The 2012 Cannes opener Moonrise Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook, which won the top prize at Toronto, will lead the charge into next year’s Independent Spirit Awards, with five nominations apiece.
Both are up for Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Silver Linings Playbook’s Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are also up for the leading acting honours, while Moonrise Kingdom’s other nominations come for cinematography and for Bruce Willis in the supporting actor category.
Hot on their heels are three films with four nominations, including the best first film winner at the London Film Festival, Beasts of the Southern Wild, which is up for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography and the youngster Quvenzhané Wallis is up for the Best Female Lead.
The Spirits honour lower budget films that don’t come from the major Hollywood studios, although some of them have distribution from the arthouse branch of the majors.
The screenplay category includes Ruby Sparks, the first script written by its lead actress Zoe Kazan, and Martin McDonagh, securing a rare British nomination for his Film 4 and BFI funded Tarantino-esque Seven Psychopaths. Kazan, oddly – and rarely is there an event without its quirks – is not up for the Best First Screenplay award, whose nominees include Robot & Frank, Fill the Void and Safety Not Guaranteed.
As ever, it’s the acting categories that draws the biggest names to the awards ceremony. Spirits regular John Hawkes, who collected an award for Winter’s Bone, is back in competition alongside his co-star Helen Hunt for The Sessions, Sam Rockwell and Michael Peña are up against Bruce Willis in the supporting male category, for Seven Psychopaths and End of Watch respectively. Matthew McConaughey has two nominations – as male lead for Killer Joe and as supporting male for Magic Mike.
Two French films – both festival favourites – are up against each other in the foreign film category; Amour and Rust & Bone will be challenged by Switzerland’s Sister, Turkey’s Once Upon A Time In Anatolia and War Witch, from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Independent Spirit Awards will be handed out in a ceremony at Santa Monica beach on 23rd Febuary, the day before the 2013 Oscars. Last year’s big winner, The Artist, swept both ceremonies.
The full list of nominations:
BEST FEATURE
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep the Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs – Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
BEST SCREENPLAY
Moonrise Kingdom
Ruby Sparks
Seven Psychopaths
Silver Linings Playbook
Keep the Lights On
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Fill the Void
Gimme the Loot
Safety Not Guaranteed
Sound of My Voice
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Fill the Void
Safety Not Guaranteed
Robot & Frank
Celeste and Jesse Forever
Gayby
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (best feature made for under $500,000)
Breakfast with Curtis
Middle of Nowhere
Mosquita y Mari
Starlet
The Color Wheel
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Linda Cardellini – Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed
BEST MALE LEAD
Jack Black – Bernie
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Thure Lindhardt – Keep the Lights On
Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce – Four
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint – Middle of Nowhere
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere
Michael Peña – End of Watch
Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Valley of Saints
Here
Beasts of the Southern Wild
End of Watch
Moonrise Kingdom
BEST DOCUMENTARY
How to Survive a Plague
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
The Central Park Five
The Invisible War
The Waiting Room
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Amour (France)
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (Turkey)
Rust And Bone (France/Belgium)
Sister (Switzerland)
War Witch (Democratic Republic of Congo)
PRODUCERS AWARD (honours emerging producers, with highly limited resources)
Nobody Walks
Prince Avalanche
Stones in the Sun
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (recognises a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition)
Pincus
Gimme the Loot
Electrick Children
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (emerging director of non-fiction)
Leviathan
The Waiting Room
Only the Young
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (presented to director, casting director and cast)
Starlet (Winner already announced)