31st Film Independent Spirit Awards Winners

Yesterday early afternoon the last independent cinema group had their awards ceremony and I almost miss it as imagined was going to be at the usual 8pm ET but no, was at 2pm PT or 5pm ET!!! Bet you was because many of those attending had to go to parties that night. Yes, there have been lots of parties since last Thursday and the biggest ones will be tonight.

Spirit Awards ceremony was funny and informal thus very entertaining even when movies I didn't care for started to win the awards (lol!) so yes, saw it until the end and gee, was glad as camera decided to go to Carol table and we were able to watch a spirited (not really but the adjective fits the awards) conversation between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. But not only that moment was Carol related as enjoyed when Ed Lachman won for cinematography -the only award for Carol- and the most spectacular moment undoubtedly was when Cate an Rooney presented Carol and well, yes Cate went for Rooney boob! (lol!) Too cliché but what the heck, it work nicely as both actresses have a nice in front of cameras rapport. Take a look.



Then you have the parodies, there are two one for Room and one for Carol, bot are funny with lots of American style humor, that I do not enjoy much, but for an unknown reason both clips made me laugh -perhaps I like the comedy of Kate McKinnon. At the end of the post you will find both clips.

Besides Lachman winning there were other awards that make me believe that American awards groups still grant honors to deserving films. The two awards for Beasts of No Nation make this raw outstanding film relevant again and if you haven't watch it, suggest you do it fast.  Glad Saul Fia won as well as The Look of Silence, both deserve the honors and most likely the first will win an Oscar while the second probably not as Amy not only has a great story but an outstanding storyteller.

No doubt that Film Independent members like Spotlight as was the film that won most awards, in this sense independent cinema people behaved very similar to film critics/journalist this year.

If you wish to read the press release go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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11/24/15
A few moments ago Film Independent had the press conference where Elizabeth Olsen and John Boyega announced the nominations for the 2015 Spirit Awards and can't deny that I'm very pleased with Carol by Todd Haynes leading the pack with six (6) nominations closely followed by Tom McCarthy's Spotlight and Cary Joji Fukunaga's Beasts of no Nation with five (5) each.

There are many omissions but for me most notorious is the absence of a movie I was hoping could make it to the American Indie awards, Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas.  Know that I'm not alone as many seem to have huge deception with the film snub.

The best news come from the Best Female Lead as BOTH Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara have a nomination, which means that some (hope ALL) award organizers recognize both actresses as lead in Carol.

Best Feature
Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson
Beasts of No Nation, Cary Joji Fukunaga
Carol, Todd Haynes
*Spotlight, Tom McCarthy
Tangerine, Sean Baker

Best First Feature
*The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller
James White, Josh Mond
Manos Sucias, Josef Kubota Wladyka
Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano
Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Chloé Zhao

Best Director
Sean Baker for Tangerine
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts of No Nation
Todd Haynes for Carol
Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson for Anomalisa
*Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
David Robert Mitchell for It Follows

Best Screenplay
Charlie Kaufman for Anomalisa
Donald Margulies for The End of the Tour
Phyllis Nagy for Carol
*Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight
S. Craig Zahler for Bone Tomahawk

Best First Screenplay
Jesse Andrews for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jonas Carpignano for Mediterranea
*Emma Donoghue for Room
Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Magary, Russell Harbaugh and Myna Joseph for The Mend

Best Female Lead
Cate Blanchett in Carol
*Brie Larson in Room
Rooney Mara in Carol
Bel Powley in The Diary of A Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriquez in Tangerine

Best Supporting Female
Robin Bartlett in H.
Marin Ireland in Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh in Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon in James White
*Mya Taylor in Tangerine

Best Male Lead
Christopher Abbott for James White
*Abraham Attah for Beasts of No Nation
Ben Mendelsohn for Mississippi Grind
Jason Segel for The End of the Tour
Koudous Seihon for Mediterranea

Best Supporting Male
Kevin Corrigan in Results
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy
*Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation
Richard Jenkins in Bone Tomahawk
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes

Best Documentary
(T)error, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe
Heart of Dog, Laurie Anderson
*The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer
Meru, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
The Russian Woodpecker, Chad Gracia

Best International Film
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Roy Andersson
Embrace the Serpent, Ciro Guerra
Girlhood, Céline Sciamma
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
*Son of Saul, László Nemes

Best Cinematography
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts of No Nation
*Ed Lachman for Carol
Michael Gioulakis for It Follows
Reed Morano for Meadlowland
Joshua James Richards for Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Best Editing
Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie for Heaven Knows What
Julio C. Perez IV for It Follows
Kristian Sprague for Manos Sucias
Nathan Nuget for Room
*Tom McArdle for Spotlight

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Under $500,000)
Advantageous, Jennifer Phang
Christmas, Again, Charles Poekel
Heaven Knows What, Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie
*Krisha, Trey Edward Shults
Out of My Hand, Takeshi Fukunaga

Robert Altman Award Honors this year the Director Tom McCarthy, Casting Director Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee, and Ensemble Cast of Spotlight
Ensemble Cast: Billy Crudup, Brian d'Arcy James, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Sheridan, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci.

Filmmaker Grants

Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award
Chloe Zhoa for Songs My Brothers Taught Me
*Felix Thompson for King Jack
Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck for God Bless the Child

Piaget Producers Award
Darren Dean
*Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith

Truer than Fiction Award
Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti for A Woman Like Me
*Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for Incorruptible
Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi for Among the Believers

Awards ceremony will be on February 27, 2016; will be broadcast exclusively on IFC live at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET. Jessica Chastain is the Honorary Chair for this year's Spirit Awards.  If you wish to check info about each of the above films at the official site go here.