Don't Forget the Independent Spirit Awards

The brothers Duplass of "The Puffy Chair": Mark wrote and acted, Jay wrote and directed, both produced

The Oscars are right around the corner. That means so are the Independent Spirit Awards, which always takes place the Saturday before the Oscars. In addition to the usual acting, directing, writing, and cinematography awards, the Spirit Awards has 5 "best film" categories:

Best Feature Film
* Brokeback Mountain (now playing at various local theaters)
* Capote
* Good Night and Good Luck
* The Squid and the Whale (screened at HIFF in October)
* The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Best First Feature
* Crash
* Lackawanna Blues
* Me and You and Everyone We Know
* Thumbsucker
* Transamerica (now playing at the Varsity Theater)

John Cassavetes Award
(for best feature made for under $500K)
* Brick
* Conventioneers (screened at HIFF in October) [Hooray Mora and Joel!]
* Jellysmoke
* The Puffy Chair [Go Duplasses!]
* Room

Best Documentary
* Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
* Grizzly Man
* La Sierra
* Romantico (screened at HIFF in October)
* Sir! No Sir!

Best Foreign Film
* The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
* Duck Season
* Head-On
* Paradise Now (screened at HIFF in October)
* Tony Takitani (Haruki Murakami was inspired to write this story by an old campaign t-shirt of Tony Takitani, a former state lawmaker.)

The Spirit Awards also has the following awards for emerging filmmakers, each attached to a $25,000 unrestricted grant:

Someone to Watch Award
* Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, director of Cavite (screened at HIFF in October)
* Robinson Devor, director of Police Beat
* Jay Duplass, director of The Puffy Chair

Truer Than Fiction Award
* Rachel Boynton for Our Brand is Crisis
* Garrett Scott & Ian Olds for Occupation: Dreamland
* Mark Becker for Romántico (screened at HIFF in October)
* Thomas Allen Harris for Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela

Producers Award
* Caroline Baron, producer of Capote and Monsoon Wedding
* Ram Bergman, producer of Brick and Conversations with Other Women
* Mike S. Ryan, producer of Junebug and Palindromes

The ceremony takes place this Saturday, March 4 at 2pm EST (5pm EST), and will air live on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), which is usually only available on pricey digital cable (how ironic considering that it's poor indie filmmakers who are most interested in watching it!). An edited version will be rebroadcast on AMC that same night at 10pm EST/PST. Unfortunately, the rebroadcast often favors the beautiful famous folks and edits out the awards given to unknowns that truly embody the independent spirit--the John Cassavetes Award and the 3 emerging filmmaker / cash grant awards.

>> Independent Spirit Awards (official site)

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