Bone" has been receiving all the accolades. I love this film when it was shown in limited release last summer. The backwoods drama won big at the Gothams Awards winning Best Feature and Best Ensemble, and now, it dominated the Independent Spirit Awards with seven nominations including Best Feature, Director for Debra Granik, Screenplay for Granik and Anne Rosellini, Female Lead for Jennifer Lawrence, Supporting Female for Dale Dickey, Supporting Male for John Hawkes, and Cinematography for Michael McDonough. ("Winter's Bone" Movie Review)

"Winter's Bone" will compete against "127 Hours," "Black Swan," "Greenberg" and "The Kids Are All Right" for best picture.

Related Links:

"127 Hours" interviews with James Franco, Danny Boyle, and Simon Beaufoy

"Greenberg" Movie Review and Interviews with Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, and Rhys Ifans

"The Kids Are All Right" Movie Review and Interviews with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, and...

After Winter's Bone won Best Feature at the first award ceremony of the season [1] Monday, it kept its momentum up Tuesday by getting seven nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Awards [2]. That's more nominations than any other film on the list, beating out fellow Best Feature nominees 127 Hours, Black Swan, Greenberg, and The Kids Are All Right. These nominations are only given to films which were produced for under $20 million, so other big award contenders like Inception, The Social Network and Toy Story 3 don't qualify. The awards will be handed out on February 26 live on IFC with host Joel McHale. Check out the full list of nominations after the jump. Here are all the nominees. Best Feature (Award given to the Producer) 127 Hours Black Swan Greenberg The Kids Are All Right Winter’s Bone Best Director Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan Danny Boyle, 127 Hours Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right Debra Granik,...

The Spirit Awards, which celebrate the best in independent film, are handed out each year the night before the Oscars and are generally ignored by most. This year, they'll be hosted by Joel McHale, which means they'll still be largely ignored except for the McHale bits we all watch on YouTube the next day.

The nominations have been announced. They're pretty much what you'd expect, which is to say: If it's an indie film you've heard of in 2010, it's probably been nominated.

Best Film

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter's Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Winter's Bone

John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Best Screenplay

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone

Nicole Holofcener, Please Give

David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole

Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime...

The announcements came at 11am Est (watch below). The full list of nominees follows underneath the video player (of note, Tanya Hamilton was nominated for Best First Feature for her directorial debut, Night Catches us, and Samuel L. Jackson in the Best Supporting Male category, for his performance in Mother and Child):

The list of nominations:

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer)

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter’s Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone

John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Best First Feature (Award given to the director and producer)

Everything Strange and New

Get Low

The Last Exorcism

Night Catches Us

Tiny Furniture

John Cassavetes Award

(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Daddy Longlegs

The Exploding Girl

Lbs.

Debra Granik's Winter's Bone tops the Indie Spirit Awards noms list with 7 (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Female Lead, Best Supporting Male Lead and Best Cinematography), Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right places second with five nominations (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male Lead). Four noms went to Black Swan (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Female Lead, Best Cinematography), Greenberg (Best Feature, Best Female Lead, Best Male Lead and Best Cinematography) and Rabbit Hole (Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead and Best Male Lead). Collecting three votes each we have Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture nabbing the Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay and her Dp Jodie Lee Lipes nabbing Best Cinematography while Danny Boyle gets a Best Feature, Director and James Franco Best Male Lead nod for 127 Hours. Worth noting is the Best...

The nominations for the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards have been announced. Here’s a quick breakdown of some interesting facts about the nominees. After winning the top prize at the Gotham Awards last night, Winter’s Bone leads the pack with seven nominations. And if you need more proof that the Best Actress race this year is crazy, it was the only category with a six nominees.

It’s also a good year for women filmmakers as Lisa Cholodenok (The Kids Are All Right) and Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) pick up nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Nicole Holofcener also picked up a Best Screenplay nomination along with the Robert Altman Award for Please Give. Hit the jump for a full list of the nominees. The Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 10pm Et/Pt on IFC.

Best Film

127 Hours Black Swan...

As award season draws nearer, theaters will be flooded with prestige-seeking dramas, stars will tout their recent turns as arrogant survivalists, stuttering monarchs, or grieving mothers, and audiences will clamor to catch up, seeking those films deemed the very best of 2010.

Are you ready? Because it has begun.

This morning in Hollywood, Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner announced the nominees for the Spirit Awards, which honors the best of independent cinema. Lots of love was shown to Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, and Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right, which snagged seven and five nominations respectively, while Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan earned four nods, as did Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg and John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole.

Below is the full list of honorees, courtesy of IFC, which will air the awards ceremony on February 26th at 10Pm.

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right...

Film Independent announced the nominations for their 2010 Spirit Awards today. Winter’s Bone leads with seven nominations, including Best Feature, Director and Female Lead.

Joel McHale will host the show Feb. 26 when it returns back to the beach in Santa Monica.

Full list of nominees below.

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter’s Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone

John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Best First Feature

Everything Strange and New

Get Low

The Last Exorcism

Night Catches Us

Tiny Furniture

John Cassavetes Award

(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Daddy Longlegs

The Exploding Girl

Lbs.

Lovers of Hate

Obsedila

Best Screenplay

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are… Read the rest...

Indie hits Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right dominated the Film Independent Spirit Award nominees this morning, as Winter’s Bone earned a phenomenal seven nominations and Kids scored five. Both films were named in the Best Feature category, which also includes 127 Hours, Black Swan, and Greenberg. The upcoming drama Rabbit Hole also did very well, earning four nods, including acting citations for Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart.

Particularly because these nominees were chosen by a small group of industry professionals, there were a few surprising omissions. Though Kids stars Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo received nods,...

The Gotham Awards gave their top prize to Debra Granik's Ozark noir "Winter's Bone" last night, and today the film leads the Spirit Award pack with seven nominations. Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner presented the full list of nominees in West Hollywood this morning, with Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right" pulling in five nominations, and "Black Swan," "Greenberg" and "Rabbit Hole" nabbing four each.

The Spirit Awards, an annual celebration of the best in indie film, will take place Saturday, February 26th and will be hosted by Joel McHale this year. IFC will be broadcasting the event that night at 10pm. You can find out more about the awards and how the nominations and voting process work here.

The nominees:

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter's Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik,...

Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner announced the nominees for the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning (November 30, 2010) at The London West Hollywood Hotel. The Gotham Awards gave their top prize to Debra Granik’s Ozark noir “Winter’s Bone” last night, and today the film leads the Spirit Award pack with seven nominations. Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right” saw five nominations, and “Black Swan,” “Greenberg” and “Rabbit Hole” grabbed four each. One thing to note: There are six best actress nominees this year, as there are usually only five in each category.

Here’s the list of nominees:

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter’s Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone

John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Best Screenplay

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik,...

Those compiling their best of the year lists would do well to consult the roll-call of gong-winners handed out by an august band of international critics

Any perspicacious film festival-goer or festival-watcher will have noticed that one of the prizes awarded at most festivals, in addition to the Golden Palms, Golden Lions or Golden Leopards etc, is the Fipresci (Federation International de la Presse Cinematographic) – aka the international film critics' award. In principle, this should be the most prestigious and sought-after prize of all, because the juries are made up of professional film critics (usually five, each from a different country) who are paid to tell the public what is good or bad and why.

Unfortunately, the Fipresci prize does not carry with it any money but, in theory, it does help the film gain a distributor. However, on one occasion, I remember that a director, who had just won the Fipresci prize,...

"The Hurt Locker" continues to invade film critics awards nationwide, as the San Francisco Film Critics Circle named the movie the Best Picture of the year, with director Kathryn Bigelow winning the trophy for helming.

Colin Firth received the Best Actor nod for his portrayal of a gay man trying to cope with the death of his partner in "A Single Man," while Meryl Streep's brilliant performance as Julia Childs in "Julie & Julia" garnered her the Best Actress trophy.

Christian McKay for "Me and Orson Welles" bested awards favorite Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" for Best Supporting Actor, while Mo'Nique continued to dominate with her "Precious" performance, receiving the Best Supporting Actress.

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle paid homage to local screenwriter/producer Rose Kaufman, who recently died of cancer.

Here's the full list of winners for the 2009 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards:

Picture: "The Hurt Locker"

Director: Kathryn Bigelow,...

Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker won best picture and best director again today at the San Francisco Film Critics Circle (Sffcc) awards. The film has already been awarded with both honors by critics in New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. Meanwhile, the Southeastern Film Critics Association did not give the film best picture, but did award best director to Bigelow. I really hope that these are all signs that Bigelow will be the first female to win best director come Oscar time.

Other Sffcc winners included Colin Firth for best actor in A Single Man, Meryl Streep for best actress in Julie & Julia, Mo’Nique for best supporting actress in Precious, Christian McKay pulling a surprise win for best supporting actor in Me and Orson Welles, and Quentin Tarantino winning best original screenplay for Inglourious Basterds while Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach received the award for best adapted screenplay for Fantastic Mr. Fox.

As the end of the year approaches, more and more "best of" lists are starting to come out. The San Francisco Film Critics Awards have been announced and Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker". That film has been dominating lots of critics lists and it might end up being an Oscar contender.

Other big winners included Meryl Streep for "Julie & Julia," Mo'Nique for "Precious" and Colin Firth for "A Single Man."

The complete list:

Best Picture

“The Hurt Locker”

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

Best Original Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Adapted Screenplay

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

Best Actor

Colin Firth, “A Single Man”

Best Actress

Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”

Best Supporting Actor

Christian McKay, “Me and Orson Welles”

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique, “Precious”

Best Animated Feature

“Coraline”

Best Foreign Language Film

“You, the Living” (Sweden)

Best Documentary

“Anvil! The Story of Anvil”

Best Cinematography

Roger Deakins,...

2009 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009 San Francisco Film Critics winners: Dec. 14, 2009 Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker Best Picture The Hurt Locker Best Foreign Language Film You, the Living (Sweden) Best Documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil Best Animated Feature Coraline Best Director Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker Best Actor Colin Firth, A Single Man Best Actress Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Best Supporting Actor Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles Best Supporting Actress Mo’Nique, Precious Best Original Screenplay Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds Best Adapted Screenplay Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox Best Cinematography Roger Deakins, A Serious Man Special Citation Sita Sings the Blues Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community Frazer Bradshaw, filmmaker, in recognition of his film Everything Strange and New Barry Jenkins, [...]...

Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor) and Robert Siegel Big Fan (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Actor) managed to pick up three mentions each for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award nominations, but the big winner on November 30th might actually be The Coen Bros. A Serious Man who have noms in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Perf. categories. - Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor) and Robert Siegel Big Fan (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Actor) managed to pick up three mentions each for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award nominations, but the big winner on November 30th might actually be The Coen Bros. A Serious Man who have noms in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Perf. categories. Sebastian Silva's (who we just recently interviewed) picked up  pair...

On Monday, October 19, the Independent Filmmaker Project has announced the nominees for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, unraveling the dominance of "The Hurt Locker" and "Big Fan". Both feature films received the most nominations with three gongs each, and will battle it out in two categories, Best Feature and Breakthrough Actor.

In the Best Feature category, the two are up against Cherien Dabis' "Amreeka", Sebastian Silva's "The Maid" and the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man". As for the actor title, "Hurt Locker" enlisted Jeremy Renner and "Big Fan" put Patton Oswalt in competition with Ben Foster, Catalina Saavedra and Soulemane Sy Savane.

The third nod "Hurt Locker" collected is for Best Ensemble Performance, placing it to compete against "Adventureland" and "Cold Souls" among other movies. Meanwhile, "Big Fan" lands its third nomination for its director Robert Siegel. In the particular category, Siegel is listed against Cruz Angeles,...

"The Hurt Locker's" march to the Oscars has begun! The film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is nominated for best feature, breakthrough actor, and best ensemble performance at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards.

Robert Siegel's "Big Fan" also topped the Gotham nominations with best features, breakthrough actor, and breakthrough director noms.

"The Hurt Locker" is one of my favorite films this year (Click Watch My Top 10 Best Movies of Summer 2009!) so I'm rooting for this brilliant flick!

Bigelow, Natalie Portman, and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will each be presented with a career tribute.

The ceremony will be held Nov. 30 at Cipriani Wall Street.

And the nominees for the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards are:

Best Feature

"Amreeka"

Cherien Dabis, director; Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin, producers (National Geographic Entertainment)

"Big Fan"

Robert Siegel, director; Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin, producers (First Independent Pictures)

"The Hurt Locker"

Kathryn Bigelow,...

Kathryn Bigelow's hard-hitting war drama The Hurt Locker has emerged as an early Oscars favourite after picking up a string of nominations for the upcoming Gotham Independent Film Awards, one of the season's first big prizegivings.

The movie will be up against Amreeka, Big Fan, The Maid and A Serious Man in the Best Feature category, while star Jeremy Renner will fight for the Breakthrough Actor prize and he and his castmates are up for Best Ensemble Performance.

Meanwhile, director Bigelow will be among the filmmakers and stars honoured with tributes at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, held in New York on 30 November. Natalie Portman, Stanley Tucci and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will also be presented with career tributes.

Meanwhile, Chis Rock's Good Hair will compete with Food, Inc., My Neighbor My Killer, Paradise and Tyson for the Best Documentary prize and Cruz Angeles (Don’t Let Me Down), Frazer Bradshaw (Everything Strange and New), Noah Buschel (The Missing Person), Derick Martini (Lymelife) and Robert Siegel (Big Fan) will fight for the Breakthrough Director award.

Up against Renner in the Breakthrough Actor category are Ben Foster (The Messenger), comedian Patton Oswalt (Big Fan), Catalina Saavedra (The Maid) and Soulemane Sy Savane (Goodbye Solo).

Adventureland, Cold Souls, A Serious Man and Sugar will compete with The Hurt Locker for the Best Ensemble Performance honour.

The Gotham Awards are going particularly indie for their 2009 edition, nominating three festival favorites with limited distribution exposure for their best feature prize.

Cherien Dabis' immigrant tale "Amreeka,", Robert Siegel's rabid-fan pic ""Big Fan"" and Sebastian Silva's working-class drama "The Maid" all drew noms in the Gothams' top category, joining awards season frontrunners "The Hurt Locker" and "A Serious Man."

Kathryn Bigelow's "Locker" and "Fan" received the most noms overall, drawing three (both earned best feature and best actor noms, while Siegel landed a spot for breakthrough director and "Locker" scored a nom for best ensemble performance).

Best doc noms went to Robert Kenner's expose "Food, Inc.," Jeff Stilson's tonsorial exploration "Good Hair," Anne Aghion Rwandan-war pic "My Neighbor, My Killer," Michael Almereyda's experimentally minded  "Paradise" and James Toback's boxing profile "Tyson."

Not appearing on the list in any category were Lee Daniels...

We have our first batch of conversation starter nominees as nominees were announced this morning for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award, with Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Robert Siegel's Big Fan each earning three nominations with The Hurt Locker also set to receive Gotham's tribute award. In addition to the competitive awards, director Kathryn Bigelow, actors Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, will each be presented with a career tribute.

While I wouldn't expect Big Fan to do much outside the indie realm, this is a great start for The Hurt Locker as the film, the ensemble and Jeremy Renner were both singled out. Could Renner still land a Best Actor nomination?

Check out the complete list directly below and to the right is a montage of the nominated Best Feature films supplied by the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp...

IndieWire has revealed the nominations for th 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, which will be held on Monday, November 30 and is the first major awards ceremony of the awards season. Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Robert Siegel's Big Fan both lead the way with three nominations apiece, with both up for Best Feature. The complete list of nominations are below.

Best Feature

- Amreeka - Cherien Dabis, director; Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin, producers (National Geographic Entertainment)

- Big Fan - Robert Siegel, director; Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin, producers (First Independent Pictures)

- The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow, director; Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro, producers (Summit Entertainment)

- The Maid - Sebastian Silva, director; Gregorio Gonzales, producer (Elephant Eye Films)

- A Serious Man - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors/producers (Focus Features)

Best Documentary

- Food, Inc. - Robert Kenner, director; Robert Kenner,...

[Editor's note: Esan premiered at Sundance]

Year: 2009

Release date: Unknown

Directors: Frazer Bradshaw

Writers: Frazer Bradshaw

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: cyberhal

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Now that I am finally unemployed like everybody else, this is the kind of movie I suppose I should like. Experimental, thoughtful and downbeat, this is a portrait of Wayne (Jerry McDaniel), an unhappy carpenter in the middle of the kind of existentialist crisis that French philosopher Jean Paul Satre would have had wet dreams about. But with this topic, I honestly found the movie way too slow and even the visual originality wasn’t enough to make up for the fact almost nothing happens in the story. I am naturally drawn to the idea that consumerism is meaningless, and more than that, I reckon that the Government, corporations and society try to make us sign up for houses, marriage and consumerism just so that we shut up and stop dreaming for better things.

We reported on the first stills not too long ago for this unstable family drama and the trailer has just dropped today. With almost no dialog, the musical accompaniment shares with us the feelings the film seems to be about.

Wayne is a carpenter, no longer young but uneasy with the emotional complexities of adulthood. Aimless hours spent with Leo, his newly-divorced drinking buddy, offer some relief to the heavy gravity at home, where his kids run roughshod over his increasingly unstable wife. Living between these worlds leaves Wayne feeling like a character in someone else's story. Ultimately, a violent spasm rouses him from this fevered American dream.

Trailer after the break.