Moonrise Kingdom & Silver Linings Playbook top Spirit nods

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.

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper nominated in the leading acting categories for Silver Linings Playbook

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.

British writer/director Martin McDonagh nominated for his screenplay for Seven Psychopaths
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)

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