As it does every year, Independent Spirit Award nominations kick off the unofficial start of Awards Season. This year there were two films that topped the list of nominations: The Artist and Take Shelter. Both of those films earned five nominations, but they weren't the only films to be singled out.

The categories and nominations are...

BEST FEATURE

• 50/50
• The Artist
• Beginners
• The Descendants
• Drive
• Take Shelter

• Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
• Mike Mills for Beginners
• Jeff Nichols for Take Shelter
• Alexander Payne for The Descendants
• Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive

• Joseph Cedar for Footnote
• Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
• Tom McCarthy for Win Win
• Mike Mills for Beginners
• Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash for The Descendants

• Another Earth
• In the Family
• Margin Call
• Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Natural Selection

Mike Cahill and Brit Marling for Another Earth
• J.C. Chandor for Margin Call
• Patrick deWitt for Terri
• Phil Johnston for Cedar Rapids
• Will Reiser for 50/50

• Bellflower
• Circumstance
• Hello Lonesome
• Pariah
• The Dynamiter

• Lauren Ambrose for Think of Me
• Rachael Harris for Natural Selection
• Adepero Oduye for Pariah
• Elizabeth Olsen for Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn

• Demian Bechir for A Better Life
• Jean Dujardin for The Artist
• Ryan Gosling for Drive
• Woody Harrelson for Rampart
• Michael Shannon for Take Shelter

• Albert Brooks for Drive
• John Hawkes for Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Christopher Plummer for Beginners
• John C. Reilly for Cedar Rapids

• Jessica Chastain for Take Shelter
• Anjelica Huston for 50/50
• Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs
• Harmony Santana for Gun Hill Road
• Shailene Woodley for The Descendants

• An African Election
• Bill Cunningham New York
• The Interrupters
• The Redemption of General Butt Naked
• We Were Here

• A Separation (Iran)
• Melancholia (Sweden)
• Shame (U.K.)
• The Kid With a Bike (France)
• Tyrannosaur (U.K.)

• Joel Hodge for Bellflower
• Benjamin Kasulke for The Off Hours
• Darius Khondji for Midnight in Paris
• Guillame Schiffma for Pariah
• Jeffrey Waldron for The Dynamiter

Margin Call

Also announced were the nominees for the three Filmmaker Grant Awards.

Piaget Producers Award

• Chad Burris for Mosquita y Mari
• Sophia Lin for Take Shelter
• Josh Mond for Martha Marcy May Marlene

• Simon Arthur for Silver Tongues
• Mark Jackson for Without
• Nicholas Ozeki for Mamitas

• Heather Courtney for Where Soldiers Come From
• Danfung Dennis for Hell and Back Again
• Alma Har’el for Bombay Beach

• As previously stated, The Artist and Take Shelter led the way with five nominations, and three times they are up against each other.
• Beginners, The Descendants, Drive, and Martha Marcy May Marlene were right behind with four nods each.
• No actors doubled up on nominations this year, but Michelle Williams and John Hawkes both earned their second Independent Spirit Award nomination in a row.
• On the downside, Win Win and Midnight in Paris were nearly shut out. I was a bit shocked by that.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2011-11-30