Independent Spirit Award nominations

[Lazy Boy]

2007 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS
(BY CATEGORY)

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)

American Gun
Producer: Ted Kroeber

The Dead Girl
Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Henry
Winterstern, Gary Lucchesi,
Richard Wright, Eric Karten, Kevin
Turen

Half Nelson
Producers: Jamie Patricof, Alex
Orlovsky, Lynette Howell, Anna
Boden, Rosanne Korenberg

Little Miss Sunshine
Producers: Marc Turtletaub, David
T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert
Berger, Ron Yerxa

Pan's Labyrinth
Producers: Bertha Navarro, Alfonso
Cuaron, Frida Torresblanco,
Alvaro Augustin, Guillermo Del
Toro


BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)

Day Night Day Night
Director: Julia Loktev
Producers: Julia Loktev, Melanie
Judd, Jessica Levin

Man Push Cart
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Producers: Ramin Bahrani, Pradip
Ghosh, Bedford T. Bentley III

The Motel
Director: Michael Kang
Producers: Matthew Greenfield,
Miguel Arteta, Gina Kwon, Karin
Chien

Sweet Land
Director: Ali Selim
Producers: Alan Cumming, James
Bigham, Ali Selim

Wristcutters: A Love Story
Director: Goran Dukic
Producers: Adam Sherman, Chris
Coen, Tatiana Kelly, Mikal P.
Lazarev


BEST DIRECTOR

Robert Altman - A Prairie Home Companion
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris - Little Miss Sunshine
Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson
Karen Moncrieff - The Dead Girl
Steven Soderbergh - Bubble


JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the
writer, director, and producer)
NOTE: Executive Producers are not listed.

Chalk Director: Mike Akel
Producers: Mike Akel, Angela
Alvarez, Graham Davidson, Chris
Mass
Writers: Chris Mass & Mike Akel

Four Eyed Monsters Writer/Director/Producers: Arin
Crumley & Susan Buice

Old Joy Director: Kelly Reichardt
Producers: Lars Knudsen, Jay Van
Hoy, Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp
Writers: Jon Raymond & Kelly
Reichardt

Quinceanera Writer/Directors: Richard Glatzer &
Wash Westmoreland
Producer: Anne Clements

Twelve and Holding Director: Michael Cuesta
Producers: Leslie Urdang, Michael
Cuesta, Brian Bell, Jenny
Schweitzer
Writer: Anthony S. Cipriano

BEST SCREENPLAY

Neil Burger - The Illusionist
Nicole Holofcener - Friends with Money
Ron Nyswaner - The Painted Veil
Jason Reitman - Thank You For Smoking
Jeff Stanzler - Sorry, Haters


BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson
Goran Dukic - Wristcutters: A Love Story
Dito Montiel - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Gabrielle Zevin - Conversations with Other Women


BEST FEMALE LEAD

Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
Elizabeth Reaser - Sweet Land
Michelle Williams - Land of Plenty
Robin Wright Penn - Sorry, Haters


BEST MALE LEAD

Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Edward Norton - The Painted Veil
Ahmad Razvi - Man Push Cart
Forest Whitaker - American Gun


BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Melonie Diaz - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Marcia Gay Harden - American Gun
Mary Beth Hurt - The Dead Girl
Frances McDormand - Friends with Money
Amber Tamblyn - Stephanie Daley


BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Raymond J. Barry - Steel City
Daniel Craig - Infamous
Paul Dano - Little Miss Sunshine
Channing Tatum - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Arin Crumley - Four Eyed Monsters
Anthony Dod Mantle - Brothers of the Head
Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth
Aaron Platt - Wild Tigers I Have Known
Michael Simmonds - Man Push Cart


BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)

A Lion in the House Directors: Steven Bognar & Julia
Reichert

My Country, My Country Director: Laura Poitras

The Road to Guantanamo Directors: Michael Winterbottom and
Mat Whitecross

The Trials of Darryl Hunt Directors: Annie Sundberg and Ricki
Stern

You're Gonna Miss Me Director: Keven McAlester


BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)

12:08 East of Bucharest Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
(Romania)

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros Director: Auraeus Solito
(Philippines)

Chronicle of an Escape Director: Israel Adrian Caetano
(Argentina)

Days of Glory Director: Rachid Bouchareb
(France/Morocco/Algeria/Belgium)

The Lives of Others Director: Florian Henckel von
(Germany) Donnersmarck

[LedZeppelin1114]

here are some of my bets:

Best Picture-Little Miss Sunshine
Best Actor-Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Best Screenplay-Thank You For Smoking
Best First Screenplay-Little Miss Sunshine
Best First Feature-Wristcutters: A Love Story
Best Actress-Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration
Documentary- The Road to Guantanamo

[BubbaStrangelove]

Why do they always spell my name and my movies totally wrong?

[HeavyFknMetal]

I have a feeling that Little Miss Sunshine's gonna do pretty well this year.

I'm willing to bet Altman will get the Best Director award too.

[Hannibal21]

The recognition for Half Nelson and Little Miss Sunshine was expected, but aside from those two films most of these noms were not what I had predicted at all (many of these I know very, very little about).

I seriously expected to The Queen/The Last King of Scotland/Little Children/Babel/Venus (among other films) to dominate the awards, boy was I dead wrong.

[JackassFan]

My winners:

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
Little Miss Sunshine
Producers: Marc Turtletaub, David
T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert
Berger, Ron Yerxa

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Sweet Land
Director: Ali Selim
Producers: Alan Cumming, James
Bigham, Ali Selim

BEST DIRECTOR
Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the
writer, director, and producer)
Twelve and Holding Director: Michael Cuesta
Producers: Leslie Urdang, Michael
Cuesta, Brian Bell, Jenny
Schweitzer
Writer: Anthony S. Cipriano

BEST SCREENPLAY
Jason Reitman - Thank You For Smoking

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration

BEST MALE LEAD
Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
(Can't decide)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Marcia Gay Harden - American Gun

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth


BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
The Road to Guantanamo Directors: Michael Winterbottom and
Mat Whitecross


BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
Days of Glory Director: Rachid Bouchareb
(France/Morocco/Algeria/Belgium)

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by Hannibal21
I seriously expected to The Queen/The Last King of Scotland/Little Children/Babel/Venus (among other films) to dominate the awards, boy was I dead wrong.

I'm not even sure if those movies were eligible. I don't know how it works, but I remember when 21 Grams came out 3 years ago, it wasn't eligibile to compete at the Independent Spirit Awards, so they gave it some sort of special prize there as an honorable mention of sorts, since it was an independent movie. Babel, at least, could be the same way. Not sure about the others, but I really don't see how none of them could manage even a single nomination unless they weren't eligible because of some technicality or something. I mean, do you really think anyone would have nominated Forest Whitaker for American Gun instead of The Last King of Scotland, or really any of those Best Actress nominees (one of which is really a supporting role) over Helen Mirren or Kate Winslet?

Anyway, I'm fairly certain that Little Miss Sunshine will win Best Feature. It's got all the buzz right now, despite getting merely good reviews upon its release. I guess the box office helped though. The award shows really love those "little movies that could." Still, I'm a little puzzled that it wasn't nominated for Best Screenplay. I know it got the Best First Screenplay nod, but according to their rules, it could have gotten a Best Screenplay nod if it got enough votes, which would in turn make in ineligible for Best First Screenplay. But apparently it didn't make it iin.

Other than that, these awards usually don't have much of an effect on the Oscars, as much as the Oscars have been indie-crazy as of late. Remember last year, Crash failed to even be nominated for Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards (and the Golden Globes too, I might add), and look how that turned out. It won Best First Feature, but again, that doesn't make it ineligible for a Best Feature nomination. So really, if you're taking these nominations into consideration when predicting the Oscars, they're not a very good precursor.