24th Independent Spirit Awards

The 24th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 2008, were announced on February 21, 2009. It was hosted by Steve Coogan.[1][2] [3] [4][5]

24th Independent Spirit Awards
Date	February 21, 2009
Site	U.S.
Hosted by	Steve Coogan
Highlights
Best Film	The Wrestler
Most awards	The Wrestler (3)
Most nominations	Ballast (6) Rachel Getting Married (6)

Winners and nominees

Tom McCarthy, Best Director winner

Mickey Rourke, Best Male Lead winner

Melissa Leo, Best Female Lead winner

James Franco, Best Supporting Male winner

Penélope Cruz, Best Supporting Female winner

Woody Allen, Best Screenplay winner

Best Feature	Best Director
The Wrestler Ballast Frozen River Rachel Getting Married Wendy and Lucy	Tom McCarthy – The Visitor Ramin Bahrani – Chop Shop Jonathan Demme – Rachel Getting Married Lance Hammer – Ballast Courtney Hunt – Frozen River
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona Richard Jenkins – The Visitor Sean Penn – Milk Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker	Melissa Leo – Frozen River Summer Bishil – Towelhead Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married Tarra Riggs – Ballast Michelle Williams – Wendy and Lucy
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
James Franco – Milk Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker Charlie McDermott – Frozen River Jim Myron Ross – Ballast Haaz Sleiman – The Visitor	Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona Rosemarie DeWitt – Rachel Getting Married Rosie Perez – The Take Misty Upham – Frozen River Debra Winger – Rachel Getting Married
Best Screenplay	Best First Screenplay
Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Woody Allen Sangre de Mi Sangre – Christopher Zalla Savage Grace – Howard A. Rodman Sugar – Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Synecdoche, New York – Charlie Kaufman	Milk – Dustin Lance Black Ballast – Lance Hammer Frozen River – Courtney Hunt Rachel Getting Married – Jenny Lumet The Wackness – Jonathan Levine
Best First Feature	Best Documentary
Synecdoche, New York Afterschool Medicine for Melancholy Sangre de Mi Sangre Sleep Dealer	Man on Wire The Betrayal Encounters at the End of the World The Order of Myths Up the Yangtze
Best Cinematography	Best Foreign Film
The Wrestler – Maryse Alberti Ballast – Lol Crawley Chop Shop – Michael Simmonds Medicine for Melancholy – James Laxton Milk – Harris Savides	The Class • France Gomorrah • Italy Hunger • Ireland/UK The Secret of the Grain • France Silent Light • Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany

Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Film
6	Ballast
	Frozen River
	Rachel Getting Married
4	Milk
3	The Visitor
	The Wrestler
2	Chop Shop
	The Hurt Locker
	Wendy and Lucy
	Sangre de Mi Sangre
	Synecdoche, New York
	Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Films that won multiple awards

Awards	Film
3	The Wrestler
2	Synecdoche, New York
	Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Special Awards

John Cassavetes Award

In Search of a Midnight Kiss

• Prince of Broadway
• The Signal
• Take Out
• Turn the River

Truer Than Fiction Award

The Order of Myths

• Anvil! The Story of Anvil
• Loot

Producers Award

Heather Rae – Frozen River and Ibid

• Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy – Treeless Mountain and I'll Come Running
• Jason Orans – Goodbye Solo and Year of the Fish

Someone to Watch Award

Lynn Shelton – My Effortless Brilliance

• Barry Jenkins – Medicine for Melancholy
• Nina Paley – Sita Sings the Blues

Robert Altman Award

• Synecdoche, New York — Charlie Kaufman, Jeanne McCarthy, Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest and Michelle Williams

External links

• 2008 Spirit Awards at IMDb
• Official show on YouTube

References

1. Jones and Maxwell (2008-12-02). "Spirit Award nominees announced". Variety. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
2. ""River," "Rachel," "Ballast" Lead Spirit Award Nominations". indieWire. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
3. "'The Wrestler' tops Spirit Awards". Variety. 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
4. ""The Wrestler" Leads 2009 Spirit Award Winners". indieWire. 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
5. King, Susan (22 February 2009). "'The Wrestler' wins at Film Independent's Spirit Awards". The Envelope. Archived from the original on 29 Dec 2009. Retrieved 2012-08-25.