John Carney’s low budget Irish indie pic ‘Once’ is in line for yet another award, this time nominated for Best Foreign Film at the prestigious Film Independent’s Spirit awards.
The Dublin-shot musical will battle it out with four other foreign films in the category: from France, Pascale Ferran’s ‘Lady Chatterley’ and animated feature ‘Persepolis’; from Romania, Cristian Mungiu’s ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’ and from Israel, Eran Kolirin’s ‘The Band’s Visit’ from Israel.
Todd Hayne’s Bob Dylan flic ‘I’m Not There’ received five Spirit Award nominations, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett.
Film Independent supports moviemakers working outside Hollywood's major studios or within the studios' specialty film divisions. The awards have become a barometer for which low-budget and art films might compete for Oscars, Golden Globes or other honors in Hollywood's annual awards season.
Spirit also present a John Cassavetes Award for the Best Feature made for under $500,000.
‘Once’ is fresh from its success at Moscow’s 2 Morrow Film Festival, where it picked up the Best Feature award. The pic also scooped the Raindance Film Festival Best International Film award and the Audience Award at Sundance earlier this year.
The film stars The Frames’ frontman Glen Hansard and actress Marketa Irglova, and tells the story of a busker and an immigrant who fall in love over an eventful week, as they write, rehearse and record a number of songs.
The low-budget feature was produced and financed by Samson Films with the assistance of the Irish Film Board and RTE. Producer on ‘Once’ was Martina Niland, with executive producer David Collins.
The Spirit Awards will be given out on February 23 at a ceremony airing on the Independent Film Channel.
For a full list of nominees go to filmindependent.org/spiritawards/.
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik
I'm Not There
Producers: Christine Vachon, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, James D. Stern
Juno
Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russell Smith
A Mighty Heart
Producers: Dede Gardner, Andrew Eaton, Brad Pitt
Paranoid Park
Producers: Neil Kopp, David Cress
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes
I'm Not There
Tamara Jenkins
The Savages
Jason Reitman
Juno
Julian Schnabel
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Gus Van Sant
Paranoid Park
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
2 Days in Paris
Director: Julie Delpy
Producers: Julie Delpy, Christophe Mazodier, Thierry Potok
Great World of Sound
Director: Craig Zobel
Producers: Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green, Richard Wright, Craig Zobel
The Lookout
Director: Scott Frank
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Laurence Mark, Walter Parkes
Rocket Science
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Sean Welch
Vanaja
Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Producer: Latha R. Domalapalli
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000;
award given to the writer, director, and producer)
August Evening
Writer/Director: Chris Eska
Producers: Connie Hill, Jason Wehling
Owl and the Sparrow
Writer/Director: Stephane Gauger
Producers: Nguyen Van Quan, Doan Nhat Nam, Stephane Gauger
The Pool
Director: Chris Smith
Producer: Kate Noble
Writer: Chris Smith & Randy Russell
Quiet City
Director: Aaron Katz
Producers: Brendan McFadden, Ben Stambler
Writers: Aaron Katz, Erin Fisher, Cris Lankenau
Shotgun Stories
Writer/Director: Jeff Nichols
Producers: David Gordon Green, Lisa Muskat, Jeff Nichols
BEST SCREENPLAY
Ronald Harwood
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tamara Jenkins
The Savages
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner
Starting Out in the Evening
Adrienne Shelly
Waitress
Mike White
Year of the Dog
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Jeffrey Blitz
Rocket Science
Zoe Cassavetes
Broken English
Diablo Cody
Juno
Kelly Masterson
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
John Orloff
A Mighty Heart
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Angelina Jolie
A Mighty Heart
Sienna Miller
Interview
Ellen Page
Juno
Parker Posey
Broken English
Tang Wei
Lust, Caution
BEST MALE LEAD
Pedro Castaneda
August Evening
Don Cheadle
Talk To Me
Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Savages
Frank Langella
Starting Out in the Evening
Tony Leung
Lust, Caution
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Cate Blanchett
I'm Not There
Anna Kendrick
Rocket Science
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Margot at the Wedding
Tamara Podemski
Four Sheets to the Wind
Marisa Tomei
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Talk To Me
Marcus Carl Franklin
I'm Not There
Kene Holliday
Great World of Sound
Irrfan Khan
The Namesake
Steve Zahn
Rescue Dawn
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mott Hupfel
The Savages
Janusz Kaminski
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Milton Kam
Vanaja
Mihai Malaimare, Jr.
Youth Without Youth
Rodrigo Prieto
Lust, Caution
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Crazy Love
Director: Dan Klores
Lake of Fire
Director: Tony Kaye
Manufactured Landscapes
Director: Jennifer Baichwal
The Monastery
Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær
The Prisoner or:
How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
Directors: Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Director: Cristian Mungiu
(Romania)
The Band's Visit
Director: Eran Kolirin
(Israel)
Lady Chatterley
Director: Pascale Ferran
(France)
Once
Director: John Carney
(Ireland)
Persepolis
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi
(France)
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast)
I'm Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood
