What to watch at the 30th Spirit Awards

Posted 9 years ago by myetvmedia

Winners will be announced at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 21, 2015. The awards ceremony will be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. This year the show will broadcast live exclusively on IFC at 2:00 PM PT/ 5:00 PM ET.

Five titles are nominated for best feature. Boyhood, Selma, Whiplash, and Birdman are the top contenders, all prominently featured in film festivals throughout the season and all nominees for the Academy Awards Best Picture as well.

Best First Feature boasts a plethora of talented nominees including Ana Lily Amirpour and Gillian Robespierre. Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal is a top contender in this category, another film with a Oscar nomination.

The John Cassavetes Award goes to the best feature made for under $500,000. Blue Ruin, written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier is among the nominated for this career launching award.

The category of Best Director holds no surprises. As is the trend, many of the nominees are repeats from the Best Feature category. Whiplash, Selma, Birdman, and Boyhood top the list.

Some say that the only truly creative part of filmmaking is the script writing process. A highly competitive and prestigious award, Best Screenplay features a star studded list of nominees. J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), and Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive) are among the nominees.

Best First Screenplay is one of the rare chances in the international award scene for a new filmmaker to get their break. Desiree Akhavan, nominated for Appropriate Behaviour, is among the lucky few to have a chance at the award.

Birdman is undoubtedly a favourite in the Best Cinematography category after the behind the scenes footage from the Times Square scene went viral earlier this month. Only Bradford Young’s skillful framing of Selma can compete with the daring and adventurous methods of Emmanuel Lubezki.

Whiplash used powerful editing to further enhance both the aesthetic of the film and meaning of the story. Editor Tom Cross is nominated for Best Editing, competing against Sandra Adair (Boyhood), John Gilroy (Nightcrawler), and Ron Patane (A Most Violent Year).

Best Male Lead could be anyone’s game. Some of the top talent of this era is up for the award, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Keaton, and David Oyelowo.

Two seasoned actresses, Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, battle it out for Best Female lead.

Best Supporting Male lead again features many actors from the films nominated for Best Feature and Best Director. Riz Ahmed, Ethan Hawke, Edward Norton, and J.K. Simmons are among the nominees.

The trend continues with Best Supporting Female. Patricia Arquette, Jessica Chastain, Carmen Ejogo, Emma Stone, and Andrea Suarez Paz compose the competition for this award.

Mommy, Leviathan, and Under the Skin are the heavy hitters in the category of Best International Film.

Citizen Four, a documentary that is as much about the everyday American as it is about newsmaker Edward Snowden. For this reason, it is highly likely that Citizen Four will pull in the award for Best Documentary.

The winners of the Spirit Awards will be announced February 21st live from Los Angeles. Use #AwardsBuzz to join the discussion!

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