The 26th Independent Spirit Awards announced!

I can't believe it.  It seemed like yesterday that I was excited about the start of awards season and here we are at the very end.  Today is the turn of the anti-Oscars, The Independent Spirit Awards which honors the best of independent and small films that normally don't get noticed by Oscars.  There are few names that you will find on the Oscar ballot too.  In recent years, there are many names that are beginning to overlap.  Now, onto the winners!

(Pics: Thanks to Just Jared/Indiewire)

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
Black Swan

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Get Low

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Daddy Longlegs

BEST SCREENPLAY
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

BEST MALE LEAD
James Franco, 127 Hours

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Exit Through The Gift Shop

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
The King’s Speech

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sara Steele

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Mike Ott, Littlerock

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol
 

There are a lot of familiar faces out with new movies as the movie festival season is on with full swing with Venice and Telluride already on. Let's familiarize ourselves with the big ones, shall we?

First off the list is Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel.




Intense!!! Portman plays a ballerina who suddenly finds a new rival for the production Swan Lake and descends into the darkness and paranoia as she struggles to maintain her position. Darren Aronofsky can really explore the dark side as he did in Requiem for a Dream and this movie has been eagerly awaited since last year. I would imagine Portman would find herself on many Best Actress lists come January. I'm curious to see Mila Kunis' performance in this. I always kinda associated her with the popular comedies (That 70s Show, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and I was surprised when she was cast in this role.

Also from Fox Searchlight is Danny Boyle's next film after winning the Oscar for direction in Slumdog Millionaire. Very interesting choice for Boyle. 127 Hours is the true story of Aron Ralston a mountain climber who has to resort to some extreme measures to get himself out a tricky situation.



James Franco is Ralston and I don't doubt for a minute this movie is going to be tame. The trailer is fast-paced (similar to Slumdog Millionaire) and showcases gorgeous scenery. Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn also star in this but this movie is going to be all Franco. Can't wait for this.

Interesting fact: Boyle used two cinematographers for this film, Anthony Dod Mantle who also won for Slumdog and Enrique Chediak. Most of the main behind-the-scenes talent from Slumdog Millionaire all reunite for 127 Hours.

Fox Searchlight is on a roll! Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, is Oscar bait already. It stars three young British talents in Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Spiderman himself, Andrew Garfield.



This trailer has a lovely sadness to it and I'm not going to include the plot summary because I fear it may give away some key points in the film.

From Focus Features comes Sofia Coppola's Somewhere about an actor who takes a good look at his life when his young daughter comes to live with him for a bit.



The movies stars Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota. I have admired Sofia Coppola for not sticking to the Hollywood stereotype as most star kids do. She always pick very different scripts for her films. Lost in Translation remains in most people's minds as the very perfect of films and I hope she returns to that form again.

Well, that's it for now. This post was a bit drama heavy and I hope to lighten it a bit next time as there some good movies releasing this September.