Film Independent announced the nominations for the 28th annual Independent Spirit Awards this morning by Zoe Saldana and Anna Kendrick. Last year many of the award winners went on to win Oscars but I suspect that will be a little different this year. The winners will be announced at the 28th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 23th and the broadcast will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

There were two films that tied for the most amount of nominations and those were Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and David O. Russells’s Silver Linings Playbook with five total nominations. Both of the films will be competing for the top award of Best Feature.

It was a little shocking to see that the Sundance standout Beasts of the Southern Wild did not have quite as many nods but four is a healthy amount of nominations to receive. The film bypassed Best First Feature even though it is technically Benh Zeitlin’s first and step up to the bigger category Best Feature (rules prohibit a film from being in both). Beasts of the Southern Wild was ousted from the Best Screenplay category.

John Hawkes makes his third straight appearance in the nomination list with his role in The Sessions. This time he will move up to the Best Lead Male category against some pretty strong contenders. Hawkes was nominated for Best Supporting Male last year for Martha Marcy May Marlene and won the award in the previous year for Winter’s Bone. Matthew McConaughey will get two chances to win for two different films. He got a nod for Best Male Lead (for Killer Joe) and Best Supporting Male (for Magic Mike).

Perhaps the most interesting category this year belongs to the Best International Film section as there was quite a bit of potentials for it this year. Michael Haneke’s Amour made the cut, unsurprisingly, and will likely be the favorite to win (as well as for the Oscar). It was a bit of a surprise to not see Holy Motors in that list but seeing War Witch get a nod was lovely as it is definitely a film worth seeing. I didn’t expect to see Paradise: Love or Goodbye First Love on this list but it would have been if it were up to me.

Watch for our predictions for the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards post to come in the coming weeks.

Full List of 2013 Independent Spirit Award Nominations:

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep The Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook

Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs – Keep The Lights On
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Fill The Void – Rama Burshtein
Gimme The Loot – Adam Leon
Safety Not Guaranteed – Colin Trevorrow
Sound of My Voice – Zal Batmanglij
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower – Stephen Chobsky

Jack Black – Bernie
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Thure Lindhart – Keep The Lights On
Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce – Four

Linda Cardellini – Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary E. Winstead – Smashed

Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere
Michael Pena – End of Watch
Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom

Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint – Middle of Nowhere

Breakfast With Curtis – Laura Colella
Middle of Nowhere – Ava DuVernay
Mosquita y Mari – Aurora Guerrero
Starlet – Sean Baker
The Color Wheel – Alex Ross Perry

How To Survive A Plague – David France
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present – Matthew Akers
The Central Park Five – Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
The Invisible War – Kirby Dick
The Waiting Room – Peter Nicks

Amour – Michael Haneke
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia – Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust and Bone – Jacques Audiard
Sister – Ursula Meier
War Witch – Kim Nguyen

Yoni Brook – Valley Of Saints
Lol Crawley – Here
Ben Richardson – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov – End of Watch
Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias – Keep The Lights On

Rama Burshtein – Fill The Void
Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank
Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever

Starlet
Director: Sean Baker
Casting Director: Julia Kim
Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ranson

Alicia Van Couvering – Nobody Walks
Mynette Louie – Stones in the Sun
Derrick Tseng – Prince Avalanche

Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel – Leviathan
Peter Nicks – The Waiting Room
Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims – Only the Young

David Fenster – Pincus
Adam Leon – Gimme The Loot
Rebecca Thomas – Electrick Children

War Witch follows our heroin Komona over three years starting at the age of twelve. The small community she belonged to get raided by a rebel army. The unthinkable occurs when she is forced to kill her own parents. Shortly after that the army brainwashes the kids into killing machines.

Some parts worked better than others, in particular the middle part (thirteen years old) was busy setting up the plot that it got away from the things that worked the best. But it remained a very touching and powerful film. Komona went through more difficult situations by the age of fourteen than most people endure in their lifetime. I guess you could say that it is an inspiring film despite showing depressing scenes majority of the time. The film was hard to watch at times but compelling nonetheless. Rachel Mwanza was astounding in the lead role and the cinematography in War Witch was spot on.

RATING: 7.4/10

War Witch

Following War Witch was the famous Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone In Love. Having been told what to expect from his previous work, I knew that I was in store for a slow burning film. The fact that the film was delayed after I had been standing in line for an hour was par for the course.

By far my two favorite parts of the film were it’s very beginning and the very end. It begins at a Tokyo bar where we hear the voice of a woman fighting on the phone with her boyfriend. During this time the camera is focused on a group of other people in the background. When the camera does pan to the woman talking it is clear that she is lying about where she is. Her boyfriend seems over-protective but it is probably because he has been tipped off that she is an escort. Although, she denies it to him, she is an escort who is about to be sent on a special trip to an elderly professor.

As I mentioned the very beginning and end where the parts that seemed to work best for me but it was everything in between that could have been better. Part of the problem was that the pace of Like Someone In Love could have been kicked up a notch or two. The film was handled with extreme care and meticulously shot so it was evident there was a veteran filmmaker beyond the camera. I suspect our writer CJ will give this a watch and chime in with his thoughts.

RATING: 6.6/10

Like Someone In Love

My last film of Day 2 was After Lucia, which I sensed could be a film with a ton of potential considering the subject matter and that it won the Un Certain Regard prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. And I can see why. It is an unsetting film about a teenager named Alejandra that just moved to a new town after her mother passed away. Her school life quickly becomes a nightmare when a video of her having sex leaks out to everyone at her school. She becomes chastised and bullied by everyone in her class.

After Lucia is a gut-wrenching film where no one wins unless you count the audience. It is emotionally disturbing because even the silver lining is depressing; a good person doing bad things to a bad person for a (relatively) good cause. It sounds much more confusing than it really is. You could tell that After Lucia had an affect on the audience as you practically heard everyone wince and shift in their chairs. There were a couple of questionable actions (and frankly lack of action) that occur but that does not prevent the impact of the film. After Lucia has been the best film I have seen so far at the Chicago International Film Festival.

RATING: 7.8/10

After Lucia

COMING UP: Tomorrow I will be seeing Flowerbuds which earned 4 top Czech Lions (the Czech Oscars) and Ulrich Seidl’s controversial Paradise: Love.

Recap of some of my Tweets from today:

Follow @WayTooIndie for full coverage of the 2012 Chicago International Film Festival!

For me today is probably the strongest day of films which includes; WAR WITCH, LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE, and AFTER LUCIA. #CIFF

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 13, 2012

WAR WITCH: Some parts worked better than others but it was still touching and powerful film. #CIFF

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 13, 2012

Rain clouds are hiding the #chicago skyscrapers. twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 13, 2012

Welp LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE is delayed. Even the wait time to see it is slow. #CIFF

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 13, 2012

You could tell that AFTER LUCIA had an affect on the audience. Affective cinema. #CIFF

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) October 14, 2012

Fall is a great time to watch films. The combination of the days beginning to get colder and the nights getting longer makes the perfect excuse for staying inside to watch films. Festival season is now in full swing which means award season will be following just around the corner. So what better place to enjoy a film festival in the fall than the Windy City of Chicago?

The Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) is a two week film festival that prides itself on the abundant offerings of world cinema. During the five and a half days I will be there 80% percent of the films I am scheduled to see are foreign. More than half of those foreign films premiered overseas at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this year. Generally what works best for me is going into films without a whole lot about it, so that is what I will be doing for most of what I see. For the majority of the films I have not even seen the full trailer.

Below are the films that I am planning to cover for Way Too Indie while I am there. However, this is slightly tentative depending on press screenings that may pop up but for the most part this will be it. In addition to festival coverage I will be posting on here, I will also be tweeting like crazy so make sure to follow @WayTooIndie on twitter.

Day #1: Holy Motors

Day #2: War Witch – Like Someone In Love – After Lucia

Day #3: Flowerbuds – Paradise: Love

Day #4: Once Upon A Time Was I, Veronica – Beyond The Hills

Day #5: Empire Builder – Not Fade Away

Chicago International Film Festival Trailers:

Holy Motors trailer:

War Witch trailer:

Like Someone In Love trailer:

Flowerbuds trailer:

Paradise: Love trailer:

Beyond The Hills trailer:

Not Fade Away trailer: