Awards Season: Silver Linings for Limited Releases

November 28, 2012

The Independent Spirit Awards has a special place in the Awards Season. The nominations are the unoffficial start of Awards Season, but the actual awards aren't given out until Oscar weekend, so they are the beginning at the end of Awards Season. They also help out a lot of limited releases that would otherwise not get enough buzz, although they are not so good at predicting Oscar wins. This year, two films tied for most nominations, Moonrise Kingdom and The Silver Linings Playbook, both of which earned five nominations. They weren't the only films to earn multiple nominations though.

The categories and nominations are...

BEST FEATURE

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST SCREENPLAY

BEST FIRST FEATURE

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

BEST FEMALE LEAD

BEST MALE LEAD

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)

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

Piaget Producers Award

Acura Someone to Watch Award

  • David Fenster for Pincus
  • Adam Leon for Gimme the Loot
  • Rebecca Thomas for Electrick Children
Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.

Notes and Reactions...

  • This is the second year in a row we've had two films lead the way with five nominations each. I think The Silver Linings Playbook came out a little ahead, as it earned slightly more prestigious awards than Moonrise Kingdom did, although they are up against each other in three categories.
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild, Keep the Lights On, and Middle of Nowhere were right behind with four nominations.
  • Matthew McConaughey picked up two nominations, one for Best Lead Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.
  • Meanwhile, Brit Marling earned nominations for Best Supporting Actress and as producer for Sound of My Voice. This is the second year in a row that the actress has earned two Independent Spirit Awards. If she has similar success with The East next year, then every film she touches will have some Awards Season buzz simply by the pedigree.
  • This is the third year in a row that John Hawkes has earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
  • There were several films that didn't quite do as well as I had hoped at the box office, but earned nominations. Seven Psychopaths, Ruby Sparks, Safety Not Guarenteed, The Sessions, and others. Some are still in theaters while others are already out on DVD / Blu-ray, but hopefully all of them will get a bit of a boost.

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Filed under: Awards Season, Celeste and Jesse Forever, Middle of Nowhere, Bernie, Killer Joe, The Sessions, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Moonrise Kingdom, Keep the Lights On, Your Sister's Sister, Bir zamanlar Anadolu'da, Magic Mike, Silver Linings Playbook, Return, Sound of My Voice, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Safety Not Guaranteed, End of Watch, Here, Seven Psychopaths, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, The Loneliest Planet, Smashed, De rouille et d’os, Compliance, Rebelle, Robot & Frank, The Invisible War, How to Survive a Plague, Ruby Sparks, The Color Wheel, Amour, Nobody Walks, L'enfant d'en haut, Mosquita y Mari, Electrick Children, The Waiting Room, The Central Park Five, Gayby, Starlet, Bruce Willis, Wes Anderson, Jack Black, Linda Cardellini, Bradley Cooper, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ann Dowd, John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, Rashida Jones, Zoe Kazan, Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, Will McCormack, Michael Peña, Sam Rockwell, David O. Russell, Lorraine Toussaint, Alicia Van Couvering, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Wendell Pierce, , Roman Coppola, Brit Marling, Robert Yeoman, David Oyelowo, Thure Lindhardt, Ira Sachs, Quvenzhané Wallis, , Derek Connolly, Derrick Tseng, Christopher D. Ford, Ben Richardson, Verena Paravel, Mauricio Zacharias, Julia Loktev, Martin McDonagh, Roman Vasyanov, Peter Nicks, Jonathan Lisedki, Emayatzy Corinealdi