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The overlap between indie spirit and mainstream Oscar gold continued as two films up for Academy Awards, Memento and In the Bedroom, led the awards tally at IFP/West's 2002 Independent Spirit Awards, held on Saturday, March 23, in its traditional location of a tent on Santa Monica beach.
Newmarket's Memento, Christopher Nolan's widely acclaimed puzzle thriller, topped all winners with four awards, for Best Feature, Best Director (for Nolan), Best Screenplay (also for Nolan), and Best Supporting Female for Carrie-Anne Moss. Next in line with three trophies was Miramax's dark domestic drama In the Bedroom, whose first-time director, Todd Field, took the Best First Feature prize; and whose Oscar-nominated stars, Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, won Best Female Lead and Best Male Lead, respecrively. The afternoon's other multiple winner was United Artists' Ghost World, which was up for an Academy Award in the adapted screenplay category. The comedy based on Daniel Clowes' cult comic book earned two Spirit Awards, one for Best Supporting Actor for Steve Buscemi, and another for Best First Screenplay, for Clowes and the film's director, Terry Zwigoff.
Best Foreign Film honors went to another multiple Oscar nominee, Miramax's French romantic comedy Amelie, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. David Lynch's critically hailed (and also Oscar-nominated) Mulholland Dr., which rather surprisingly was shut out of all the major Spirit nominations, was recognized in the sole category in which it did receive a nomination: cinematography, for Peter Deming.
The rest of the awards went to lower-profile independent films. The John Cassavetes Award, honoring the best feature made for under $500,000, went to Jackpot. Michael Polish directed the film, which received a brief theatrical release from Sony Pictures Classics, and wrote it with his twin brother, Mark. A forthcoming Sony Classics release, Stacy Peralta's festival fave skateboarding documentary Dogtown & Z-Boys, was named Best Documentary. Michael Cuesta's L.I.E., which was the leading nomination earner going into the ceremony, earned its sole trophy for Best Debut Performance, by Paul Franklin Dano. The drama was released by Lot 47 Films.
As with every year, a trio of special awards tied to unrestricted cash grants of $20,000 were handed out. René Bastian and Linda Moran, producers of L.I.E. and Martin and Orloff, won the Motorola Producers Award, given to producers "who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality independent films." Debra Eisenstadt, director of Daydream Believer, won the Someone to Watch Award, "created "to honor a director of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition"; this year the award was sponsored by Turning Leaf Coastal Reserve. The DirecTV/IFC Truer Than Fiction Award, given to an up-and-coming director of non-fiction films, was given to Monteith McCollum, director of Hybrid.
* = winner
FEATURE
FIRST FEATURE
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
for best feature made for under $500,000
- Acts of Worship - Rosemary Rodriguez, director
- *Jackpot - Michael Polish, director
- Kaaterskill Falls -Zeinabu Irene Davis, director
- Punks - Patrik-Ian Polk, director
- Virgil Bliss - Joe Maggio, director
DIRECTOR
MALE LEAD
FEMALE LEAD
- Kim Dickens, Things Behind the Sun
- Molly Parker, The Center of the World
- *Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
- Tilda Swinton, The Deep End
- Kerry Washington, Lift
MALE SUPPORTING
FEMALE SUPPORTING
DEBUT PERFORMANCE
- *Paul Franklin Dano, L.I.E.
- Hilary Howard/Anthony Leslie/Mitchell Riggs, Kaaterskill Falls
- Ana Reeder, Acts of Worship
- Clint Jordan, Virgil Bliss
- Yolonda Ross, Stranger Inside
SCREENPLAY
FIRST SCREENPLAY
CINEMATOGRAPHY
FOREIGN FILM
DOCUMENTARY
- *Dogtown & Z-Boys - Stacy Peralta, director
- Go Tigers! - Kenneth A. Carlson, director
- Promises - B.Z. Goldberg, Carlos Bolado, & Justine Shapiro, directors
- Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton - Susan Froemke, Deborah Dickson, & Albert Maysles, directors
- Scratch - Doug Pray, director
DirecTV/IFC TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
- Children Underground - Edet Belzberg, director
- *Hybrid - Monteith McCollum, director
- The Mark of Cain - Alix Lambert, director
- Promises - B.Z. Goldberg, Carlos Bolado, & Justine Shapiro, directors
- Trembling Before G-d - Sandi Simcha Dubowski, director
Turning Leaf Coastal Reserve SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
- *Debra Eisenstadt, Daydream Believer
- DeMane Davis & Khari Streeter, Lift
- Michael Gilio, Kwik Stop
- David Maquiling, Too Much Sleep
Motorola PRODUCERS AWARD
- *René Bastian & Linda Moran, Martin and Orloff / L.I.E.
- Adrienne Gruben, Treasure Island / Olympia
- Jasmine Kosovic, Just One Time / The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
- Nadia Leonelli, Acts of Worship / Perfume
Inside the 17th Annual Independent Spirit Awards
17th Annual Independent Spirit Award Nominations/© Michael Dequina
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