Indieville : Awards

Oscars Doc shortlist: same as it ever was.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:35:00 GMT

Bemoaning the failures of the Oscars in the Best Documentary department has become an annual ritual, like spazzing about filing your income taxes or dusting off stale jokes about March Madness obsessions. So the news that this year's doc shortlist of 15 potential nominees is full of omissions and small obscurities is not a surprise. Many folks would've liked to have seen "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil," "Collapse," "Crude," "Tyson," "We Live In Public...(read more)

The Cinema Eyes love "The Cove."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:09:35 GMT

"The Cove," Louie Psihoyos' much-lauded documentary about Japanese dolphin hunting, is the big fish (heh) amongst this year's nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors, the awards dedicated to excellence in non-fiction filmmaking. "The Cove" was nominated in seven categories, including feature of the year, in which it will compete with Anders Ostergaard's "Burma VJ," Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc.," Darius Marder's "Loot" and Michael Palmieri...(read more)

The death of the original screenplay...?

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:07:00 GMT

This week's favorite Oscar topic, besides last night's announcement that Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be co-hosting the awards, is where all the original screenplays have gone. The Hollywood Reporter's Steven Zeitchik points out the a dearth of obvious candidates for the "Best Original Screenplay" category. If "Up," "Inglourious Basterds" and "A Serious Man" are virtual locks, what else does that leave us with? Zeitchik proposes "(500...(read more)

Why Oprah won't hurt "Precious"'s Oscar chances.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:36:00 GMT

A few reasons why the upcoming "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" is a lock for a Best Picture Oscar nomination, not to mention a likely box office sleeper hit: 1. There are ten best picture slots open this year. It can't not get a nod after winning both the Sundance audience and jury prizes. 2. It's a melodrama that doesn't waste time on stuff like "nuance," going straight for the jugular with uncomplicated bursts of emotion (Brutality! Joy...(read more)

The 2009 Oscars: Liveblogged

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:21:11 GMT

I'll be liveblogging the 81st Annual Academy Awards right here once the ceremony starts. In the meanwhile, though I'm feeling as lacking in Oscar predictive mojo as I've ever in my life, let's go ahead and put these out there anyway: Best picture: "Slumdog Millionaire." Director: Danny Boyle. Lead actor: Mickey Rourke. Lead actress: Anne Hathaway. Supporting actor: Heath Ledger. Supporting actress: Penélope Cruz. Animated feature: "WALL-E," unless God is angry...(read more)

Spirit Awards 2009: Liveblogged

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:37:50 GMT

Last year I get the chance to go out to Santa Monica to act as one of the hosts of our Spirit Awards red carpet coverage, and, despite getting locked out on the patio of my hotel room and having to climb over the fence and head back into the Casa Del Mar lobby in my socks, it was great. But these are more wintry times, and accordingly I've stayed planted in New York this year, from which I'll be live-blogging the awards. Which will be starting shortly! In the meantime, FIND has gallantly...(read more)

The 2009 Cinema Eye Nominations

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:32:11 GMT

The Cinema Eye Honors are now in their second year of honoring the best in documentary filmmaking, looking as much at craft as subject matter, unlike the lingering tendencies among, say, the Oscars. The 2009 nominees were announced here in Park City this afternoon, with filmmaker and award co-chair AJ Schnack joined by "My Country, My Country"'s Laura Poitras and Joe Berlinger, whose latest film, "Crude," premiered at the festival yesterday. There are some exciting tugs at...(read more)

Gloden Golbes noms.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:30:26 GMT

The Golden Globe nominations went up this morning -- you can find the full list here. The GG divide between "Drama" and "Comedy/Musical" has always been a bit of an over-inclusive cop-out, and there are no surprises in the former category: Best Picture - Drama: THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON FROST/NIXON THE READER REVOLUTIONARY ROAD SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE The lighter half is a weirder, with wilder picks like the meh "Burn After Reading" and the previously unmentioned...(read more)

Steve Coogan = 2009 Spirit Awards host.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:45:50 GMT

Just announced: Steve Coogan is set to host the upcoming Spirit Awards on February 21st. With Russell Brand having kicked things off by hosting the MTV Video Music Awards, we now only need Ricky Gervais as the Academy Award host to have the requisite three British comedians to make a trend piece! [Photo: Steve Coogan in "Hamlet 2," Focus Features, 2008]......(read more)

New York and LA.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:53:15 GMT

The New York Film Critics Circle has announced its awards for the year: Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky" Best Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married" Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire" Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk" Best Animated Film: "WALL-E" Best Director: Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky"......(read more)

Yay! Awards!

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:37:31 GMT

Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River" may turn out to the year's big winner, at least in the indie film award ghetto -- it won Best Feature at the Gothams on Tuesday, with star Melissa Leo taking the Breakthrough Actor award, and it's been nominated for seven Spirit Awards. "Trouble the Water" took the Best Doc prize, Lance Hammer was deemed breakthrough director for "Ballast," and "Sita Sings the Blues" picked up the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater...(read more)

Spirit Awards 2009.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:05:41 GMT

The 2009 Spirit Award nominations were just announced -- check out the full list here. Big winners? "Ballast," which is up for Best Feature, First Screenplay, Director and Cinematography, as well as acting awards for JimMyron Ross and Tarra Riggs, and "Frozen River," which is up for many of the same. "Rachel Getting Married" is also up there with six nominations. Here are the nominees for Best Feature and Best First Feature: Best Feature "Ballast" Producers...(read more)

The short list.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:25:40 GMT

The collection of 15 docs on the Oscar shortlist unveiled yesterday look, all things considered, pretty good to me. Traditionally the award that's caused the most hue and cry, with outrageous omissions and disqualifications, arcane rules and seemingly random (or at least radically out of touch) selections, the Best Documentary Feature prize could actually come down to a group of films that 1) are good and 2) more than a handful of people have at least heard of and had the opportunity to see....(read more)

The Gothams big heart "Ballast."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:35:46 GMT

Lance Hammer's self-distributed Sundance hit "Ballast" is the favorite amongst the Gotham Awards nominees, with the film's four nominations including Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Breakthrough Director and Best Breakthrough Actor. The Gothams are now officially called the "Gotham Independent Film Awards," and while their criteria for which films can be nominated are not as stringent as those of the Spirit Awards, which give a budget cap, this year's...(read more)