Awards: Independent Spirit and Razzies 2015

Tonight’s the big night. The Oscars. And that means that yesterday two of the other most significant movie awards were announced. The Independent Spirit awards are given to the people who make movies outside the studio system. These are passion projects. As Julianne Moore, tonight’s likely Best Actress winner for “Still Alice,” said when she accepted her Independent Spirit award for that same role, the budget for the film was so small that she brought her own food and underwear to the set and they didn’t have equipment to film indoors at night time. Keep in mind that her other film in 2014 was the no-chance-of-any-award-ever “Non-Stop.” Independent films are where stories are told because people want to tell them, not because they will make the most money. And the awards show is a hoot. Where else would you see an award winner take time out of thanking everyone to insult the airline that lost his luggage and also happened to be one of the event’s sponsors?

Here are the winners of this year’s Independent Spirit awards.

BEST FEATURE
Birdman
Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole

BEST MALE LEAD
Michael Keaton, Birdman

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Julianne Moore, Still Alice

BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SCREENPLAY
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Citizenfour
Director/Producer: Laura Poitras
Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Ida (Poland), Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Nightcrawler
Director: Dan Gilroy; Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Justin Simien, Dear White People

BEST EDITING
Tom Cross, Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Land Ho!
Writers/Directors: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens; Producers: Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy

LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
The Kill Team, Director: Dan Krauss

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Chris Chison

KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
H., Directors: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia

And then there are the Razzies, given to each year’s worst movies. Bravo to the Razzies for adding a new “Razzie Redeemer” category to recognize a previous winner who has gone on to do great work.

WORST PICTURE: “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
WORST ACTOR: Kirk Cameron, “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
WORST ACTRESS: Cameron Diaz, “The Other Woman”/”Sex Tape”
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kelsey Grammer, “Expendables 3″/”Legends of Oz”/”Think Like a Man Too”/“Transformers: Age of Extinction”
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Megan Fox, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”
WORST DIRECTOR: Michael Bay, “Transformers: Age of Extinctions”
WORST SCREENPLAY: “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
WORST SCREEN COMBO: Kirk Cameron & his ego, “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF, OR SEQUEL: “Annie”
THE RAZZIE REDEEMER AWARD: Ben Affleck — from “Gigli” to “Argo” and “Gone Girl”