Spirit Award 2007 Nominations
November 27th, 2007 by Andre Soares
There were several surprise nominees for the 2007 Spirit Awards, announced earlier today.
Most notable among those were Rajnesh Domalpalli’s Telugu-language drama Vanaja (above), which garnered nominations for best first feature film and best cinematography (Milton Kam); Marisa Tomei’s best supporting actress nod for Sidney Lumet’s thriller Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead; and Marcus Carl Franklin’s presence in the best supporting actor category for his performance as "Woody" in I’m Not There.
Notable for their absence were, among others, Nicole Kidman for Margot at the Wedding, Christian Bale for Rescue Dawn, Ethan Hawke for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Mathieu Amalric for his performance as stroke victim Jean-Dominique Bauby in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl, veteran director Sidney Lumet for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and Mira Nair’s The Namesake in the best feature category.
Also, Tamara Jenkins was nominated for both her direction of and her screenplay for The Savages, but the film itself failed to receive a nomination.
As per Tom O’Neil’s The Envelope, Sarah Polley’s Canadian drama Away from Her wasn’t submitted for the Spirit Awards, which explains why Julie Christie — superb as a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s — is not in the running for best actress.
The only nominee for the Spirit Award for best feature that also received a nod in the same category from the New York-based Gotham Awards was I’m Not There (right), Todd Haynes‘ surreal Bob Dylan biopic, while none of the nominated Gotham documentaries can be found in the Spirit Awards list. (Though Craig Zobel’s Great World of Sound, a Gotham nominee for best feature, was shortlisted as one of the Spirit Award’s five best first features.) Part of the reason for the discrepancy has to do with different eligibility rules. Sean Penn’s Gotham-nominated Into the Wild, for instance, cost more than US$20 million, which made it ineligible for the Spirit Awards.
Among the expected Spirit Award nominees are I’m Not There in the best film, best director (Haynes), and best supporting actress (Cate Blanchett, above photo) categories; Juno, about a young pregnant girl looking for prospective parents for her upcoming baby, in the best feature, best director (Jason Reitman), and best actress (Ellen Page) categories; and Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes Film Festival winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Eran Kolirin’s multiple Ophir winner The Band’s Visit, and Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis in the best foreign film category.
All of the above names and titles will surely be found in many U.S. critics’ awards lists. They are also likely Oscar contenders. (The Band’s Visit, however, is ineligible in the foreign-language film category as most of its dialogue is in English.)
Of the (very) few Spirit Award nominees I’ve seen, only three — Lust, Caution leads (and Golden Horse nominees) Tony Leung and Tang Wei (above), and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto — would be included in my list of best of the best of 2007.
As an aside: The best micro-budget film I saw this year, David Lewis’s Rock Haven, about a Christian teenager coming to terms with his homosexuality, could not be found in the list of nominees for the John Cassavetes Award — given to features made for under $500,000. Whether or not Rock Haven was eligible, its absence from the Cassavetes Award shortlist is an unfortunate omission.
The 2007 Spirit Award winners will be announced on February 23, 2008.
Note: The Gotham Award winners will be announced tonight.
Stockholm Film Festival - 2007 Winners
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA AFI FEST Premiere
AFI FEST 2007 Award Winners - Article
AFI FEST 2007 - Sunday, Nov. 11
CHRIS & DON. A LOVE STORY at the AFI FEST 2007
AFI FEST 2007 - Saturday, Nov. 10
AFI FEST 2007 - Friday, Nov. 9
AFI FEST 2007 - Thursday, Nov. 8
Leave a Reply
Note: All comments are moderated. Different views and opinions are welcome, but abusive/bigoted/flaming comments will NOT be approved. Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has NO contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog or any information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
