Before the big Oscar night, the independent film world has its own awards to hand out, which culminate with the Indie Spirit Awards event. This year, Precious was clearly the favourite, winning Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and acting awards for lead Gabourey Sidibe and supporting actress Mo’Nique.
The Best Actor award, meanwhile, was no great shock – a seemingly slightly worse for drink Jeff Bridges picked that one up, while Woody Harrelson took Best Supporting Actor for The Messenger.
**An Education **nabbed Best Foreign Film, and the Coens’ latest, A Serious Man, scored the Robert Altman Award, which honours all parts of a film – from the director(s) through the cast, with Roger Deakins scoring the cinematography award for the film.
We’re also happy to report that Anvil! – cruelly shut out of the Oscar documentary shortlist – won its category at the Spirits. Rock on!
This year marked a change for the staunchly iconoclastic ceremony, with the location switched from a tent on Santa Monica beach to, er, a tent on the deck of the massive LA Live convention centre in the downtown segment of the city.
The full list of winners can be found over at The Hollywood Reporter’s recap of the night{