2015 Thirty Years of Nominees & Winners FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS BEST SCREENPLAY 2015 NOMINEES (Winners in bold) *Dan Gilroy Nightcrawler BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer) Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski Big Eyes *Birdman or (The Unexpected J.C. Chandor A Most Violent Year Virtue of Ignorance Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Jim Jarmusch Only Lovers Left Alive John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, Ira Sachs, James W. Skotchdopole Mauricio Zacharias Love Is Strange Boyhood Producers: Richard Linklater, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, Cathleen Sutherland BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY Love is Strange Producers: Lucas Joaquin, Lars Knudsen, *Justin Simien Dear White People Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, Desiree Akhavan Appropriate Behavior Jay Van Hoy Sara Colangelo Little Accidents Selma Producers: Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Oprah Winfrey Justin Lader The One I Love Whiplash Producers: Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, Anja Marquardt She’s Lost Control David Lancaster, Michael Litvak BEST FEMALE LEAD BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer) *Julianne Moore Still Alice *Nightcrawler Director: Dan Gilroy Marion Cotillard The Immigrant Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Rinko Kikuchi Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak Jenny Slate Obvious Child A Girl Walks Home Alone Tilda Swinton Only Lovers Left Alive At Night Director: Ana Lily Amirpour Producers: Justin Begnaud, Sina Sayyah BEST MALE LEAD Dear White People Director/Producer: Justin Simien *Michael Keaton Birdman or Producers: Effie T. Brown, Ann Le, (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Lena Waithe André Benjamin Jimi: All Is By My Side Jake Gyllenhaal Nightcrawler Obvious Child Director: Gillian Robespierre Producer: Elisabeth Holm John Lithgow Love is Strange She’s Lost Control Director/Producer: Anja Marquardt David Oyelowo Selma Producers: Mollye Asher, Kiara C. Jones BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE (Given to the best feature made for under JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD *Patricia Arquette Boyhood $500,000; writer, director, and producer) * Executive Producers are not awarded. Jessica Chastain A Most Violent Year *Land Ho Writers/Directors: Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens Carmen Ejogo Selma Producers: Christina Jennings, Andrea Suarez Paz Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy Emma Stone Birdman or Blue Ruin Writer/Director/Producer: Jeremy Saulnier (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Producers: Richard Peete, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani BEST SUPPORTING MALE It Felt Like Love Writer/Director/Producer: Eliza Hittman *J.K. Simmons Whiplash Producers: Shrihari Sathe, Laura Wagner Riz Ahmed Nightcrawler Man From Reno Writer/Director: Dave Boyle Writers: Joel Clark, Michael Lerman Ethan Hawke Boyhood Producer: Ko Mori Alfred Molina Love is Strange Test Writer/Director/Producer: Chris Mason Johnson Edward Norton Birdman or Producer: Chris Martin (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) BEST DIRECTOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY *Richard Linklater Boyhood *Emmanuel Lubezki Birdman or Damien Chazelle Whiplash (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Ava DuVernay Selma Darius Khondji The Immigrant Alejandro G. Iñárritu Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Sean Porter It Felt Like Love David Zellner Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter Lyle Vincent A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Bradford Young Selma 2 | 2015 NOMINEES FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS BEST EDITING Benicio del Toro, Katherine Waterston, *Tom Cross Whiplash Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Kenneth Williams Sandra Adair Boyhood John Gilroy Nightcrawler SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD Ron Patane A Most Violent Year *Foxcatcher Director/producer: Bennett Miller Adam Wingard The Guest Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman Producer: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik BEST DOCUMENTARY Cast: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, (Award given to the director and producer) Channing Tatum *Citizenfour Director/producer: Laura Poitras Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky 20,000 Days on Earth Directors: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard Producers: Dan Bowen, James Wilson Stray Dog Director: Debra Granik Producer: Anne Rosellini The Salt of the Earth Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Wim Wenders Producer: David Rosier Virunga Director/Producer: Orlando von Einsiedel Producer: Joanna Natasegara BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM *Ida (Poland) Director: Pawel Pawlikowski Force Majeure (Sweden) Director: Ruben Östlund Leviathan (Russia) Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev Mommy (Canada) Director: Xavier Dolan Norte, The End of History (Philippines) Director: Lav Diaz Under the Skin (United Kingdom) Director: Jonathan Glazer KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (Award Given To The Direc- tor) *Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia H Ana Lily Amirpour A Girl Walk Home Alone at Night Chris Eska The Retrieval LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD *Dan Krauss The Kill Team Sara Dosa The Last Season Darius Clark Monroe Evolution of a Criminal Amanda Rose Wilder Approaching the Elephant PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD *Chris Ohlson Chad Burris Elisabeth Holm ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast) Inherent Vice Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Hong Chau, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Sasha Pieterse, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Serena Scott Thomas, 2015 NOMINEES | 3 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS BEST SCREENPLAY 2014 NOMINEES (Winners in bold) *John Ridley 12 Years A Slave BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer) Woody Allen Blue Jasmine *12 Years A Slave Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Richard Linklater Before Midnight Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad Nicole Holofcener Enough Said All Is Lost Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb Scott Neustadter & Frances Ha Noah Baumbach, Scott Rudin, Michael H. Weber The Spectacular Now Rodrigo Teixeira, Lila Yacoub Inside Llewyn Davis Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY Nebraska Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa *Bob Nelson Nebraska Lake Bell In A World... (Award given to the director and producer) BEST FIRST FEATURE Joseph Gordon-Levitt Don Jon *Fruitvale Station Director: Ryan Coogler Jill Soloway Afternoon Delight Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker Michael Starrbury The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete Blue Caprice Director/Producer: Alexandre Moors Producers: Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, BEST FEMALE LEAD Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian *Cate Blanchett Blue Jasmine O’Carroll, Kim Jackson, Will Rowbotham Julie Delpy Before Midnight Concussion Director: Stacie Passon Producer: Rose Troche Gaby Hoffmann Crystal Fairy Una Noche Director/Producer: Lucy Mulloy Brie Larson Short Term 12 Producers: Sandy Pérez Aguila, Maite Artieda, Shailene Woodley The Spectacular Now Daniel Mulloy, Yunior Santiago Wadjda Director: Haifaa Al Mansour BEST MALE LEAD Producers: Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul *Matthew McConaughey Dallas Buyers Club Bruce Dern Nebraska JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; writer, director, and producer) Chiwetel Ejiofor 12 Years A Slave *This Is Martin Bonner Writer/Director: Chad Hartigan Oscar Isaac Inside Llewyn Davis Producer: Cherie Saulter Michael B. Jordan Fruitvale Station Computer Chess Writer/Director: Andrew Bujalski Robert Redford All Is Lost Producers: Houston King, Alex Lipschultz Crystal Fairy Writer/Director: Sebastián Silva BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE Producers: Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín *Lupita Nyong’o 12 Years A Slave Museum Hours Writer/Director/Producer: Jem Cohen Producers: Paolo Calamita, Melonie Diaz Fruitvale Station Gabriele Kranzelbinder Sally Hawkins Blue Jasmine Pit Stop Writer/Director: Yen Tan Yolonda Ross Go For Sisters Writer: David Lowery June Squibb Nebraska Producers: Jonathan Duffy, James M. Johnston, Eric Steele, Kelly Williams BEST SUPPORTING MALE BEST DIRECTOR *Jared Leto Dallas Buyers Club *Steve McQueen 12 Years A Slave Michael Fassbender 12 Years A Slave Shane Carruth Upstream Color Will Forte Nebraska J.C. Chandor All Is Lost James Gandolfini Enough Said Jeff Nichols Mud Keith Stanfield Short Term 12 Alexander Payne Nebraska BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY *Sean Bobbitt 12 Years A Slave Benoit Debie Spring Breakers Bruno Delbonnel Inside Llewyn Davis Frank G. Demarco, Peter Zuccarini All Is Lost Matthias Grunsky Computer Chess 4 | 2014 NOMINEES FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS BEST EDITING *Nat Sanders Short Term 12 Shane Carruth, David Lowery Upstream Color Jem Cohen, Marc Vives Museum Hours Jennifer Lame Frances Ha Cindy Lee Una Noche BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer) *20 Feet From Stardom Director/Producer: Morgan Neville Producers: Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers After Tiller Directors/Producers: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson Gideon’s Army Director/Producer: Dawn Porter Producer: Julie Goldman The Act Of Killing Director/Producer: Joshua Oppenheimer Producers: Joram Ten Brink, Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Michael Uwemedimo, Anonymous The Square Director: Jehane Noujaim Producer: Karim Amer BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director) *Blue Is The Warmest Color (France) Abdellatif Kechiche A Touch Of Sin (China) Jia Zhang-Ke Gloria (Chile) Sebastián Lelio The Great Beauty (Italy) Paolo Sorrentino The Hunt (Denmark) Thomas Vinterberg SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (Award Given To The director) *Shaka King Newlyweeds Aaron Douglas Johnston My Sister’s Quinceañera Madeleine Olnek The Foxy Merkins