SubscribeGotham Awards vs. Indie Spirits: Battle of the indie kudos!
The battle between the two top awards bestowed for independent films — the Indie Spirits and the Gothams — continues anew with today's announcement of Spirit nominations in Los Angeles coming just hours before the Gotham Awards are bestowed on the opposite coast. I will be attending tonight's kudofest and bringing you live coverage, so remember to check back with this blog later for breaking news and backstage tattle.
The Gothams and Spirits used to be handed out by the East and West Coast branches of the same organization, the Independent Feature Project, but the Californians broke off from New York and three other IFP groups in 2006 and renamed their branch FIND (short for Film Independent).
Such geographic squabbling isn't unusual in ego-mad showbiz. That's how we ended up with two separate TV academies on different coasts bestowing the same Emmy Award, which they own jointly. And the Writers Guild of America is actually two separate groups — East and West Coast — joined in name only. Each branch has a separate governing body.
Sometimes the Gothams and Spirits hail the same films, like best-picture winner "Sideways," but they often go their separate ways. Last year, the Gothams went with "Into the Wild" for best film and the Spirits chose "Juno." This year, three of the nominees coincide — "Ballast," "Frozen River" and "The Wrestler" — while the Spirits lineup also includes "Rachel Getting Married" and "Wendy and Lucy" as the Gothams opted for "Synechdoche, New York" and "The Visitor" to round out the list.
While "Milk" was not ready in time to be screened for the Gotham jury, it failed to make the final five films up for best picture or best director at the Spirits, though it picked up four other nods, including noms for lead Sean Penn and supporting player James Franco. "Ballast," "Frozen River" and "Rachel Getting Married" all got six noms apiece, while "The Wrestler" has three nods and "Wendy and Lucy" picked up a pair of noms.
The Spirits will be feting "Synechdoche, New York" with a special prize for first-time director Charlie Kaufman and his ensemble cast led by Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Unlike the Gotham Awards, which has only two acting kudos — breakthrough actor and best ensemble — the Spirits echo the Academy Awards (indeed these awards will be handed out the night before the Feb. 22 Oscarcast) with a full slate of acting awards as well as prizes for directing, writing, cinematography and foreign film.
For the full list of Independent Spirit nominees, CLICK HERE
Image: Indie Spirits
