Spirit Awards 2008

The nominations have been announced for the 24th annual Spirit Awards for 2008. I find it fascinating that they are the first nominations I've heard of this year but the actual awards are presented just one day before the Oscar ceremony (TMC/IFC Feb 21/09).

The nominations this year include some great films such as Rachel Getting Married and The Visitor as well as many I'm looking forward to but haven't had the chance to see like Frozen River and Ballast. I'm also thrilled to see the docs include 2 of the best films I've seen this year: Man on Wire and Up the Yangtze.

With the list coming out and the Golden Globes being announced next week it lets me know its time to dust off the tiara for awards season once again. For those tallying up, the most nominations are for Frozen River, Ballast and Rachel Getting Married. Here is the itemized list:

Best Feature
Rachel Getting Married
The Wrestler
Wendy and Lucy
Ballast
Frozen River

Best Director
Tom McCarthy - The Visitor
Jonathan Demme - Rachel Getting Married
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Ramin Bahrani - Chop Shop
Lance Hammer - Ballast

Best First Feature
Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond - Afterschool
Barry Jenkins, Justin Barber - Medicine for Melancholy
Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel - Synecdoche, New York
Alex Rivera, Anthony Bregman - Sleep Dealer
Christopher Zalla, Per Melita, Benjamin Odell - Sangre De Mi Sangre

John Cassavetes Award
Prince of Broadway
Take Out
The Signal
Turn the River
In Search of a Midnight Kiss

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck - Sugar
Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman - Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla - Sangre De Mi Sangre

Best First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Jonathan Levine - The Wackness
Jenny Lumet - Rachel Getting Married

Best Female Lead
Summer Bishil - Towelhead / Nothing is Private
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Tarra Riggs - Ballast
Michelle Williams - Wendy and Lucy

Best Male Lead
Javier Bardem- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Sean Penn - Milk
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Supporting Female
Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez - The Take
Misty Upham - Frozen River
Debra Winger - Rachel Getting Married

Best Supporting Male
James Franco - Milk
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott - Frozen River
JimMyron Ross - Ballast
Haaz Sleiman - The Visitor

Best Foreign Film
The Class / Entre les murs
Gomorra
Secret of the Grain
Hunger
Silent Light

Best Documentary
The Order of Myths
Up the Yangtze
Encounters at the End of the World
The Betrayal
Man on Wire

Best Cinematography
The Wrestler
Ballast
Medicine for Melancholy
Milk
Chop Shop

Robert Altman Award
Synecdoche, New York
Charlie Kaufman (Director), Jeanne McCarthy (Casting Director), Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

Piaget Producers Award
Heather Rae - Frozen River
Jason Orans - Goodbye Solo, Year of the Fish
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy - Treeless Mountain, I'll Come Running

Acura Someone to Watch Award
Lynn Shelton - My Effortless Brilliance
Nina Paley - Sita Sings the Blues
Barry Jenkins - Medicine for Melancholy

Lacoste Truer Than Fiction Award
Darius Marder - Loot
Sacha Gervasi - Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Margaret Brown - The Order of Myths

For those (like me) who are interested in what qualifies for the awards, I pulled up the Submission Guidelines:
1. All submitted films must be at least 70 minutes long.
2. Cost of completed film, including post, must be less than $20 million.
(For verification purposes, all films with total budgets exceeding $15 million or films with budgets under $500,000 applying for the Cassavetes Award are required to submit the top sheets from the film's Final Cost Report.)
3. Eligible films must have either:
1. Been shown at least one week in a commercial theater between January 1 and December 31, 2008; or
2. Been shown in 2008 at one of the following six film festivals: The Los Angeles Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, New York, Sundance, Telluride or Toronto.
Films that have or will have domestic theatrical distribution should be submitted the year of their theatrical run.

Source, plus hat tip to Mad Hatter for first posting I've seen on these awards.