Before the rain pooed on my parade and the poo rained on my parade at the Independent Spirit Awards Saturday, I had a pretty great time. The highlight for me was being "on set" for a series of interviews between Martin Short's Jiminy Glick and various celebs. I was just tipped off by the good folks at Netflix that those conversations have hit youtube, and if you're a fan of the character, you may want to check them out. Here's Jiminy with Matt Dillon, with a never foxier Illeana Douglas, with the always youthful Dennis Hopper (an interview that opens with a depantsing), with Ed Begley, Jr, with Juno director Jason Reitman and his father Ivan, with Aaron Eckhart, with John Waters, and with Allison Janney. They could all stand to be edited down a bit, but there's a lot of good stuff in there. If I had to direct you to the funniest couple of discussions, I'd recommend the Illeana Douglas and the Ed Begley, Jr, which contains graphic mouth-to-mouth.

I intended to run a live blog from the show, but the internet connection went out -- one of the dangers of doing a live show from a tent in the rain! I did get to see some cool people up close and personal. Philip Seymour Hoffman (a winner for Best Male Lead) charmed the little press room in a fun Q & A with Savages writer/director Tamara Jenkins (a winner for Best Screenplay) and it was a thrill to meet Scott Frank, a screenwriter I truly admire. He won Best First Feature for The Lookout, one of my favorite 2007 films. I always question what they deem "independent," but I do appreciate that the Indie Spirits have special honors -- like the John Cassavetes Award -- to honor the truly independent and low-budget films each year. Did anyone watch the broadcast? I know it's not the biggest awards show of the year (or even the weekend), but the show was really entertaining. Have favorite moments or disagreements with the winners?

The winners of the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards are below, updated in real time and highlighted in bold.

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

Best Feature
'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'
'I'm Not There'
'Juno'
'A Mighty Heart'
'Paranoid Park'

Best Director
Todd Haynes, 'I'm Not There'
Tamara Jenkins, 'The Savages'
Jason Reitman, 'Juno'
Julian Schnabel, 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'
Gus Van Sant, 'Paranoid Park'

Best Male Lead
Pedro Castaneda, 'August Evening'
Don Cheadle, 'Talk to Me'
Philip Seymour Hoffman, 'The Savages'
Tony Leung, 'Lust, Caution'
Frank Langella, 'Starting Out in the Evening'

Best Female Lead
Angelina Jolie, 'A Mighty Heart'
Sienna Miller, 'Interview'
Ellen Page, 'Juno'
Parker Posey, 'Broken English'
Tang Wei, 'Lust, Caution'

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

It is officially raining, and the big-time stars are rolling out. Javier Bardem is looking very dapper, I'm pretty sure I just saw indie favorite The Rock (?), and crowd just collectively spazzed out over Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I was just interviewed (insulted) by Jiminy Glick on Good Morning America so watch for that, though I'm not sure how much of it they'll be able to use. The discussion culminated with him dumping a barrel of popcorn on himself. Some quality journalism there! Seriously, I can't quite convey how funny Martin Short has been here today. Favorite line -- "I have lost weight, I'm doing Atkins. Not the diet, his widow."

Raining has given way to pouring, and the red carpet is looking soggy and bare. It's ten minutes to showtime and I'm about to head under the big tent for the show. I'll do my best to update you on the winners as they happen, and if you get the Independent Film Channel you can join in the Rainn Wilson-hosted fun live. My thanks to Netflix for setting up this sweet little blogging suite for me, and as an active subscriber, I don't even have to feel like a shameless whore saying that. Sorry for the rambling nature of these posts, but it's been pretty hectic...

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

Just saw Forest Whitaker and his gorgeous wife, Jason Bateman and his gorgeous hair, and Julian Schnabel in what appeared to be pajamas. Now Illeana Douglas is telling Jiminy Glick how she "blew Lew Wasserman at age thirteen" to make it in the business. It's that kind of day. The crowd is screaming at a limo, it might be Angelina Jolie time, unless they're smuggling her in by underground tunnel. Oh snap, Steve Buscemi is here. That dude is one of my all time favorites, I'm going to go grab a photo or two.

Alright, now Glick is telling Mr. Pink how he'd "like to mount" Sienna Miller, a nominee today for Buscemi's Interview. Buscemi is talking about his heroes ("Robert Altman and John Cassavetes") and a production company he's starting with Stanley Tucci so they can make movies with their friends. He's been interrupted by the crowd chanting "Meg! Meg! Meg!" Yes, it's Meg Ryan. Not sure how she's involved with independent film, but always nice to see familiar face-lifts. Sorry, Jiminy's rubbing off on me. It's getting cold, and the skies remain foreboding. The Santa Monica pier amusement park rises bold and stark. Kids are huddled on the beach in the mist. I want to die with you Wendy on the street tonight in an everlasting kiss...

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

Jiminy Glick just wrapped up a graphic conversation with indie legend John Waters and now he is asking Maria Bello what it's like to show her "down there hair" on camera. Oh wow, now he's humping her. Now he's asking Allison Janney if Juno is a film about people who won't tolerate Jews. "Jew? No!" The man is insane. He's interviewing The Office's Rainn Wilson now, who's looking mighty unkempt and unshaven considering he's hosting the show. And now the two are engaged in a huge pillow fight. There's Dennis Hopper! What does Jiminy ask a legend like this? "Why do men have nipples if they're not supposed to breast feed their pets?" Of course.

He just told Matt Dillon he was excellent as Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, and followed that up with a rave about his work in Saving Private Ryan. Dillon was in neither film. The red carpet is heating up, I just saw Kate Beckinsale, Tom Wilkinson, and now Aaron Eckhart -- who is discussing Mormonism with Jiminy. And now the skies have turned an unsettling gray, the winds are picking up, and I have a feeling a lot of expensive dresses are about to get destroyed. I'm gonna take shelter, but I'll be back.

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

I'm coming to you live from the Independent Spirit Awards on the beach in Santa Monica, California. It's been raining here in the Los Angeles area for days, but the sun is out this afternoon, and so are the stars! The awards don't start for a few hours, but I just saw the hilarious Whitest Kids U Know gang, who have a sketch show on the Independent Film Channel you should really be watching. Jason Reitman -- a nominee for Juno, though I just overheard him say he thinks the award will go to Julian Schnabel -- is making the handshake rounds. And one of my favorite comedy characters, Jiminy Glick (Martin Short), just brutally mocked me.

Mr. Glick told me that were this 28 years ago, my jacket would have been very fashionable. He told me "blogging" is contributing to the decline of culture and I should be ashamed of myself. He told me I looked like all of the character actors from the old Preston Sturges movies rolled into one. And I loved every minute of it. Being insulted by Jiminy Glick is something everyone should experience. He's currently interviewing the head of content at Netflix and is asking him if you can get pornography on the site. Jiminy's favorite films? Something Liquid This Way Comes and Bang the Bum Slowly. I'll be hanging here just off the red carpet, doing some snooping and snapping some photos. More to come...

Check out the gallery below for our pics from the Netflix tent. More coming ...

I was going to headline this post with something about 'being there in spirit,' but I decided that's a lame way to start things off. Obviously, I'm being lame anyway by pointing out that I wasn't going to begin that way, while in effect beginning that way. So, why don't we just get to the news about the Independent Spirit Award nominations, shall we?

Todd Hayne's I'm Not There received four nominations, including one each for Cate Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin, who are up for supporting actress and supporting actor, respectively, for their semi-portrayals of Bob Dylan. The film was also recognized in the Best Feature category, in which it's competing against Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Paranoid Park and A Mighty Heart, and Haynes was nominated for Best Director, going up against Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages) -- meaning A Mighty Heart's Michael Winterbottom was shut out despite his film's receiving the Best Feature nomination. I'm Not There is already the winner of one Independent Spirit Award, the newly conceived, and appropriately titled Robert Altman Award, which honors the film's director, casting director and ensemble cast. Because of that win, I'm Not There has been labeled the leader of the nominated films, although Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Savages all received the same amount of actual nominations as Haynes' film.

Since I haven't seen any of the major nominees (yet), I will take this opportunity to celebrate a few films, which I have seen, that have been deservedly recognized in other categories. First, I'm excited to see that Adrienne Shelly is up for Best Screenplay for Waitress. I doubt she'll win, unless enough voters want to further highlight her posthumous success, but I'm happy to see her included. I'm delighted to see Jennifer Jason Leigh nominated for Margot at the Wedding, considering Nicole Kidman, who wasn't nominated, has been receiving most of that film's accolades. And finally, I am ecstatic to see that Vanaja, which I loved, has been given two nominations, one for Best First Feature and one for Best Cinematography. Overall, we should all be glad that this year's crop of nominees includes few huge stars, Angelina Jolie being the one major exception, in the acting categories. The 2008 Independent Spirit Awards will be presented on February 23.

Nominees for the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning by Don Cheadle and Felicity Huffman, and it's no surprise that two of this year's most buzzed-about indie pics lead the pack. Little Miss Sunshine and Half Nelson each picked up five nominations, while four pics (American Gun, The Dead Girl, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Man Push Cart) nabbed three nods, and eight flicks ended up with two each.

Sunshine (which, personally, was one of my favorite films of the year) will compete in the Best Feature, Supporting Male (Alan Arkin and Paul Dano), Directing (Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton) and Best First Screenplay (Michael Arndt) categories. On the other hand, Nelson is up for Best Feature, Best Male (Ryan Gosling) and Female (Shareeka Epps), Directing (Ryan Fleck) and Best First Screenplay (Fleck and Anna Boden). The other three pics looking to snatch up an indie spirit award for Best Feature are American Gun, The Dead Girl and Pan's Labyrinth.

And hey, check out Four Eyed Monsters -- this little indie film (directed by Arin Crumley and Susan Buice) managed to snag two nods, one for Cinematography and one for the John Cassavetes Award (otherwise known as the best feature made for under $500,000), despite the fact that it never found a distributor. Having met Crumley and Buice, I must say these two represent the hardest working indie filmmakers out there, constantly trying to push the envelope through their MySpace video blogs, while slowly building a gigantic fanbase resulting in a tremendous amount of buzz for the pic. And, after screening their film anywhere and everywhere, Crumley and Buice finally managed to get CacheFly.com to sponsor a limited run at New York's Cinema Village beginning December 1. Go see this film. Pretty please.

The Independent Spirit Awards (currently in its 22nd year) will be held on February 24, and broadcasted live on IFC. Check out the full list of nominees after the jump.

You know how I feel about the proliferation of film festivals all over the globe, but as this particular one happens to be in my own backyard, I guess I can make an exception ... this time. Which film festival gets this special treatment? Why, it's the Film Independent Los Angeles Film Festival of course.

According to Variety, the festival announced this week that on October 24 it will start accepting submissions for the 13th annual event, held June 21 - July 1 2007 in Los Angeles. The entry deadline for short films and music videos is Feb. 9, while the deadline for feature-length narrative and documentary films is March 1. And, if you act now (or at least before January 12) you can even get a discount on your entry fees. Not a bad thing considering the minuscule budgets of most of these films.

Some of last years fest winners include Steve Collins, writer/director of Gretchen, who won for best narrative feature and Amy Berg, writer/director of Deliver Us From Evil, (which our own Kim reviewed) who won for best documentary feature. Both winners received $50,000, money they will probably use to pay off all the credit cards they maxed out to finance their films. Oscar-winning actress and producer Charlize Theron, whose indie credits include Monster and the documentary East of Havana, was also awarded the Spirit of Independence Award for her commitment to artistic independence in film at the event.

Especially of note for aspiring filmmakers looking for exposure is that the Los Angeles Film Festival is a qualifying fest in all categories for not only the Independent Spirit Awards but for the Academy Awards' short film categories as well. So indie filmmakers, dust off those scripts hidden in your drawer, borrow your parents' video camera, gather your friends, find a barn and start shooting because the next Academy Award for short films might just go to you. (And if it does, Cinematical wants a spot in that acceptance speech.)