2009 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Announced

Every year, the night before the Oscars are handed out, Hollywood stars and starlets go into a tent on the Santa Monica beach and honor the best in independent cinema of the last year.

The nominees for the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards were announced yesterday. Â  Good on Mickey Rourke and ‘The Wrestler’ for scoring nominations for Best Actor and Best Feature. Â  Congrats also go out to We Are Movie Geeks blogger, Jonathan Levine, for ‘The Wackness’ getting a First Screenplay nod.

The nominations:

Feature
‘Ballast’Â  
‘Frozen River’
‘Rachel Getting Married’
‘Wendy and Lucy’
‘The Wrestler’

Director
Ramin Bahrani, ‘Chop Shop’
Jonathan Demme, ‘Rachel Getting Married’
Lance Hammer, ‘Ballast’
Courtney Hunt,  ‘Frozen River’
Tom McCarthy, ‘The Visitor’

Male Lead
Javier Bardem, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Richard Jenkins, ‘The Visitor’
Sean Penn, ‘Milk’
Jeremy Renner, ‘The Hurt Locker’
Mickey Rourke, ‘The Wrestler’

Female Lead
Summer Bishil, ‘Towelhead’
Anne Hathaway, ‘Rachel Getting Married’
Melissa Leo, ‘Frozen River’
Tarra Riggs, ‘Ballast’
Michelle Williams, ‘Wendy and Lucy’

Supporting Male
James Franco, ‘Milk’
Anthony Mackie, ‘The Hurt Locker’
Charlie McDermott, ‘Frozen River’
Jim Myron Ross, ‘Ballast’
Haaz Sleiman, ‘The Visitor’

Supporting Female
Penà ©lope Cruz, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Rosemarie DeWitt, ‘Rachel Getting Married’
Rosie Perez, ‘The Take’
Misty Upham, ‘Frozen River’
Debra Winger, ‘Rachel Getting Married’

Screenplay
Woody Allen, Â  ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, ‘Sugar’
Charlie Kaufman, ‘Synecdoche, New York’
Howard A. Rodman, ‘Savage Grace’
Christopher Zalla, ‘Sangre De Mi Sangre’

First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black, ‘Milk’
Lance Hammer, ‘Ballast’
Courtney Hunt, ‘Frozen River’
Jonathan Levine, ‘The Wackness’
Jenny Lumet, ‘Rachel Getting Married’

Cinematography
Maryse Alberti, ‘The Wrestler’
Lol Crawley, ‘Ballast’
James Laxton, ‘Medicine for Melancholy’
Harris Savides, ‘Milk’
Michael Simmonds, ‘Chop Shop’

The 2009 Independet Spirit Awards will be aired live on the IFC network on February 21st, 2009 at 5:00 ET.

Source: Spirit Awards Official Site