Winners of the 40th Independent Spirit Awards

by Nick Taylor

Last night, the 40th Indie Spirit Awards came and went. The SAG Awards could begin at any moment, meaning we'll have a better sense on whether certain wins here might reverberate into the Oscars next week. Even taking the Oscar-adjacency of several winners into consideration, this is a solid pack of winners, with a couple pleasant surprises along with some disappointing rubber-stamping. Here's the list of winners from this year's Indie Spirit Awards, with some delightful commentary from yours truly. If you want to go back and watch the show, Film Independent has uploaded the ceremony in its entirety on YouTube. Click here to watch it!...

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Oscar Volley: "Anora" takes the lead in Best Original Screenplay

The Oscar Volleys are back for some post-nomination talks. Today, Abe Friedtanzer and Eurocheese discuss Best Original Screenplay...

ANORA | © NEON Rated

ABE: Eurocheese, always a pleasure to get to talk to you about movies! I think we got a great category this time - Best Original Screenplay - which is actually quite a competitive race! The WGA rules meant that only two of the Oscar nominees are recognized by that guild too, which did make room for one of my favorite movies of the year, My Old Ass. But at the Oscars we have a race that's legitimately a three-way competition. I think we can safely rule out September 5, a film which I think is excellent but which didn't get any other nominations, including Best Film Editing, so I can't see a scenario where it has a path to victory here.

Similarly, A Real Pain, initially conceived as a potential frontrunner, missed the Best Picture list and only scored one additional nomination (which it can probably win) for Kieran Culkin. It's hard to see it having enough support here. That brings us to the other three nominees. I would have said Anora was the clear number one pick here, but precursors aren't looking that way.

Where do you think the race stands?...

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Contender Reviews: "September 5"

by Cláudio Alves

Since many of this year's Oscar nominees haven't yet been reviewed here at The Film Experience, I'll be going over a bunch of them in the coming weeks. Think of it as an AMPAS-minded sibling to Nick Taylor's series of Spirit Awards analysis. To start things off, let's go over the season's one lone screenplay nominee – Tim Fehlbaum's September 5. Once considered a threat for the Best Picture trophy by some major publications, the historical drama failed to meet pundits' expectations – its biggest miss was probably Editing. Today, it premiered on VOD, so it seems like a fitting time to consider the film…

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Some Positive Thoughts on Our Oscar Nominees...

by Eric Blume

EMILIA PÉREZ | © Netflix

Each Oscar nomination morning, there’s always that moment of sadness or anger over our favorites being left out of the race.  It’s part of the fun of the awards season really…righteous indignation feels damn good!  And I’m sure, for all of you, this year was no exception.  There’s always something to gripe about on how the Academy did someone dirty, or how they’re sheep about following the trends, etc.

BUT, let’s have some fun and look at some of the positive things about this year’s nominees…

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Will any of the PGA Nominees miss the Best Picture list at the Oscars?

by Nathaniel R

A REAL PAIN scores a coveted PGA nod. Can it beat SING SING to the Oscars?

After the BAFTAs the season is coalescing leaving little room for surprise when the delayed Oscar nominations arrive this coming Friday (January 23). The Producers Guild have also announced their nominations. While the PGA leans more 'mainstream' than Oscar, this looks very much like what we can expect on Oscar nom morning. Still history suggests one (or two) nominee(s) could fall to the wayside. But which...

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