Moonrise Kingdom Continues Awards Push As Independent Spirit Award Nominees Are Revealed

Coming hot off the heels of its big win at Monday’s Gotham Awards, Wes Anderson’s fantastic (possibly his greatest film to date?) Moonrise Kingdom is looking to continue its momentum as this year’s award season swings into high gear.

The film, along with the likes of Bernie, Keep The Lights On, Beats Of The Southern Wild and Silver Linings Playbook, was nominated for best feature for the upcoming 28^th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Both Moonrise and Playbook find themselves with five nominations apiece, including Director and Screenplay. Other big winners are films like Sound Of My Voice and Safety Not Guaranteed, both of which have been nominated in the Best First Feature category. Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On is also a relatively big winner, getting a bevy of nominations as well in Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Male Lead. Toss in films like Killer Joe, Compliance and even the much beloved alcoholic drama Smashed, and you have a rather intriguing set of pictures.

Personally, the big news here comes in the relatively lack of nominations for films like The Sessions or Arbitrage, the latter of which is a film that rightly deserves all the independent nominations it can get. It’s a fantastic film, featuring superb performances. Hopefully we’ll hear more about that specific picture here soon. Oh, and I must say, seeing a film like Starlet get some love is absolutely fantastic. Hopefully it’s not the last we see of it on the awards circuit.

Best Feature
“Beasts Of The Southern Wild”
“Bernie”
“Keep The Lights On”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Director
Wes Anderson – “Moonrise Kingdom”
Julia Loktev – “The Loneliest Planet”
David O Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ira Sachs – “Keep The Lights On”
Benh Zeitlin – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best First Feature
“Fill The Void”
“Gimme The Loot”
“Safety Not Guaranteed”
“Sound Of My Voice”
“The Perks Of Being A Wallflower”

John Cassavetes Award
“Breakfast With Curtis”
“The Color Wheel”
“Middle Of Nowhere”
“Mosquita y Mari”
“Starlet”

Best Male Lead
Jack Black – “Bernie”
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
John Hawkes – “The Sessions”
Thure Lindhart – “Keep The Lights On”
Matthew McConaughey – “Killer Joe”
Wendell Pierce – “Four”

Best Female Lead
Linda Cardenelli – “Return”
Emayatzy Corinealdi – “Middle Of Nowhere”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Quvenzhane Wallis – “Beasts Of The Southern Wild”
Mary Elizabeth Winstead – “Smashed”

Best Supporting Male
Matthew McConaughey – “Magic Mike”
David Oyelowo – “Middle Of Nowhere”
Michael Pena – “End Of Watch”
Sam Rockwell – “Seven Psychopaths”
Bruce Willis – “Moonrise Kingdom”

Best Supporting Female
Rosemarie DeWitt – “Your Sister’s Sister”
Ann Dowd – “Compliance”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”
Brit Marling – “Sound Of My Voice”
Lorraine Toussaint – “MIddle Of Nowhere”

Best Screenplay
Wes Anderson – “Moonrise Kingdom”
Zoe Kazan – “Ruby Sparks”
Martin McDonagh – “Seven Psychopaths”
David O Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias – “Keep The Lights On”

Best First Screenplay
Rama Burshtein – “Fill The Void”
Derek Connolly – “Safety Not Guaranteed”
Christopher Ford – “Robot & Frank
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack – “Celeste & Jesse Forever
Jonathan Lisecki – “Gayby”

Best International Feature
“Amour”
“Once Upon A TIme In Anatolia”
“Rust & Bone”
“Sister”
“War Witch”

Best Documentary
“The Central Park Five”
“How To Survive A Plague”
“The Invisible War”
“Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present”
“The Waiting Room”

Best Cinematography
“Beasts Of The Southern Wild”
“End Of Watch”
“Here”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Valley Of The Saints”

Piaget Producers Award
Mynette Louie – “Stones In The Sun”
Derrick Tseng – “Prince Avalanche”
Alicia Van Couvering – “Nobody Walks”

Someone To Watch Award
David Fenster – “Pincus”
Adam Leon – “Gimme The Loot”
Rebecca Thomas – “Electrick Children”

Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award
Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Pravel – “Leviathan”
Peter Nicks – “The Waiting Room”
Jasonyyyee Tippet and Elizabeth Mimms – “Only The Young”

Robert Altman Award
“Starlet”