Spirit Award nominations announced

Rachel Getting Married
Rachel Getting Married
Film Independent’s exec director Dawn Hudson, along with actors Sandra Oh and Jason Bateman, announced the 2009 Spirit Award nominations at Sofitel in Los Angeles this morning, according to reports.

The films Ballast, Frozen River and Rachel Getting Married led all nods, with a three-way tie of six nominations for each film. All are candidates for best feature, best director, best first screenplay and best female lead. Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and Wendy and Lucy, were also nominated for best picture.

The Spirit Awards are going green this year, with all voting to be completed online. The winners will be unveiled at Film Independent’s Spirit Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 21st 2009.

Here are The 2009 Spirit Award nominees:

FEATURE (Award given to the producer)
“Ballast” – Producer: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh
“Frozen River” –
Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae
“Rachel Getting Married” – Producers: Jonathan Demme, Neda Armin, Marc Platt
“Wendy and Lucy” – Producer: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani
“The Wrestler” – Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin

DIRECTOR
Ramin Bahrani, “Chop Shop”
Jonathan Demme, “Rachel Getting Married”
Lance Hammer, “Ballast”
Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”
Tom McCarthy, “The Visitor”

FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
“Afterschool”
Director: Antonio Campos
Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond
“Medicine for Melancholy”
Director: Barry Jenkins
Producer: Justin Barber
“Sangre De Mi Sangre”
Director: Christopher Zalla
Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell
“Sleep Dealer”
Director: Alex Rivera
Producer: Anthony Bregman
“Synecdoche, New York”
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie
Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel

MALE LEAD
Javier Bardem, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

FEMALE LEAD
Summer Bishil, “Towelhead”
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Tarra Riggs, “Ballast”
Michelle Williams, “Wendy and Lucy”

SUPPORTING MALE
James Franco, “Milk”
Anthony Mackie, “The Hurt Locker”
Charlie McDermott, “Frozen River”
Jim Myron Ross, “Ballast”
Haaz Sleiman, “The Visitor”

SUPPORTING FEMALE
Penélope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Rosemarie DeWitt, “Rachel Getting Married”
Rosie Perez, “The Take”
Misty Upham, “Frozen River”
Debra Winger, “Rachel Getting Married”

SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen Vicky – “Cristina Barcelona”
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck – “Sugar”
Charlie Kaufman – “Synecdoche, New York”
Howard A. Rodman – “Savage Grace”
Christopher Zalla – “Sangre De Mi Sangre”

FIRST SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance, “Black Milk”
Lance Hammer, “Ballast”
Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”
Jonathan Levine, “The Wackness”
Jenny Lumet, “Rachel Getting Married”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maryse Alberti, “The Wrestler”
Lol Crawley, “Ballast”
James Laxton, “Medicine for Melancholy”
Harris Savides, “Milk”
Michael Simmonds, “Chop Shop”

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
“In Search of a Midnight Kiss”
Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge
Producers: Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy
“Prince of Broadway”
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean
Producer: Darren Dean
“The Signal”
Writer/Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Producers: Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh,
“Take Out”
Writer/Director/Producers: Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Turn the River” Writer/Director: Chris Eigeman
Producer: Ami Armstrong

DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
“The Betrayal’ – Director: Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Encounters at the End of the World’ – Director: Werner Herzog
“Man on Wire’ – Director: James Marsh
“The Order of Myths’ – Director: Margaret Brown
“Up the Yangtze’ – Director: Yung Chang

FOREIGN FILM
“The Class” (France) – Director: Laurent Cantet
“Gomorra” (Italy) – Director: Matteo Garrone
“Hunger” (UK/Ireland) – Director: Steve McQueen
“Secret of the Grain” (France) – Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
“Silent Light” (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany) – Director: Carlos Reygadas

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
“Synecdoche, New York”
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

IFC/ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Barry Jenkins, director of Medicine for Melancholy
Nina Paley, director of Sita Sings the Blues
Lynn Shelton, director of My Effortless Brilliance

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Margaret Brown, director of The Order of Myths
Sacha Gervasi, director of Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Darius Marder, director of Loot

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, producers of Treeless Mountain and I’ll Come Running
Jason Orans, producer of Goodbye Solo and Year of the Fish
Heather Rae, producer of Frozen River and Ibid