2013 Spirit Award Winners | Rope of Silicon

Today the 2013 Spirit Awards were handed out and it was a dominating effort from Silver Linings Playbook as it won Best Picture, Director (David O. Russell), Actress (Jennifer Lawrence) and Screenplay (Russell). The only award it was nominated for and didn’t win was Best Actor where Bradley Cooper lost to John Hawkes for The Sessions, but that’s only a minor blip on the radar when you win this big.

Among the early awards handed out, Stephen Chbosky‘s The Perks of Being a Wallflower won for Best First Feature while Derek Connolly won for Best First Screenplay for the romantic sci-fi film Safety Not Guaranteed. Then the Twitterverse exploded with a Best Supporting Actor win for Matthew McConaughey and his work in Magic Mike, which, for a time, seemed like it may be able to eek into that last Supporting slot at the Oscars. No dice, a Spirit Award it will have to be.

In the Supporting Actress category the win went to Helen Hunt (The Sessions) over the likes of Ann Dowd (Compliance) and Lorraine Toussaint (Middle of Nowhere). I’m still not sure what qualifies her role in that film as a “supporting” performance, but thus is the nature of the awards circuit.

Ava DuVernay‘s Middle of Nowhere took the John Cassavetes Award which goes to the best feature made for under $500,000, The Invisible War won Best Documentary and Michael Haneke‘s Amour won Best Foreign Language film.

If you’re wondering what this means for the Oscars, well, not a whole lot. Lawrence is still the favorite to win Best Actress while Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) remains the likely runner-up, Russell’s screenplay is certainly in contention for Best Adapted Screenplay and he very well could win Best Director and I don’t think anyone would be all that surprised. As for Best Picture, well, I still wouldn’t be surprised to see Silver Linings take it, but it is a longshot.

And with the Spirit Awards coming to a close, that’s all there is before tomorrow night’s 2013 Oscars. I have updated the Oscar Overture with the Silver Linings win and you can check out all of my predictions for tomorrow night’s Oscars right here and vote for who you think is going to win in all 24 categories.

We will be here tomorrow live-blogging the entirety of the 2013 Oscars beginning around 3-4 PM PST with live winners and commentary… Join us won’t you!?!?!

I have included all of the 2013 Spirit Award winners and nominees below with the winners highlighted in bold red text.

BEST FEATURE

Beasts of the Southern Wild – Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey & Josh Penn
Bernie – Producers: Liz Glotzer, Richard Linklater, David McFadzean, Dete Meserve, Judd Payne, Celine Rattray, Martin Shafer, Ginger Sledge, Matt Williams
Keep the Lights On – Producers: Marie Therese Guirgis, Lucas Joaquin, Ira Sachs
Moonrise Kingdom – Producers: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales, Scott Rudin
Silver Linings Playbook – Producers: Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon

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 SCREENPLAY

Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom)
Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks)
Martin McDonagh (Seven Psychopaths)
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)
Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On)

BEST FIRST FEATURE

Fill the Void – Director: Rama Burshtein, Producer: Assaf Amir
Gimme the Loot – Director: Adam Leon, Producers: Dominic Buchanan, Natalie Difford, Jamund Washington
Safety Not Guaranteed – Director: Colin Trevorrow, Producers: Derek Connolly, Stephanie Langhoff, Peter Saraf, Colin Trevorrow, Marc Turtletaub
Sound of My Voice – Director: Zal Batmanglij, Producers: Brit Marling, Hans Ritter, Shelley Surpin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Director: Stephen Chbosky, Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Russell Smith

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void)
Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed)
Christopher Ford (Robot & Frank)
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack (Celeste and Jesse Forever)
Jonathan Lisecki (Gayby)

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the Writer, Director, and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.

Breakfast with Curtis – Writer/Director/Producer: Laura Colella,
Middle of Nowhere – Writer/Director/Producer: Ava DuVernay, Producers: Howard Barish, Paul Garnes
Mosquita y Mari – Writer/Director: Aurora Guerrero, Producer: Chad Burris
Starlet – Writer/Director: Sean Baker, Producers: Blake Ashman-Kipervaser, Kevin Chinoy, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Francesca Silvestri
The Color Wheel – Writer/Director/Producer: Alex Ross Perry, Writer: Carlen Altman

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Linda Cardellini (Return)
Emayatzy Corinealdi (Middle of Nowhere)
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
QuvenzhanÃ© Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Smashed)

BEST MALE LEAD

Jack Black (Bernie)
Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
John Hawkes (The Sessions)
Thure Lindhardt (Keep the Lights On)
Matthew McConaughey (Killer Joe)
Wendell Pierce (Four)

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 SUPPORTING MALE

Matthew McConaughey (Magic Mike)
David Oyelowo (Middle of Nowhere)
Michael PÃ©na (End of Watch)
Sam Rockwell (Seven Psychopaths)
Bruce Willis (Moonrise Kingdom)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Yoni Brook (Valley of Saints)
Lol Crawley (Here)
Ben Richardson (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Roman Vasyanov (End of Watch)
Robert Yeoman (Moonrise Kingdom)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

How to Survive a Plague – Director: David France, Producers: David France, Howard Gertler
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present – Director: Matthew Akers, Producers: Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre
The Central Park Five – DirectorS/Producers: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
The Invisible War – Director: Kirby Dick, Producers: Tanner King Barklow, Amy Ziering
The Waiting Room – Director/Producer: Peter Nicks, Producers: Linda Davis, William B. Hirsch

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Amour (France) Director: Michael Haneke
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (Turkey) Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust And Bone (France/Belgium) Director: Jacques Audiard
Sister (Switzerland) – Director: Ursula Meier
War Witch (Democratic Republic of Congo) – Director: Kim Nguyen

16th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD

The 16th annual Piaget Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Nobody Walks – Producer: Alicia Van Couvering
Prince Avalanche – Producer: Derrick Tseng
Stones in the Sun – Producer: Mynette Louie

19th ANNUAL SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

The 19th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Pincus – Director: David Fenster
Gimme the Loot – Director: Adam Leon
Electrick Children – Director: Rebecca Thomas

STELLA ARTOIS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

The 18th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging Director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

The Waiting Room – Director: Peter Nicks
Only the Young – Director: Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mims

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD

Given to one film’s Director, casting Director, and its ensemble cast

Starlet – Director: Sean Baker

Casting Director: Julia Kim

Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ransone