Nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards were announced at 8 am this morning, Hollywood Time:
Best Feature: 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Artist and The Descendants.
Best Director: Mike Mills (Beginners), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and Alexander Payne (The Descendants).
Best First Feature: Another Earth, In The Family, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Natural Selection.
Best Male Lead Performance: Demián Bichir (A Better Life), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Ryan Gosling (Drive), Woody Harrelson (Rampart) and Michael Shannon (Take Shelter).
Best Female Lead Performance: Lauren Ambrose (Think of Me), Rachel Harris (Natural Selection), Adepero Oduye (Pariah), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn).
Best Supporting Male Performance: Albert Brooks (Drive), John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), John C Reilly (Cedar Rapids) and Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris).
Best Supporting Female Performance: Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter), Anjelica Huston (50/50), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Harmony Santana (Gun Hill Road) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants).
John Cassavetes Award, presented to a film made for under $500,000: Bellflower, Circumstance, Hello Lonesome, Pariah and The Dynamiter.
Best Documentary: An African Election, Bill Cunningham New York, The Interrupters, The Redemption of General Butt Naked and We Were Here.
Best International Film: A Separation, Melancholia, Shame, The Kid With a Bike and Tyrannosaur.
Best Cinematography: Joel Hodge (Bellflower), Benjamin Kasulke (The Off Hours), Darius Kondji (Midnight in Paris), Guillaume Shiffman (The Artist) and Jeffrey Waldron (The Dynamiter).
Best Screenplay: Joseph Cedar (Footnote), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Tom McCarthy (Win Win), Mike Mills (Beginners) and Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants).
Best First Screenplay: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling (Another Earth), JC Chandor (Margin Call), Patrick DeWitt (Terri), Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids) and Will Reiser (50/50).
Truer Than Fiction Award: Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From), Danfung Dennis (Hell and Back Again) and Alma Har'El (Bombay Beach).
Someone to Watch Award: Simon Arthur (Silver Tongues), Mark Jackson (Without) and Nicholas Ozeki (Mamitas).
Piaget Producers Award: Chad Burris (Mosquita y Mari), Sophia Lin (Take Shelter) and Josh Mond (Martha Marcy May Marlene).
And the Robert Altman Award for one film's director, casting director and ensemble goes to Margin Call.
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