The Independent Spirit Awards 2009 threw a few surprises with the nominations as well as the winners. These awards are the Oscars of the indie world and probably carry the most apt looking trophy on offer. The trophy is made from acrylic and has shoelaces wrapped on a pole. The shoelaces signifying the paltry budgets for indie movies. In fact, one qualifying criterion for the awards is the percentage of financing from independent sources, such as the director’s uncle, the pawn shop…
The award ceremony is held inside a huge tent on a beach in Santa Monica, California, every year on the day before the Oscar night. As a rule, winners on Saturday night at the Independent Spirit function rarely do an encore at the Oscars – it’s like “Win on Saturday Lose on Sunday”. Comeback man Mickey Rourke who won the best actor award at the Spirit function on Saturday will be looking to break the jinx of Spirit Award winners and join the likes of Charlize Theron and Philip Seymour Hoffman as winners on consecutive evenings.
Two things make the 2009 edition of the Spirit Awards memorable – Mickey Rourke’s expletive-laded acceptance speech in which he dedicated the award to his pet Chihuahua, Loki and the awards managing to emerge from Oscar shadows, ditching Oscar nominee Milk in favor of Ballast, Wendy and Lucy, Frozen River.
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