Film Independent Spirit Awards is arguably the most important film awards of the year, however, it is easy to be over-shadowed during the award season by the Oscars. This is especially true if it is held just one night before.

Black Swan took home the most awards this year with 4 including most of the big ones including; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Female Lead and Best Cinematography. I am glad that Black Swan was the leader of awards because I think it was the best film of the year. Winter’s Bone had the most nominations going in with seven but only walked away with 2 wins for Best Supporting Male and Best Supporting Female.

There were not a lot of huge surprises, with maybe the exception of John Hawkes winning over Mark Ruffalo, and I felt like everyone who won deserved to win. The Independent Spirit Awards ended up being a great watch thanks to the host Joel McHale and all of the presenters.

See the full list of nominations

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Get Low, directed by Aaron Schneider; Producers: David Gundlach, Dean Zanuck

Daddy Longlegs

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

James Franco, 127 Hours

Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

Exit Through The Gift Shop

The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper

Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sara Steele

Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

Mike Ott, Littlerock

Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol

Marwencol