Black Swan Leads 2011 Independent Spirit Award Winners

Well, every year the Independent Spirit Awards are handed out the night before the Oscars, and every year, it seems that they are honouring a completely different set of films, despite having a number of overlapping nominees. At this point, it almost seems like you don’t want to win a Spirit Award because if you do, it means you won’t end up winning the Oscar. Assuming history repeats itself, James Franco’s chances of winning Best Actor for 127 Hours just got a little worse (not that he really had a shot in the first place), and Natalie Portman might not be the lock that everyone thinks she is.

Black Swan also ended up taking home Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Cinematography, while John Hawkes and Dale Dickey took home Supporting Actor and Actress awards for Winter’s Bone. The Kids Are All Right ended up getting Best Screenplay, while Exit Through the Gift Shop won Best Documentary (and no, Bansky didn’t accept it… Mr. Brainwash did). Check out the full list of winners after the jump and feel free to speculate on whether or not any of these will end up winning again tonight at the Academy Awards.


Best Feature

127 Hours
Black Swan
Greenberg
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Best Screenplay

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

Best First Feature

Everything Strange and New
Get Low
Night Catches Us
The Last Exorcism
Tiny Furniture

Best First Screenplay

Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

John Cassavetes Award

Daddy Longlegs
Lbs.
Lovers of Hate
Obselidia
The Exploding Girl

Best Female Lead

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Male Lead

Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

Best Supporting Female

Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

Best Supporting Male

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Best Cinematography

Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

Best Documentary

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Marwencol
Restrepo
Sweetgrass
Thunder Soul

Best Foreign Film

Kisses
Mademoiselle Chambon
Of Gods and Men
The King’s Speech
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Acura Someone to Watch Award

Hossein Keshavarz, Dog Sweat
Laurel Nakadate, The Wolf Knife
Mike Ott, Littlerock

Piaget Producers Award

In-Ah Lee, Au Revoir Taipei
Adele Romanski, The Myth of the American Sleepover
Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

Aveeno Truer Than Fiction Award

Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Sweetgrass
Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol
Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Summer Pasture

Robert Altman Award

Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sarah Steele