Each year, the awards season comes to a close with two of the biggest ceremonies in the US. Tonight is of course the best known, with the Academy Awards being the most prestigious handed out in the industry. But every year, the previous night is reserved for recognising the achievements in filmmaking outside of the studio system with the Independent Spirit Awards.
I’m a big fan of the Independent Spirit Awards, and look forward to their results every year. Last night, some of the finest talents across the independent industry were recognised, and Silver Linings Playbook came away on top with an impressive four category wins.
David O. Russell’s latest feature took home the Best Feature award, it won him personally the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards, and Jennifer Lawrence’s remarkable performance in it won her the Best Female Lead award.
Derek Connolly’s script in Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed won him a very well-deserved Best First Screenplay, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower took home the Best First Feature (which I was really hoping Safety Not Guaranteed would win as well).
The Sessions took home the Best Male Lead and Best Supporting Female awards for John Hawkes and Helen Hunt, with Matthew McConaughey taking the Best Supporting Male for his performance in Magic Mike.
Amour continued its reign in this awards season to take home the Best Foreign Feature award. Ben Richardson won the Best Cinematography award for his work on Beasts of the Southern Wild. The Invisible War won the Best Documentary award, and Middle of Nowhere and Starlet won the John Cassavetes and the Robert Altman awards, respectively.
As I said above, I would have loved to see Safety Not Guaranteed take home the Best First Feature award, because I really thought it was one of the best debut films in recent memory when I first saw it at Sundance London last year. If you’ve not seen it, I highly recommend seeking it out as soon as possible. It’s not been one of the most talked-about films in the past year for no reason.
Silver Linings Playbook has of course been immensely successful over the past six months, and deservedly so. Lawrence is the front-runner to take home the Best Actress award at tonight’s Academy Awards, and we can’t wait to see how it all pans out by the end of the night.
Best Feature
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Beasts Of The Southern Wild
- Bernie
- Keep The Lights On
- Moonrise Kingdom
Best Director
- David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
- Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
- Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet
- Ira Sachs – Keep The Lights On
- Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best First Feature
- The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
- Fill The Void
- Gimme The Loot
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Sound Of My Voice
Best Male Lead
- John Hawkes – The Sessions
- Jack Black – Bernie
- Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
- Thure Lindhart – Keep The Lights On
- Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
- Wendell Pierce – Four
Best Female Lead
- Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
- Linda Cardenelli – Return
- Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle Of Nowhere
- Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed
Best Supporting Male
- Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
- David Oyelowo – Middle Of Nowhere
- Michael Pena – End Of Watch
- Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
- Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom
Best Supporting Female
- Helen Hunt – The Sessions
- Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
- Ann Dowd – Compliance
- Brit Marling – Sound Of My Voice
- Lorraine Toussaint – Middle Of Nowhere
Best Screenplay
- David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
- Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
- Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
- Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths
- Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias – Keep The Lights On
Best First Screenplay
- Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed
- Rama Burshtein – Fill The Void
- Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank
- Rashida Jones & Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever
- Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby
Best International Feature
- Amour
- Once Upon A Time In Anatolia
- Rust and Bone
- Sister
- War Witch
Best Documentary
- The Invisible War
- The Central Park Five
- How To Survive A Plague
- Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present
- The Waiting Room
Best Cinematography
- Ben Richardson – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
- Roman Vasyanov – End Of Watch
- Lol Crawley – Here
- Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom
- Yoni Brook – Valley Of The Saints
John Cassavetes Award
- Middle Of Nowhere
- Breakfast With Curtis
- The Color Wheel
- Mosquita y Mari
- Starlet
Robert Altman Award
- Starlet
