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Tuesday, December 2-------The Film Independent Spirit Awards, also referred to as the "indie Oscars" has announced its nomination list today, giving added fuel to the awards season. Top nominees include FROZEN RIVER (Courtney Hunt), BALLAST (Lance Hammer) and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (Jonathan Demme). Other films competing for the Best Feature Award include THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronofsky) and WENDY AND LUCY (Kelly Reichardt).

FROZEN RIVER, which won the top prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, boasted six nominations: three for cast members Melissa Leo, Misty Upham and Charlie McDermott and two for writer/director Courtney Hunt. The film's producer Heather Rae was also nominated for the Piaget Producer's Award, along with fellow nominees Jason Orans ("Year of the Fish," "Goodbye Solo") and Lars Knudsen and Jay Von Hoy ("Treeless Mountain," "I'll Come Running").

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED also received six nominations, including acting nods for "stars Anne Hathaway, Debra Winger and Rosemarie deWitt. BALLAST received nominations for the actors Tarra Riggs and JimMyron Ross. Both films also received nominations for Best Director and Best First Screenplay. Other multiple nominees included MILK (Gus Van Sant), THE VISITOR (Tom McCarthy) and VICKI CRISTINA BARCELONA (Woody Allen).

2008 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST FEATURE

Rachel Getting Married (Neda Armian, Jonathan Demme, Marc Platt)

The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin)

Wendy and Lucy (Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani)

Ballast (Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh)

Frozen River (Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae)

BEST DIRECTOR

Tom McCarthy, The Visitor

Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married

Courtney Hunt, Frozen River

Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop

Lance Hammer, Ballast

BEST FIRST FEATURE

Afterschool (Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond)

Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, Justin Barber)

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel)

Sleep Dealer (Alex Rivera, Anthony Bregman)

Sangre De Mi Sangre (Christopher Zalla, Per Melita, Benjamin Odell)

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Prince of Broadway (Sean Baker, Darren Dean)

Take Out (Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou)

The Signal (David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh)

Turn the River (Chris Eigeman, Ami Armstrong)

In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge, Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy)

BEST SCREENPLAY

Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Sugar

Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York

Howard A. Rodman, Savage Grace

Christopher Zalla, Sangre De Mi Sangre

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Lance Hammer, Ballast

Courtney Hunt, Frozen River

Jonathan Levine, The Wackness

Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Summer Bishil, Towelhead

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Melissa Leo, Frozen River

Tarra Riggs, Ballast

Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy

BEST MALE LEAD

Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Richard Jenkins, The Visitor

Sean Penn, Milk

Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married

Rosie Perez, The Take

Misty Upham, Frozen River

Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

James Franco, Milk

Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker

Charlie McDermott, Frozen River

JimMyron Ross, Ballast

Haaz Sleiman, The Visitor

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler

Lol Crawley, Ballast

James Laxton, Medicine for Melancholy

Harris Savides, Milk

Michael Simmonds, Chop Shop

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Order of Myths (Margaret Brown)

Up the Yangtze (Yung Chang)

Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog)

The Betrayal (Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath)

Man on Wire (James Marsh)

BEST FOREIGN FILM

The Class (Laurent Cantet)

Gomorra (Matteo Garrone)

Secret of the Grain (Abdellatif Kechiche)

Hunger (Steve McQueen)

Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas)

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD

Heather Rae (Frozen River)

Jason Orans (Goodbye Solo, Year of the Fish)

Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy (Treeless Mountain, I'll Come Running)

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

Lynn Shelton (My Effortless Brilliance)

Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues)

Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy)

LACOSTE TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

Darius Marder (Loot)

Sacha Gervasi (Anvil! The Story of Anvil)

Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths)

The Film Independent Spirit Awards will be given out on Saturday, February 21 in Santa Monica, one day before the Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor