The 2013 Independent Spirit Award Nominees

John Hawkes and Helen Hunt (pictured above), from The Sessions, are two of the worthy nominees of this year's Independent Spirit Awards, which will be presented on Saturday, February 23, 2013. Hawkes is nominated for Best Male Lead, but faces tough competition from Jack Black (Bernie) and Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), while Hunt is nominated for Best Supporting Female. The aforementioned Silver Linings Playbook snagged five nominations in all, including Best Feature, Best Female Lead (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Director and Best Screenplay (both nods for David O. Russell).

Moonrise Kingdom was also honored with five nominations, including Best Feature, Director (Wes Anderson), Screenplay (Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola), Supporting Male (Bruce Willis) and Cinematography (Robert Yeoman). Three Spirit nominations went to Beasts of the Southern Wild, including a nod for Quvenzhané Wallis for Best Female Lead, even though she was only five years old when the film was produced. I was pleased to learn that Martin McDonagh received a nomination for Best Screenplay for the smart and often hilarious Seven Psychopaths. The film also received a nod for Best Supporting Male (Sam Rockwell).

One of my favorite films from this past year, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, received just one nomination, for Best First Feature (Steven Chbosky). I was hoping Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson would score acting nods for their tremendous work as well. Finally, congratulations to Matthew McConaughey for snagging two acting nominations, for Best Male and Best Supporting Male, for Killer Joe and Magic Mike, respectively.

Here is a list of the nominees for the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards:

BEST FEATURE
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep the Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

BEST SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Fill the Void
Gimme the Loot
Safety Not Guaranteed
Sound of My Voice
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Rama Burshtein, Fill the Void
Derek Connolly, Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford, Robot & Frank
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack, Celeste and Jesse Forever
Jonathan Lisecki, Gayby

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Linda Cardellini, Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed

BEST MALE LEAD
Jack Black, Bernie
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On
Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce, Four

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd, Compliance
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike
David Oyelowo, Middle of Nowhere
Michael Péna, End of Watch
Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Yoni Brook, Valley of Saints
Lol Crawley, Here
Ben Richardson, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov, End of Watch
Robert Yeoman, Moonrise Kingdom

BEST DOCUMENTARY
How to Survive a Plague
Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present
The Central Park Five
The Invisible War
The Waiting Room

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Amour (France)
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (Turkey)
Rust And Bone (France/Belgium)
Sister (Switzerland)
War Witch (Democratic Republic of Congo)

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – (for features under $500,000)
Breakfast with Curtis
Middle of Nowhere
Mosquita y Mari
Starlet
The Color Wheel