“Precious” walked away with Best Feature, Best Director as well as statues for both Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’nique at last night’s 25th annual Independent Spirit Awards. As the title implies, the awards exclusively celebrate independent filmmaking, and as per tradition, the ceremony falls right before the Oscars. So what bearing will this have on Sunday? Absolutely none, but it does mark the last hurrah before Sunday’s nights festivities.
We weren’t fans of “Precious,” but both Sidibe and Mo’nique deserved their wins as their performances were spellbinding and kept the film anchored even as Lee Daniels flailed about with his direction. We’re also pleased to see “A Serious Man” take away the Robert Altman Award and a cinematography win for Roger Deakins; it’s a film that really deserved much more love (particularly for lead actor Michael Stuhlbarg) this awards season. It was also nice to see Sacha Gervasi‘s “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” get some love in the Best Documentary category as his film was tremendously deserving, but somehow was snubbed by the Oscars.
Here is the full list of winners:
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
Precious
BEST DIRECTOR
Lee Daniels, Precious
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Scott, Cooper, Crazy Heart
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Lynn Shelton, Humpday
BEST SCREENPLAY
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, 500 Days of Summer
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Mo’Nique, Precious
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins, A Serious Man
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Sacha Gervasi, Anvil! The Story of Anvil
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
Lone Scherfig, An Education
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
“A Serious Man”
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Casting Directors: Ellen Chenoweth, Rachel Tenner
Cast: Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Jessica McManus, Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff
PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Karen Chien (“The Exploding Girl” & “Santa Mesa”)
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Kyle Patrick Alvarez (“Easier with Practice”)
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Bill Ross & Turner Ross (“45365”)