Carey Mulligan in An Education
PRECIOUS Sweeps 25th Spirits Awards
The Spirit Award nominations are selected by several groups of film professionals, scholars, and critics, depending on the categories. That explains how something like Alvarez's micro-budgeted Easier with Practice received two nominations, including Best First Film. Or how Cary Fukunaga's Spanish-language Sin Nombre, one of the best-received films last year, was in the running for three Spirit Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Or how Maria Bello and Souléymane Sy Savané were nominated for, respectively, Downloading Nancy and Goodbye, Solo.
The Spirit Award winners, however, are voted on by anyone who's a Film Independent or Independent Film Project member. That helps to explain why a popular hit with lots of Oscar buzz like Precious ended up sweeping the awards, or how the more "accessible" — it's in English, after all — and much more widely seen An Education was named the Best Foreign Film of the year. (Its competitors were Everlasting Moments, The Maid, A Prophet, and Mother.)
Other recent Best Picture (Independent) Spirit Award winners include Lost in Translation, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Brokeback Mountain, Far from Heaven, Memento, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — all much bigger box-office successes than the competition.
True, you won't see semi-naked (purported) porn stars simulating sexual positions at the Oscars — that took place while Ben Stiller announced this year's Spirit Award winner for Best Picture — but when it comes to opting for the most mainstream winners, the Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards have much more in common than is commonly believed.
Photo: An Education (Kerry Brown / Sony Pictures Classics)