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The Independent Spirit Awards were presented this afternoon inside a giant white tent in beautiful Santa Monica, California. Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler led the way, taking home three Spirits for Best Feature, Best Male Lead (Mickey Rourke) and Best Cinematography (Maryse Alberti). Accepting the award for Best Feature, Aronofsky said that while "working on special effects for a space movie," he realized that he loved working with actors most of all, and dedicated the award to his cast.

Melissa Leo won Best Female Lead for her work in Frozen River, while James Franco was awarded Best Supporting Male for Milk and Penelope Cruz was named Best Supporting Female for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In somewhat of a surprise, Tom McCarthy won Best Director for The Visitor.

Rourke gave the most entertaining speech of the show, broadcast life on IFC, first kissing Aronofsky on the lips before proceeding to the stage and paying tribute to actor Eric Roberts ("he deserves a second chance"), dedicating his award to his recently deceased dog Loki, crediting actress Marisa Tomei ("not many girls can climb the pole"), and encouraging director Aronofsky to embrace being called "a mean son of a b****."

As you'd expect, our friends at indieWIRE have been providing comprehensive coverage. You can also take a tour through our collection of Spirit Awards photos, take a look at all the nominees, or go behind the scenes and see how one voter made his selections.

After the jump: a complete list of the winners.

Most of us complain about the Academy Awards, which will be presented next Sunday, but most of us can't do anything about them. In the first place, most of us can't even vote for them!

Ah, but the Independent Spirit Awards are different: almost anyone can vote for them. All you have to do is become a member of Los Angeles-based Film Independent (annual membership: $95) and then register to vote.

The Film Nest has an interesting article on someone who went through the process. Film Independent members in general have no input into the nomination process, but after the nominations were announced, members could choose to receive DVD screeners of the nominees or attend special, one-time-only screenings at a local theater. Ultimately only eight of the 30-plus nominated films were made available on screeners, so conscientious voters had to trek down to the theater if they hadn't already seen the nominees.

With all the attention given to the Oscars, and more recently to the Berlin film fest and the concurrent European Film Market, "it may be easy to forget that the Independent Spirit Awards happen next weekend," as Matt Dentler blogs, He discusses the nominees for Best Feature (Ballast, Frozen River, Rachel Getting Married, Wendy and Lucy, The Wrestler) and other categories, and gives his thoughts on who might win. There's a lot of "Who knows?" inherent in the Spirit Awards, and part of that is because voting is so much more open than the Academy.

That openness is just one of the reasons why the Spirit Awards are so much fun to watch. The awards will be presented in Santa Monica, California, next Saturday afternoon, February 21, and you can watch the show live on cable channel IFC and rebroadcast later that evening on AMC.

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.

The LA Times had a less-than-flattering piece up over the weekend about Film Independent, the organization that runs the Independent Spirit Awards. The biggest difference between Independent Spirit Awards and its more bigger-sibling counterpart, the Oscars, though, isn't just in the more casual attire of the former, or the more mainstream content of the films lauded at the latter; it's in the fact that Film Independent, a charitable organization, is able to claim part of the expenses of its bash as a "charitable service." This, as the LAT article notes, puts the A-List attended indie bash in the same tax category as a soup kitchen for the homeless.

The main gist of the article is that Charity Navigator, a watchdog org, gave Film Independent zero stars out of four for both 2004 and 2005, due to its low ratio of program spending -- just 50% and 49% in 2004 and 2005, compared to similar non-profits. The Sundance Institute, for instance, had ratios of 74% and 72% for the same years, while American Cinematheque had ratios of 90% and 87%. The article also called into question the salary of Dawn Hudson (pictured above), Film Independent's exec director, earned a base salary of $265,000 in 2005, more than the heads of the Academy-affiliated Academy Foundation or the American Film Institute.

Face it, the majority of films that screen at even the most popular film festivals never find distribution. That's just a fact. Usually, there's a window for a film that debuts at, say, Slamdance or SXSW ... and let's say that window is one year. If the film cannot find distribution within one year of its first screening at a major festival then chances are it's not going to happen. The filmmaker(s) who promoted their project at the festival, online and through various other sources will most likely use their festival film as a calling card to land other gigs -- or, they'll just simply make another film, use their prior festival buzz to get into future festivals and keep working their way up into the spotlight.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Four Eyed Monsters first premiered at Slamdance back in 2005, then went on to screen in over 20 festivals. However, before heading to Slamdance, directors Arin Crumley and Susan Buice decided to promote their film (which is about a couple who attempt to carry on a relationship through non-verbal communication) by documenting their journey -- not through words on a screen -- but through a number of video blogs (or podcasts). They called them 'episodes' and each one felt like its own mini-film, complete with conflict, adventure and fantastic music. Needless to say, the film (and the podcasts) quickly found an audience ... who told their friends, who told their friends and so on ...

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.)

Here are a few reasons that the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards rocked:

• A song about each best feature nominee, including one sung by Macy Gray with the backing of an all-Capote band.
• Casual dress, including lots of nice, broken-in jeans, and refreshingly less made-up ladies.
• Swearing. Lots and lots of swearing.
  
• Shockingly frequent mentions of brilliant, largely overlooked films like The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and The Squid and the Whale.
• Garrett Scott's Occupation: Dreamland won, which resulted in a classy, sad speech by co-director Ian Olds.
  

Here is the main reason that the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards were totally disappointing:

• All the same goddamn movies and people won: Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, Philip Seymour Hoffman (whose speech, about how much fun he's had hanging out with his fellow nominees over the course of the awards season, was pretty darn wonderful), yadda yadda usual suspects cakes. It was like watching a drunker, less formal Oscars, about 36 hours early.
  

Documentarian Garrett Scott, whose Occupation: Dreamland (made with co-director Ian Olds) powerfully depicts the life of American soldiers in Falluja and was shortlisted for the best documentary Oscar, died in an accident on Thursday at the age of 37. Scott's film is nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards' Truer Than Fiction prize, and he had planned to attend today's ceremony; his shocking death will certainly give the normally celebratory ceremony a somber air. Though Dreamland was only his second film, Scott was already well-known in the independent film community. On the strength of his debut Cul de Sac: A Suburban War Story - which told the story of "a man who stole an Army tank and drove it through the streets of a local suburb" - he was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces in Independent Film for 2002, and the outpouring of grief and affection at IndieWire indicates that the respect and regard of his peers only grew over the next few years.

Occupation: Dreamland will premiere on the Sundance Channel next month; the Independent Spirit Awards will air this afternoon on IFC.