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While not all receive the golden ticket for a Park City premiere, the invaluable support available at the Sundance Institute is ongoing and takes several shapes and forms. Last year’s batch of Documentary Edit and Story Labs attendees included Anna Sandilands & Ewan McNicol who trimmed Uncertain, while Lyric Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe spliced into shape (T)Error. As underlined in the press release, this year’s eight projects touches of subjects of transgender parents, the aftermath of Sandy Hook tragedy, exonerated death row inmates and AIDS. Among the noteworthy names attending (June 19-27 and July 3-11) we find Lost in La Mancha duo of Keith Fulton & Lou Pepe (see pic above) and Informant director Jamie Meltzer’s tentatively titled Freedom Fighters. Here are the participants and creative folk for ’15.

Editors serving as Creative Advisors for the June 19-27 session are Marshall Curry (Point and Shoot), Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (The...

Sundance Institute today announced the eight projects selected for its annual Documentary Edit and Story Labs, taking place in two sessions at the Sundance Resort in Utah from June 19-27 and July 3-11. The Documentary Edit and Story Labs support projects in later stages of post-production work to hone story, structure and character development. Director and editor teams unite under the stewardship of world-class doc filmmakers and Sundance Institute staff. Projects that have gone through these labs include "(T)Error," "The Queen of Versailles," "Rich Hill" and "The Kill Team." Editors serving as Creative Advisors for the June 19-27 session are Marshall Curry ("Point and Shoot"), Ra’anan Alexandrowicz ("The Law In These Parts"), Tom Haneke ("Where Soldiers Come From"), Mary Lampson ("Harlan County"), Geoffrey Richman ("Racing Extinction") and Jean Tsien ("Shut Up and Sing"). Editors...

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

Austin City Council unanimously approved a Creative Content Incentive Program late last week, a decision that's expected to increase Austin's advantage for bringing movie, television and digital media industry projects to the city with the goal of creating more employment opportunities. The program will be incentive based, with $250,000 set aside for this fiscal year.The PBS series Independent Lens will partner with movie and music distribution company The Orchard to distribute the East Texas-shot documentary Little Hope Was Arson (Elizabeth's interview), which played at Austin Film Festival 2013. The series will broadcast the movie this season, and The Orchard will release it theatrically in several markets as well as across all major digital outlets.Acquisition news continues: last year's SXSW world premiere, the dramedy Swim Little Fish Swim (Don's review) has been aquired for distribution in Brazil by Providence Filmes and for distribution in Greece by Mikrokosmos Entertainment.

From International Film Circuit, the distributor of the The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare, comes a new documentary release titled Sweet Dreams, a film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lisa Fruchtman and Rob Fruchtman. Sweet Dreams follows a remarkable group of Rwandan women, post the 1994 genocide, who collect to form the country’s first all-female drumming troupe and open the country's first ice cream parlor. Ingoma Nshya is Rwanda’s first and only all women’s drumming troupe. Made up of women from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan...

From International Film Circuit, the distributor of the The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare, comes a new documentary release titled Sweet Dreams, a film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lisa Fruchtman and Rob Fruchtman. Sweet Dreams follows a remarkable group of Rwandan women, post the 1994 genocide, who collect to form the country’s first all-female drumming troupe and open the country's first ice cream parlor. Ingoma Nshya is Rwanda’s first and only all women’s drumming troupe. Made up of women from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan...

Here's the latest Austin film news. 

FilmBuff has announced it will release Austin filmmaker Don Swaynos's flick Pictures of Superheroes (Debbie's review and Jette's interview), which screened at last year's Austin Film Festival, on Oct. 15 via iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and other online streaming outlets. To celebrate, the cast and crew are hosting a special screening at Violet Crown on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8 pm, with a post-film Q&A. The quirky comedy follows Marie, who, after being dumped and fired on the same day, takes a housekeeping job with an overworked businessman and the messy roommate he's forgotten about.Harry Ransom Center is planning a 2014 exhibition around the movie Gone With the Wind, but is asking for help to raise the necessary $50,000. The Hrc houses the archives of the film's producer, David O. Selznick -- and several gowns from the film.Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney's Emmy-nominated film Where Soldiers Come From...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (Awfj), a membership organization of leading women film journalists and critics from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, announced seven nominees for a special Eda award, created to celebrate Pov’s 25th anniversary. The winner will be announced at Pov’s 26th-season launch party at its headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday, June 6, 2013.

With this Eda award, the Awfj will honor the best female-directed film from the curated program MoMA Selects: Pov, a 25th Anniversary Retrospective, presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in February and March of 2013. A jury of five Awfj members selected the nominees.

The nominees are Better This World (directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway), Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter(director: Deborah Hoffmann), Dark Circle (directors: Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver), The Education of Shelby Knox (directors:Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt), Granito:...

Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

At the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, Austin actor Matthew McConaughey took home a Best Supporting Actor award for Magic Mike, and former Austinite John Hawkes won Best Actor for The Sessions. The full list of awards is available on Indiewire.Austin-based filmmaker Heather Courtney's documentary Where Soldiers Come From (Jette's review) has been chosen to screen at this year's Museum of Modern Art's Documentary Fortnight on March 2 as part of MoMA Selects: Pov, which highlights awardwinning films that have screened on the television series from the past 25 years. Courtney's documentary, about the lives of small-town childhood friends who enlist in the U.S. National Guard after graduating high school, is one of 22 films to screen during the six-day event. Where Soldiers Come From is now available on Netflix. Austin Film Festival has a new Director of Marketing -- Celina Guerrero,...

Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

Will James Moore's and Jonathan Case's independent film Satellite of Love (Jette's review) will screen 7:30 pm on Wednesday in the Afs Screening Room. Austin filmmaker Moore will be in attendance for a Q&A moderated by our Slackerwood editor Jette Kernion. The Central Texas-shot film, about a love triangle between friends that unfolds over the course of a week, stars Zachary Knight (Happy Endings) and Janina Gavankar (True Blood). The movie previously screened locally at Austin Film Festival in 2012.The American Library Association included Austin-based filmmaker Heather Courtney's Where Soldiers Come From (Jette's review) on its annual list of notable videos for adults. Courtney's documentary, about the lives of small-town childhood friends who enlist in the U.S. National Guard after graduating high school, is one of 15 outstanding titles released on video within the last two years...

YouTube users will best remember 2012 as the Year Of The Dancing Korean Man, but while Psy bucked his way to a billion views, many channels were able to use the power of online video for less frivolous pursuits. Video aggregation channel The I Files has compiled a list of the ten best YouTube documentaries released within the past year. Half of the videos come from the I Files channel itself, which is affiliated with the Center for Investigative Reporting. Some of the Center's entries feel like tradition film documentaries, such as a 4 minute short called Where Soldiers Come From that follows a group of Michigander soldiers in Afghanistan using nothing more than a Pov stream. Others, such as the environmentally slanted The Hidden Cost Of Beef, take full advantage of the medium; that particular documentary mixes a short-form style (it is eight minutes long) with the sort of kinetic visuals frequently applied to text-based videos.

Emerging filmmakers got a kick-start today courtesy of the Austin Film Society’s 2012 Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund (Tfpf). The Afs backed 16 narrative and documentary (short and feature length) projects with over $89,500 in cash grants in addition to $6,000 of Kodak film stock and $15,000 in productions services. Since its inception in 1996, the Afs has granted $1.3 million to 344 projects. Past winners include Heather Courtney for her award-winning Where Soldiers Come From and Kyle Henry for his Cannes entry Fourplay: Tampa.

Here’s a list of this year’s recipients:

A Force In Nature Hayden Yates A biopic of an 89 year-old Icelandic artist living in Texas.

Documentary Feature

$6,500 for production

Above All Else John Fiege The story of the Keystone Xl pipeline project and of the landowners and activists who set out to stop it.

Documentary Feature

$7,000 in Mps Camera Austin services for production/post-production

Arvind Evan Roberts A hybrid doc/narrative collaboration with...

Here's the latest in Austin film news.

Austin Film Society recently received a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The nonprofit organization is one of 80 "Our Town" grantees in the nation. The grant will fund community engagement and design for Austin Studios' expansion as the organization incorporates and remodels the neighboring decommissioned National Guard Building into its current site.

Afs will involve the community in the new Austin Studios design, which includes creating affordable space for production and education; programming and design of a new exhibition and visitors center with a plaza/lobby for events; screening rooms for Afs's exhibition programs, artists, festivals and community organizations; and plans for signage, landscaping and other infrastructure that will allow the public to observe and interact with working filmmakers and other artists. The expansion will fulfill four major needs identified by the 2008 CreateAustin Cultural Master Plan commissioned by the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division.

Austin will be representin’ at the Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. As if winning the Truer Than Fiction Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards weren’t enough, Austin filmmaker Heather Courtney’s Where Soldiers Come From (which was broadcast on PBS’s Pov series) just received an Emmy nomination in the “Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story – Long Form” category. The awards ceremony will take place Monday, October 1 at the Lincoln Center in New York City. If you have not seen Where Soldiers Come From, it will be rebroadcast in September. And, don’t worry, I will remind you again. Former Austinite Kyle Henry‘s Fourplay (which boasts an Austin-centric cast and crew including producer Jason Wehling, cinematographer Pj Raval and actor Paul Soileau) premiered at San Franciso’s Frameline36 in June and it just screened last night in Los Angeles at Outfest 2012. I can only assume that Fourplay will be screening at many more...

I first met writer/director K. Lorrel Manning and actor/producer Michael Cuomo at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, where we found ourselves the fish-out-of-water New Yorkers in a sea full of Southwest cinephiles. Their SXSW 2011 (sold out) hit Happy New Year is grounded in star Cuomo’s nuanced portrayal of a fictional outsider named Cole Lewis, a sergeant who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and now finds himself battling demons both mental and physical in the psych ward of a veterans hospital. I spoke with the two about their veterans outreach effort, Indiegogo versus Kickstarter, and the best places to start a revolution over breakfast.

Filmmaker: Over the past couple years, there’ve been a slew of nonfiction flicks – such as Danfung Dennis’s Hell and Back Again and Heather Courtney’s Where Soldiers Come From – that address the difficulties encountered by Iraq and Afghanistan war vets returning home.

Seth Rogen hosted the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday evening and the winners are:

Best Feature: The Artist. Also nominated: 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter and The Descendants.

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist). Nominated: Mike Mills (Beginners), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), and Alexander Payne (The Descendants).

Best First Feature: Margin Call. Nominated: Another Earth, In The Family, , Martha Marcy May Marlene and Natural Selection.

Best Male Lead Performance: Jean Dujardin (The Artist). Nominated: Demián Bichir (A Better Life), , Ryan Gosling (Drive), Woody Harrelson (Rampart) and Michael Shannon (Take Shelter).

Best Female Lead Performance: Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn). Nominated: Lauren Ambrose (Think of Me), Rachel Harris (Natural Selection), Adepero Oduye (Pariah) and Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene).

Best Supporting Male Performance: Christopher Plummer (Beginners). Nominated: Albert Brooks (Drive), John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene), John C Reilly (Cedar Rapids) and Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris...

Here's the latest Austin film news, and a few upcoming events:

The 27th Annual Independent Spirit Awards took place night. Although no new awards for Austin or Texas films were announced, last month, Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney won the Truer Than Fiction Award for her film Where Soldiers Come From. In addition, Sophia Lin received the Piaget Producers Award for the film Take Shelter, written and directed by Austin-based filmmaker Jeff Nichols.The Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards has added one more honoree. Actress Angie Dickinson will accept the Star of Texas Award for the John Wayne film Rio Bravo at this year's ceremonies on March 8 at Acl Live at The Moody Theater.El Rey is no longer just the name of Austin-based director Robert Rodriguez's hero in Planet Terror. Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider will distribute networks owned by Rodriguez, among others. Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures...

Film Independent presented the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards today in Santa Monica, California, which was hosted by Seth Rogen. The ceremony was streamed live through Yahoo! Movies and will air on IFC at 10 Pm Et/Pt. You can take a look at the full list of nominees and winners below.

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not listed)

The Artist - Producer: Thomas Langmann

50/50 - Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen

Beginners - Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy

Drive - Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel

Take Shelter - Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin

The Descendants - Producers: Jimmy Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Mike Mills - Beginners

Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive

Best Screenplay

Alexander Payne,...

The Artist is primed for Oscars glory on Sunday after scooping up a clutch of major prizes at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

A day after the silent black and white movie picked up six trophies at France's Oscars, the Cesars, on Friday, it claimed the Best Feature honour at the annual Academy Awards eve celebration of indie movies in Santa Monica, California.

Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius added to his trophy cabinet by picking up another Best Director award, making him the clear favourite to claim gold at the Oscars on Sunday, and his leading man Jean Dujardin was also a winner on Saturday afternoon as he picked up Best Male Lead for his role as silent movie star George Valentin.

The Artists' four-trophy haul was completed by Guillaume Schiffman, who claimed the Best Cinematography prize at the Spirits.

The event's first award went to Christopher Plummer, who was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners. He too is now a clear favourite to take home an Oscar on Sunday night.

George Clooney's film The Descendants landed his movie daughter Shailene Woodley a Best Supporting Actress honour, while the movie's writer and director Alexander Payne scored the Independent Spirits' Best Screenplay prize.

Other major winners included Michelle Williams, who claimed the Best Female Lead award for her stunning turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, A Separation (Best International Film), The Interrupters (Best Documentary) and cancer survivor Will Reiser, whose 50/50 film about his health battle won him the night's Best First Screenplay award.

Reiser's leading man and best friend Seth Rogen hosted the Spirits.

The full list of winners is:

Best Feature - The Artist

Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Screenplay - Alexander Payne (The Descendants)

Best First Feature - J.C. Chandor (Margin Call)

Best First Screenplay - Will Reiser (50/50)

Best Female Lead - Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

Best Male Lead - Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Supporting Female - Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Supporting Male - Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Cinematography - Guillaume Schiffman (The Artist)

Best Documentary - The Interrupters

Best International Film: A Separation

John Cassavetes Award - Dee Rees (writer/director of Pariah)

Producers Award - Sophia Lin (Take Shelter)

Someone to Watch Award - Mark Jackson (Without)

Truer Than Fiction Award - Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From)

Robert Altman Award - cast of Margin Call...

As I predicted, The Artist was the big winner at last night Spirit Awards ceremony, taking home 4 out of 5 honors. It’s only loss came in the Best Screenplay category, where it was the dark horse–being without dialogue and all. Yet it managed the mean feat of scoring Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor and Best Feature. Last year Black Swan made a similar sweep at the Spirits (except Best Female Lead instead of Best Male), but only Natalie Portman garnered an Oscar the following night. However, it’s likely The Artist’s luck will carry through the Academy Awards. Aside from nods in its Spirit-nominated categories, the silent stunner is also up for five others, including Best Supporting Actress for Bérénice Bejo. Basically, it’s seems impossible tonight will be a one-win event for The Artist.

A shock to some, Take Shelter, which had also been nominated for five Spirit awards,...

For the past twelve years, the Independent Spirit Awards have been held the night before the Oscars, and although the two sets of nominees sometimes overlap, traditionally the Spirit Awards end up honouring most of the films that the Academy ignores. This year things might be a little bit different, however, as Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist ended up taking home a handful of the major Spirit Awards including Best Feature, Best Director and Best Male Lead. As far as I know, the Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards have only picked the same Best Picture once before: Oliver Stone's Platoon in 1986. Christopher Plummer also won for Best Supporting Male, while Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) won for Best Female Lead. Is this all a sign of what's to come tomorrow night? There are at least a few Spirit Award winners who won't be repeating at the Academy...

Getty Michel Hazanavicius, director of “The Artist,” won Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards

Los Angeles — Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Penelope Ann Miller and Zachary Quinto were among the guests who came out to celebrate the 27th annual Independent Spirit Awards Saturday afternoon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

Seth Rogen hosted the event, with the first award going to Christopher Plummer for best supporting actor for his role in “The Beginners.” “Winning here, I hope...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, handed out top honors to The Artist, The Descendants and Margin Call at this afternoon’s 27th Film Independent Spirit Awards. My Week With Marilyn, Beginners, 50/50, A Separation and The Interrupters also received awards at the ceremony, held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

Tune in to IFC tonight at 10:00 pm Et/Pt to catch all the action at the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards, with actor, writer and producer Seth Rogen hosting. Highlights include: John Waters as the Voice of God, musical performances by My Morning Jacket and K’Naan.

The Spirit Awards was the first event to exclusively honor independent film, and over the past 27 years, has become the premier awards show for the independent film community, celebrating films made by filmmakers who embody independence and originality. Artists...

Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist" was the big winner at the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The black-and-white silent film took home Best Feature, Director for Hazanavicius, Best Male Lead for Jean Dujardin, and Best Cinematography for Guillaume Schiffman.

In the performance categories, Michelle Williams took home the Best Female Lead award for her Marilyn Monroe portrayal in "My Week with Marilyn." Shailene Woodley, snubbed by the Academy for her memorable performance as George Clooney's daughter in "The Descendants," won Best Supporting Actress while Oscar frontrunner, Christopher Plummer, received the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in "Beginners."

Held on Santa Monica Beach and hosted by Seth Rogen, the 27th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be broadcast by IFC at 10 p.m. Pst/Est.

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the Independent Spirit Awards:

Best Feature

50/50 - Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen...

The awards season train continues for "The Artist," and while in years past the Spirit Awards have tended to honor edgier or more decidedly independent fare, this year it looks like even they have the fever for the silent movie sensation. Taking home the big prizes for Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean Dujardin) and Best Cinematography (Guillaume Schiffman) it looks like the stage has been set for the film to repeat these honors, and maybe more, tomorrow night at the venue formerly known as the Kodak Theater.

How did our awards season prognosticator do on his predictions? He came in about 41% or 7 for 17. Truthfully, we figured that Spirit Awards favorite Alexander Payne might do some repeat business at the ceremony with "The Descendants," but it only came away from the event with an award for Shailene Woodley for Best Supporting Female and Best Screenplay for Payne,...

The Artist is primed for Oscars glory on Sunday after scooping up a clutch of major prizes at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

A day after the silent black and white movie picked up six trophies at France's Oscars, the Cesars, on Friday, it claimed the Best Feature honour at the annual Academy Awards eve celebration of indie movies in Santa Monica, California.

Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius added to his trophy cabinet by picking up another Best Director award, making him the clear favourite to claim gold at the Oscars on Sunday, and his leading man Jean Dujardin was also a winner on Saturday afternoon as he picked up Best Male Lead for his role as silent movie star George Valentin.

The Artists' four-trophy haul was completed by Guillaume Schiffman, who claimed the Best Cinematography prize at the Spirits.

The event's first award went to Christopher Plummer, who was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners. He too is now a clear favourite to take home an Oscar on Sunday night.

George Clooney's film The Descendants landed his movie daughter Shailene Woodley a Best Supporting Actress honour, while the movie's writer and director Alexander Payne scored the Independent Spirits' Best Screenplay prize.

Other major winners included Michelle Williams, who claimed the Best Female Lead award for her stunning turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, A Separation (Best International Film), The Interrupters (Best Documentary) and cancer survivor Will Reiser, whose 50/50 film about his health battle won him the night's Best First Screenplay award.

Reiser's leading man and best friend Seth Rogen hosted the Spirits.

The full list of winners is:

Best Feature - The Artist

Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Screenplay - Alexander Payne (The Descendants)

Best First Feature - J.C. Chandor (Margin Call)

Best First Screenplay - Will Reiser (50/50)

Best Female Lead - Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

Best Male Lead - Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Supporting Female - Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Supporting Male - Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Cinematography - Guillaume Schiffman (The Artist)

Best Documentary - The Interrupters

Best International Film: A Separation

John Cassavetes Award - Dee Rees (writer/director of Pariah)

Producers Award - Sophia Lin (Take Shelter)

Someone to Watch Award - Mark Jackson (Without)

Truer Than Fiction Award - Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From)

Robert Altman Award - cast of Margin Call...

Jean Dujardin of The Artist and Michelle Williams from My Week With Marilyn walked away with the top acting honors at the 27th Film Independent’s Spirit Awards. The Seth Rogen-hosted indie film kudosfest — which took place this afternoon in Santa Monica, Calif. — will be broadcast tonight at 10 p.m. on IFC. If you wish to watch the show and don’t want the experience ruined any further: Spoiler Alert! In other top categories, The Artist won Best Feature, beating out Beginners, The Descendants, Drive, Take Shelter, and 50/50. Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) won the supporting male and female awards.

Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, The Artist The Artist, Jean Dujardin, Michelle Williams: Spirit Award Winners Best Feature (Award given to the producer) 50/50 Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen Beginners Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy Drive Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel Take Shelter Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin * The Artist Producer: Thomas Langmann The Descendants Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor Best Director * Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist Mike Mills – Beginners Jeff Nichols – Take Shelter Alexander Payne – The Descendants Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive Best Screenplay Joseph Cedar – Footnote Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist Tom McCarthy – Win Win Mike Mills – Beginners * Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Descendants Best International Film (Award given to the director) * A Separation (Iran) Director: Asghar Farhadi Melancholia (Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany) Director: Lars von Trier Shame (UK) Director: Steve McQueen...

Hardly a surprise to anyone, The Artist dominated the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards, winning for Best Feature, Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Actor (Jean Dujardin) and Cinematography (Guillaume Schiffman). There were some complaints in the Twitter-verse as Penelope Anne Miller accepted the awards for The Artist up until Hazanavicius and the rest of The Artist team arrived five minutes before Hazanavicious was named Best Director. The reason? They'd just landed at Lax after flying in from France where The Artist won six awards at the Cesar Awards, France's equivalent of the Oscars, last night. A police escort managed to get them to the Spirits just in time for their third win of the night... also in time to take the stage to accept Best Feature Film. The Artist went into the Spirits with Take Shelter as the leading nominees with both receiving five nominations each. Take Shelter, however, only ended up going home...

Chicago – Welcome to the HollywoodChicago.com coverage of the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. These awards honor the best in independent film for 2011. Seth Rogen is hosting the Awards which will be shown at 9 p.m. Cst on IFC.

Below you will find a list of all the nominees for each category. As winners are announced, the list will be updated with winners appearing with a Spirit Awards icon next to them. All of the winners will have been announced before the show tonight, so if you don’t want to be Spoiled before watching the awards, don’t read any further.

Film Independent Spirit Awards

Photo credit: Film Independent

Best Feature

The Artist

Beginners

The Descendants

Drive

50/50

Take Shelter

Best Female Lead

Lauren Ambrose, “Think of Me”

Rachael Harris, “Natural Selection”

Adepero Oduye, “Pariah”

Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Male Lead

Demián Bichir,...

This weekend isn't just about the Oscars, for the record. Saturday night, as is traditional, sees the warm-up for the big show with the 2012 Spirit Awards, Film Independent's antidote to the Academy Awards, intended to honor the best of independent cinema. With recent winners of the top prize including "Juno," "The Wrestler," "Precious" and "Black Swan," they've provided the opportunity for films that are perhaps a little too dark, small or offbeat to win Best Picture from the Academy the chance to grab some gold.

This year, things may be a little different, with oscar front-runner "The Artist" nominated in multiple categories, so we could end up seeing the two ceremonies mirroring each other more closely than ever. But will that actually be the case? True to their name, the Independent Spirits have been known to go their own way. We've run down our predictions below, and stay tuned for...

Here's the latest Austin film news.

Deadline New York reports that a sequel to the 2010 Robert Rodriguez exploitation film Machete is tentatively scheduled to begin production in April. Machete Kills will find Danny Trejo's title character working for the U.S. government. He is sent on a mission in Mexico to take down an insane drug cartel leader and an eccentric billionare, who have teamed up to create weapon of mass destruction in space. The Deadline article does not mention whether the film will be shot in Texas. (via Film School Rejects)Beginning Feb. 17, Austin Cinematheque will screen experimental films and rare documentaries in their original formats, if available. A selection of French filmmaker and academic Rose Lowder movies will kick off the free series, now screening in Studio 4D in the Cmb building at The University of Texas.This week's Austin Chronicle cover story is about graphic designer and filmmaker Yen Tan,...

Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney chronicles four years in the lives of small-town childhood friends in the award-winning movie Where Soldiers Come From. The film begins with their decision to enlist in the U.S. National Guard after graduating high school, and continues through their deployment to Afghanistan and their adjustment back to civilian life. Jette reviewed the movie after its premiere at SXSW in 2011.

The Texas Independent Film Network, an Austin-based statewide coalition of film societies, universities and independent theaters, sponsored the San Marcos screening of Where Soldiers Come From on Jan. 25 in the Texas State University- San Marcos Theatre Center. Courtney attended the Texas State screening.

Setting out to make a documentary about rural America, Courtney said she changed her mind after reading an article in her hometown newspaper -- in Michigan's Upper Peninsula -- about the recent return of National Guard soldiers from Iraq. She said she didn't...

On Sunday, the America's Future Scientist Fund is hosting a Jamboree over at the Stunt Ranch and Fire Lake Event Center. How is this related to film? One of the first activities is "Science in the Movies." What better way to spend your day, especially with kids?

Austin Film Society kicks off this year's Texas Independent Film Network Presents program on Tuesday, and celebrates Austin filmmaker Heather Courtney's Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award, with a special screening of Where Soldiers Come From with Courtney in attendance at Violet Crown. I cannot recommend this movie enough.

The Paramount Winter Comedy Series will screen double features Jan. 22-27 with Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor movies as well as Mike Judge's Austin film classic Office Space on Thursday. Anyone else missing the Alligator Grill?

Movies We've Seen:

Bullhead -- This Fantastic Fest favorite returns to Austin for a...

The week has barely started and already we have some great Austin film news to share.

Congratulations this morning to Austin filmmaker Heather Courtney. Her documentary Where Soldiers Come From, which premiered at SXSW 2011 (my review), won the Truer Than Fiction award at the Film Independent grant award and nominees brunch on Saturday. Courtney gets a $25,000 grant as part of the award. Take Shelter, directed by Austinite Jeff Nichols, was also honored on Saturday -- producer Sophia Lin won the Piaget Producers Award. Local post-production Stuck On On must be pleased ... they worked on both these movies.The Austin-shot feature Holy Hell, which Jenn reviewed at Austin Film Festival in 2009, is finally available for you to watch, but not in one of the traditional ways. Austinist reports that the movie has been edited and repackaged into episodic chapters that you can watch on an iPad. The first 15-minute "chapter" is free,...

Congratulations to Without writer/director Mark Jackson (one of Filmmaker‘s 2012 25 New Faces), producer Sophia Lin (Take Shelter), director Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From) and directors Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias (Unfinished Spaces) for winning Spirit Awards today at the event’s nominee brunch in Los Angeles. Jackson, Lin and Courtney received unrestricted grants of $25,000 from, respectively, Audi, Nokia and Piaget, while Murray and Nahmias received a $40,000 marketing and distribution grant that will go towards the release of their feature. (Note: I served on the jury for the Jameson grant.)

The complete press release follows.

Los Angeles (January 14, 2012) – Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced the winners of its four Spirit Awards filmmaker grants today at its annual Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch held at Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood. Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson hosted the casual event and handed out the honors.

2011 was a tough year for Texas with the lack of rain, and not exactly a bountiful year for cinema, at least for films with theatrical distribution. But there are some gems this year, often missed by the average audience. So instead of a top ten list, I've decided to do an alternative best-of list that highlights the eclectic mix of outstanding films of the year. While it is Austin-centric, I honestly think some of the best movies this year have strong local connections. So without further ado ...

The Damned Shame Documentary Oversight: Incendiary: The Willingham Case (review), The Interrupters (review), Where Soldiers Come From (review)

Let's get the one negative award over first, not because the films are bad, but because they deserve more attention than they've received. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn't publicize the long list of qualifying documentaries before releasing the short list, from...

Welcome to Their Holiday Favorites, a series in which members of the Austin film community tell us about movies they enjoy watching during the holiday season. Austin filmmaker/producer David Hartstein (Along Came Kinky, Where Soldiers Come From) has been traveling out of the country recently to work on his Untitled Israeli Football Documentary, but was able to take a minute to tell us about a certain Christmas movie he can't miss.

I'm Jewish and there are no Hanukkah movies worth your time. So until Mel Gibson's Judah Maccabee project sees the light of day and despite marrying a Lutheran last year, I still feel like a Christmas movie interloper. But sure, like anyone else I do have a go-to list of Christmas movies that put me in the holiday spirit: It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone, Die Hard, Eyes Wide Shut...

The Film Independent Spirit Award nominations for 2011 were announced this week, and Austin fared very well on the list of hopefuls. Take Shelter, the feature from local filmmaker Jeff Nichols (pictured above), received a whopping five nominations: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead (Michael Shannon), Best Supporting Female (Jessica Chastain), and the Piaget Producers Award (Sophia Lin).

Take Shelter is still playing in Austin at Regal Arbor, although starting Friday it'll move to a late-show slot. Read Jenn's review to learn more about the film.

In addition, Austin documentary filmmaker Heather Courtney received a Spirit Award nomination in the Truer Than Fiction category for her film Where Soldiers Come From, which premiered at SXSW this year -- that's Courtney and the subjects of her film at a SXSW Q&A in the following photo.

read more...

Nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards were announced at 8 am this morning, Hollywood Time:

Best Feature: 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Artist and The Descendants.

Best Director: Mike Mills (Beginners), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and Alexander Payne (The Descendants).

Best First Feature: Another Earth, In The Family, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Natural Selection.

Best Male Lead Performance: Demián Bichir (A Better Life), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Ryan Gosling (Drive), Woody Harrelson (Rampart) and Michael Shannon (Take Shelter).

Best Female Lead Performance: Lauren Ambrose (Think of Me), Rachel Harris (Natural Selection), Adepero Oduye (Pariah), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn).

Best Supporting Male Performance: Albert Brooks (Drive), John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), John C Reilly (Cedar Rapids) and Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris).

Best Supporting Female Performance: Jessica Chastain...

At a ceremony in Los Angeles this morning, Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale announced the nominees for the 2012 Spirit Awards, which will be handed out on IFC on Saturday, February 25. And one night after it scored Best Film and Best Ensemble at the Gotham Awards, "Beginners" built more awards season momentum by landing four Spirit Award nominations: Best Feature, Best Director (Mike Mills), Best Screenplay (Mike Mills), and Best Supporting Male (Christopher Plummer). That put it one nomination behind the two biggest winners of the morning, "The Artist" and "Take Shelter," which each received five nominations. "Drive," "The Descendants," and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" also received four nominations a piece.

Picking the winners is not going to be easy for the members fo Film Independent this year; there are a lot of very deserving films and filmmakers and some very competitive categories. Take Best International Film. The nominees are "A Separation,...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning. Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters. Nominees for Best Feature include 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Artist and The Descendants.

Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

“The Film Independent Spirit Awards recognize the finest artistic achievements across the broad spectrum of independent filmmaking.from emerging talent working on a shoestring budget to established auteurs,” said Film Independent Senior Director Sean Mc Manus. “The 2012 nominees tell their stories in such an authentic way and reflect the inclusive nature of the independent filmmaking community. We are delighted to support them and expand the audience for their work.”

2012 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer,...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the The Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning. Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters. Nominees for Best Feature include 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter and The Artist.

Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast.

"The Independent Spirit Awards recognize the finest artistic achievements across the broad spectrum of independent filmmaking-from emerging talent working on a shoestring budget to established auteurs," said Film Independent Senior Director Sean Mc Manus. "The 2012 nominees tell their stories in such an authentic way and reflect the inclusive nature of the independent filmmaking community. We are delighted to support them and expand the audience for their work."

"Sean Mc Manus focuses primarily on American independents, so it was...

It’s that time of year for various organizations to recognize some of the best films of 2011. Some of these awards are lesser known, but the Film Independent Spirit Awards, is not one of them. Film Independent which also helps produce the Los Angeles Film Festival has announced the 2012 Spirit Award Nominees.

Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

Having seen Win Win the other day, I really hope that Tom McCarthy wins the award for Best Screenplay, but it will be hard to take the win, especially with the momentum that The Descendants and The Artist are having. As for other films, its no surprise to see 50/50, Drive, Beginners, and the aforementioned The Artist and The Descendants as the nominees for Best Feature. The Spirit Award nominees is just one of the...

December is almost here and awards seasons is finally getting underway with a number of groups announcing their nominees today including the Gotham Independent Film Awards, New York Film Critics Circle, and the Independent Spirit Awards. Of these, the Spirit Awards are probably the most significant in that they can have a small influence on the Oscars, although they usually just end up honouring a lot of the stuff that the Academy ignores. This year, however, there are quite a few well-known nominees including at least three that received a wide theatrical release (50/50, Drive and Midnight in Paris). The movies that seem to be getting the most recognition, however, are Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist and Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter. Both received five nominations, while Drive and Martha Marcy May Marlene were also recognized with four nominations each. I'm a bit surprised that Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris...

It’s that time of year when bows of holly are hung, children scribble wish lists for Santa, and films worldwide jockey for notice as award season kicks off! Just a day after the Gotham Awards announced their winners, the 27th Film Independent’s Spirit Awards has announced their nominees.

The Spirit Awards has long aimed to pay tribute to the little films that often unfairly fail to grab Oscar notice. (It’s no coincidence that the Spirit Awards telecast is traditionally held the day before the Oscars ceremony each year.) Of course, with the Academy’s expansion to 10 Best Picture nominees, the past few years have shown an increase in the amount of crossover between the two award shows. Last year both the Academy Awards and the Spirit Awards bestowed nominations (if not awards) to Black Swan, Winter’s Bone, 127 Hours, The King’s Speech, The Kids Are All Right,...

It's an award-based morning as not only were the Gotham Awards handed out last night, the New York Film Critics are in the middle of handing out their awards right now (that list is coming shortly) and now the nominations for Film Independent's 2012 Independent Spirit Awards were announced as Michael Hazanavicius' The Artist and Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter led the pack with five nominations each. The two leaders, however, were followed closely by Beginners, The Descendants, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Drive with four. Of those six, only Martha Marcy May Marlene wasn't nominated for Best Feature as it was replaced by 50/50, which ended up with three nominations. Of the films nominated for Best Feature, my gut tells me it's a battle between The Artist and The Descendants and this just may end up being the first sign as to which of those two may end up being the Oscar favorite.