Great Movies
The Ebert Foundation will once again present The Roger Ebert Award to an emerging filmmaker chosen by Film Independent at the 30th Independent Spirit Awards. The ceremony will be held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica and will air LIVE at 4pm CST/5pm EST Saturday, February 21st, on IFC. Other filmmaker grants scheduled to be awarded are the Piaget Producers Award, the LensCrafters Truer Than Fiction Award and the Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award. Josh Welsh, the president of Film Independent, will host the event with a slew of celebrity presenters including emcees Fred Armisen and Kristen Bell, Oprah Winfrey, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore and Kerry Washington. It is considered one of the hippest awards shows around.
"Selma" and "Boyhood" will be competing against "Birdman," "Love Is Strange," and "Whiplash" for the Best Feature prize. Nominees in the Best First Feature category include Ana Lily Amirpour for "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night," Justin Simien for "Dear White People," Dan Gilroy for "Nightcrawler," Gillian Robespierre for "Obvious Child" and Anja Marquardt for "She's Lost Control." The features made for under $500,000 in competition for the John Cassavetes Award include Jeremy Saulnier's "Blue Ruin," Eliza Hittman's "It Felt Like Love," Aaron Katz's "Land Ho!", Dave Boyle's "Man from Reno" and Chris Mason Johnson's "Test."
For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Spirit Awards website or watch the announcement video below.
Matt Fagerholm is the former Literary Editor at RogerEbert.com and is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.
