Compiled by Andrew O. Thompson
Sponsored by:
Compiled by Andrew O. Thompson
Sponsored by:
The Road to Nowhere | War and Remembrance | The 1999 Independant Spirit Awards | U.S. International Festival
The 1999 Independamt Spirit Award Nominees
The Independent Feature Project/West recently announced its nominations for the 14th annual Independent Spirit Awards during a reception held at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. Culled from a record 159 submissions, the nominations were handed out by host Alfre Woodard, along with presenters Gina Gershon, Jeff Goldblum, Vondie Curtis Hall and Jennifer Tilly. This year's awards will be presented on Saturday, March 20 during a ceremony held under a beach tent in Santa Monica. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Independent Film Channel, and reshown later that evening on the Bravo Channel.
Noted IFP/West executive director Dawn Hudson, "It's exciting to see new voices honored along with more established independent filmmakers such as Paul Schrader, Todd Haynes, Ismail Merchant and David Mamet, who have been honored at past Spirit Awards ceremonies as well. All of these filmmakers have given their heart and soul to offer the public something beyond the facile and predictable. We congratulate and thank them."
The entire national IFP member-ship (a nationwide base of 8,500 members) is eligible to cast ballots to determine the winners. In order to be eligible, a film must have been exhibited at a commercial theater during the 1998 calendar year, or have played at one of the following six film festivals: New York, Seattle, Sundance, Telluride, Toronto or New Directors/New Films. The 11-person nominating committee applied the following criteria as guidelines: original, provocative subject matter; uniqueness of vision; economy of means (with particular attention paid to total budget and individual compen-sation); and percentage of independent financing.
Producer Laurie Parker chaired this year's nominating committee, whose members included writer/director Allison Anders; writer Takashi Bufford; writer/director Guillermo Del Toro; Sundance Film Festival programming director Geoff Gilmore; actor/director Vondie Curtis Hall; journalist Elvis Mitchell (host of KCRW-FM's film program The Treatment); actress Elizabeth Peña; cinematographer Walt Lloyd; casting director Mali Finn; and producer Janet Yang.
The nominees also included candidates for the third annual Truer Than Fiction Award (presented to an emerging documentarian); the fifth consecutive Movado Someone to Watch Award (an unrestricted grant given to an up-and-coming fiction filmmaker); and the sophomore Polo Ralph Lauren Producers Award (an unrestricted grant presented to a tenacious and creative indie producer with a vision).
With nearly 5,000 members, IFP/West is one of the largest non-profit membership organizations supporting the development, production and distribution of quality indie films in America. The following are some of this year's key nominations.
Best Cinematographer
Matthew Libatique, Pi (AC April '98) Tami Reiker, High Art (AC July '98) Paul Sarossy, CSC, Affliction (AC Nov. '98) Malik Sayeed, Belly Best Director
Best Feature (given to producer)
Best First Feature (given to director)
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Best Foreign Film (given to producer)
Best Screenplay
Best First Screenplay
Movado Someone to Watch (given to director)
Truer Than Fiction (given to director)
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© 1999 ASC