The Spirit Awards are like the Academy Awards of the independent film world — and in recent years, they’ve also served as a pretty good predictor of which titles would be receiving Oscar nominations. Thanks to big budget, yet critic-friendly releases like Argo, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, and Life of Pi, that might not necessarily be the case this year. That said, we imagine that you’ll be hearing about more than a few of these films in the awards season ahead, specifically David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which lead the pack with five nods a piece. Also receiving multiple nominations: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Middle of Nowhere, and Keep the Lights On, which scored four nominations each. Click through to view the full list of nominees, and hit the comments to let us know who you favor to win in each category!
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
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs, 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
Rama Burshtein, Fill the Void
Derek Connolly, Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford, Robot & Frank
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack, Celeste and Jesse Forever
Jonathan Lisecki, Gayby
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
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 Péna, End of Watch
Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Yoni Brook, Valley of Saints
Lol Crawley, Here
Ben Richardson, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov, End of Watch
Robert Yeoman, 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, Michael Haneke
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust And Bone, Jacques Audiard
Sister, Ursula Meier
War Witch, Kim Nguyen
16th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Nobody Walks, Alicia Van Couvering
Prince Avalanche, Derrick Tseng
Stones in the Sun, Mynette Louie
19th ANNUAL SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Pincus, David Fenster
Gimme the Loot, Adam Leon
Electrick Children, Rebecca Thomas
STELLA ARTOIS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Leviathan, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
The Waiting Room, Peter Nicks
Only the Young, Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mims
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Starlet
Director: Sean Baker
Casting Director: Julia Kim
Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ransone
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