24th Annual Spirit Awards Winners

There was a lot of love for The Wrestler at the Spirit Awards, picking up best picture, male lead (Mickey Rourke) and cinematography. Seeing the truncated version on the AMC repeat of the awards almost all awards were shown and of them the most touching acceptance speech had to have been Melissa Leo for best female lead for her performance in Frozen River. The big surprize was how few surprizes there were, as the awards for the majority went to the favourites and wider distributed of the independant films. But, with such fine films to choose from I don't think anyone could complain with the results.

And the winners are....

Best Feature
The Wrestler

Best Director
Tom McCarthy - The Visitor

Best First Feature
Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel - Synecdoche, New York

John Cassavetes Award
In Search of a Midnight Kiss

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black - Milk

Best Female Lead
Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Best Male Lead
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Supporting Female
Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Supporting Male
James Franco - Milk

Best Foreign Film
The Class / Entre les murs

Best Documentary
Man on Wire

Best Cinematography
The Wrestler

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

Acura Someone to Watch Award
Lynn Shelton - My Effortless Brilliance

Lacoste Truer Than Fiction Award
Margaret Brown - The Order of Myths