Independent Spirit Nominations: Winter’s Bone, Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right Head for Oscars

“See you at the beach,” said Jeremy Renner after announcing the Independent Spirit nominations. To the relief of Indie Spirit regulars, the annual Independent Spirit Awards will be returning to a tent in Santa Monica on February 26.

The 2010 nominations were led by Roadside Attraction’s Winter’s Bone, with seven, Focus Features’ The Kids Are All Right (five) and with four nominations each, Fox Searchlight’s Black Swan, Lionsgate’s Rabbit Hole and Focus Features’ Greenberg. All landed a best feature slot except Rabbit Hole, and all show Oscar potential (except box-office also-ran Greenberg). Fox Searchlight’s 127 Hours earned best feature and directing noms for Danny Boyle and a best actor nom for future Oscar co-host James Franco. While Get Low scored a best first feature nom, Gotham tributee Robert Duvall did not land a best actor slot and Bill Murray slid into supporting contention. (See full list of nominees at indieWIRE and below. Analysis of key questions about Spirits here.)

Two Weinstein films that have fared well with festivals and critics, The King’s Speech and Blue Valentine, landed one nom each, for best foreign film (British The King’s Speech is only eligible in that category) and best actress for Michelle Williams. Ryan Gosling did not make the cut. Significantly, Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere was shut out.

The actress category was bursting at the seams with six nominees, also including Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Greta Gerwig (Greenberg), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan). Bening, Kidman, Lawrence and Portman are likely Oscar contenders. The Kids Are All Right‘s Julianne Moore did not score a slot.

In the documentary category, Oscar short-listers Waiting for Superman, Inside Job and Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer were significant omissions. Thus the nominated short-listed films gain an Oscar boost: Restrepo and Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Among foreign Spirit nominees, Of Gods and Men and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives get an extra push as Oscar submissions from France and Thailand, respectively.

Women directors did well, with nominations for director, writer and feature for Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) and Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) and the Robert Altman award for director, casting director and ensemble cast to Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give. Rising star Lena Dunham scored nominations for best first feature and best first screenplay for Tiny Furniture, which was also nominated for cinematography.

BEST FEATURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
Greenberg
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

BEST SCREENPLAY
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Everything Strange and New
Get Low
Night Catches Us
The Last Exorcism
Tiny Furniture

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Daddy Longlegs
Lbs.
Lovers of Hate
Obselidia
The Exploding Girl

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST MALE LEAD
Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Marwencol
Restrepo
Sweetgrass
Thunder Soul

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Kisses
Mademoiselle Chambon
Of Gods and Men
The King’s Speech
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Hossein Keshavarz, Dog Sweat
Laurel Nakadate, The Wolf Knife
Mike Ott, Littlerock

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
In-Ah Lee, Au Revoir Taipei
Adele Romanski, The Myth of the American Sleepover
Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

AVEENO® TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Sweetgrass
Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol
Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Summer Pasture

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

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