Every year, the Spirit Awards celebrate the best in independent film.
The nominees were announced for the 26th Annual Spirits, to be handed out on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 10pm ET/PT, live on the Independent Film Channel (IFC).
After winning the top prize at the Gotham Awards, Winter's Bone leads with seven nominations.
Winter's Bone was nominated for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography.
The Best Film nominees also include 127 Hours, Greenberg, The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan.
The Kids Are All Right had five nominations while Black Swan, Greenberg and Rabbit Hole each landed four.
127 Hours, Jack Goes Boating and Tiny Furniture found three each.
Rabbit Hole received nominations for its performances from Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart playing grieving parents, as well as a director's nod for John Cameron Mitchell, best known for the 2001 cult hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Aaron Schneider‘s directorial debut Get Low, about a town's hermit staging his own funeral, was rewarded with a first feature nomination, in addition to a nod for supporting actor Bill Murray. But star Robert Duvall was left off the list.
Perhaps the most surprising film to gain recognition from the Spirit nominations was Noah Baumbach‘s Greenberg, which was named in the Best Film category, as well as best actor for Ben Stiller and best actress for Greta Gerwig.
Greenberg, which grossed only $4 million at the box office when it opened this summer, has been mostly ignored by prognosticators closely watching the Oscar race.
This year we will watch Best Actress race because that's the only category with a six nominees.
Here are the nominees:
Best Film
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 Actor
Aaron Eckhart – Rabbit Hole
Ben Stiller – Greenberg
James Franco – 127 Hours
John C. Reilly – Cyrus
Ronald Bronstein – Daddly Longlegs
Best Actress
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig – Greenberg
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
Best Supporting Actor
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 Supporting Actress
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 Foreign Film
The King's Speech
Kisses
Mademoiselle Chambon
Of Gods and Men
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Best Documentary
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Marwencol
Restrepo
Sweetgrass
Thunder Soul
Best First Feature
Everything Strange and New
Get Low
The Last Exorcism
Night Catches Us
Tiny Furniture
John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000, award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Daddy Longlegs
The Exploding Girl
Lbs.
Lovers of Hate
Obselidia
Best Screenplay
Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg – 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 Screenplay
Diane Bell – Obselidia
Lena Dunham – Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler – Lovely, Still
Robert Glaudini – Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener – Monogamy
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
Robert Altman Award (Given to one film's director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Please Give
Piaget Producers Award
In-Ah Lee – Au Revoir Taipei
Adele Romanski – The Myth of the American Sleepover
Anish Savjani – Meek's Cutoff
Acura Someone to Watch Award
Mike Ott – Littlerock
Laurel Nakadate – The Wolf Knife
Hossein Keshavarz – Dog Sweat
AVEENO Truer than Fiction Award
Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor – Sweetgrass
Jeff Malmberg – Marwencol
Lynn True, Nelson Walker – Summer Pasture
The 26th annual Spirit Awards will be held February 26, the night before the Oscars, in Santa Monica with comedian Joel McHale hosting.
