Piaget celebrates Spirit Awards
For the second time, the swiss watchmaker and jeweller Piaget, renowned for its High Jewellery collections and exceptional lines of watches, has further strengthened its longstanding ties with Hollywood by deciding to sponsor the Independent Spirit Awards. Since its founding in 1874, Piaget stands for unique watchmaking and jewellery know-how allied with a pioneering spirit. The exceptional talent of Piaget’s craftsmen lies in their ability to constantly reinvent age-old watchmaking techniques and to make people dream by creating emotions around gold and diamonds. Today, art continues to find the most varied forms of expression; and boundaries are progressively shattered. Design, video, film, music and fashion are all creative territories that Piaget explores and integrates into its collections. Thus, it was only natural that Piaget team-up with Film Independent to celebrate for the second time, the best of independent films through sponsorship of the Spirit Awards.
Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Javier Bardem, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Penelope Cruz, Woody Allen, Sean Penn, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo will attend in Santa Monica this exciting event.
2009 SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
* Executive Producers are not listed.
Ballast Producer: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh
Frozen River Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae
Rachel Getting Married Producers: Jonathan Demme, Neda Armin, Marc Platt
Wendy and Lucy Producer: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani
The Wrestler Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin
BEST DIRECTOR
Ramin Bahrani Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer Ballast
Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Tom McCarthy The Visitor
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Afterschool
Director: Antonio Campos
Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond
Medicine for Melancholy
Director: Barry Jenkins
Producer: Justin Barber
Sangre De Mi Sangre
Director: Christopher Zalla
Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell
Sleep Dealer
Director: Alex Rivera
Producer: Anthony Bregman
Synecdoche, New York
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie
Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel
BEST SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck Sugar
Charlie Kaufman Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla Sangre De Mi Sangre
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 listed.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge
Producers: Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy
Prince of Broadway
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean
Producer: Darren Dean
The Signal
Writer/Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Producers: Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh,
Take Out
Writer/Director/Producers: Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Turn the River
Writer/Director: Chris Eigeman
Producer: Ami Armstrong
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance Black Milk
Lance Hammer Ballast
Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Jonathan Levine The Wackness
Jenny Lumet Rachel Getting Married
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Summer Bishil Towelhead
Anne Hathaway Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo Frozen River
Tarra Riggs Ballast
Michelle Williams Wendy and Lucy
BEST MALE LEAD
Javier Bardem Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins The Visitor
Sean Penn Milk
Jeremy Renner The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke The Wrestler
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Penélope Cruz Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez The Take
Misty Upham Frozen River
Debra Winger Rachel Getting Married
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
James Franco Milk
Anthony Mackie The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott Frozen River
JimMyron Ross Ballast
Haaz Sleiman The Visitor
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maryse Alberti The Wrestler
Lol Crawley Ballast
James Laxton Medicine for Melancholy
Harris Savides Milk
Michael Simmonds Chop Shop
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
The Betrayal Director: Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World Director: Werner Herzog
Man on Wire Director: James Marsh
The Order of Myths Director: Margaret Brown
Up the Yangtze Director: Yung Chang
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
The Class (France)
Director: Laurent Cantet
Gomorra (Italy)
Director: Matteo Garrone
Hunger (UK/Ireland)
Director: Steve McQueen
Secret of the Grain (France)
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Silent Light (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany)
Director: Carlos Reygadas
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Synecdoche, New York
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener,
Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson,
Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams
