2014 - Awards Season: Independent Spirit Awards - Winners

February 22, 2015

Birdman poster

The Independent Spirit Awards winners were announced last night and there were few surprises. Birdman led the way with 3 wins, but it wasn't the only film to come away with more than one award.

The categories and winners 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

BEST EDITING

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

Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award

Lenscrafter Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.

Notes and Reactions...

  • Birdman won for Best Picture, but Richard Linklater won Best Director for Boyhood. Those two awards are rarely split between two movies, which makes me think I got the Oscar prediction wrong.
  • Michael Keaton won Best Lead Actor for his performance in Birdman. However, because his main competition wasn't eligible for this award, it doesn't have a real effect on the Oscars.
  • On the other hand, the other three Acting categories were won by the Oscar favorites.
  • Birdman led the way with three awards, while Boyhood, Nightcrawler, and Whiplash won two each.

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Filed under: Awards Season, Boyhood, Inherent Vice, Ida, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Land Ho!, Whiplash, Dear White People, Nightcrawler, CitizenFour, Still Alice, Patricia Arquette, Michael Keaton, Richard Linklater, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons, Dan Gilroy, Emmanuel Lubezki, Tom Cross, Dan Krauss, Justin Simien, Chris Ohlson, Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia