The 2006 Independent Spirit Award nominations, the first major nominations of the awards season, were announced late last week.
The winners will be announced at ceremonies in a tent on Santa Monica Beach on Sunday, March 4.
Serving on the nominating committee were Film Independent Executive Director Dawn Hudson; actors Julie Delpy, Judah Friedlander, Eric Stoltz and Lili Taylor; Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, producers Gail Mutrux and Bingham Ray, directors Sherman Alexie, Victor Nunez, and Angela Robinson; writers Christopher McQuarrie, Larry Gross, and John Ridley, film editors Lynzee Klingman and Sally Menke, casting directors Aisha Coley and Mali Finn, and cinematographers Fred Elmes and Laszlo Kovacs.
The nominees are:
BEST FEATURE
Brokeback Mountain, Producers Diana Ossana and James Schamus.
Capote, Producers Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven.
Good Night, and Good Luck, Producer Grant Heslov.
The Squid and the Whale, Producers Wes Anderson, Peter Newman, Charles Corwin, Chris Markowicz.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Producers Michael Fitzgerald, Tommy Lee Jones.
BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Gregg Araki, Mysterious Skin
Rodrigo García, Nine Lives
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Crash, Director Paul Haggis. Producers Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari, Mark R. Harris, Bobby Moresco, Paul Haggis.
Lackawanna Blues, Director George C. Wolfe. Producer Nellie Nugiel.
Me and You and Everyone We Know , Director Miranda July. Producer Gina Kwon.
Thumbsucker , Director Mike Mills. Producers Anthony Bregman, Bob Stephenson.
Transamerica, Director Duncan Tucker. Producers Rene Bastian, Sebastian Dungan, Linda Moran.
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(best feature made for under $500,000);
Brick , Director/Writer Rian Johnson. Producers Ram Bergman and Mark G. Mathis.
Conventioneers, Director Mora Stephens. Producer Joel Vierter. Writers Mora Stephens and Joel Viertel.
Jellysmoke, Director/Writer/Producer Mark Banning.
The Puffy Chair, Director Jay Duplass. Producer Mark Duplass, Writers Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass.
Room, Director/Writer Kyle Henry. Producers Allen Bain, Darren Goldberg, Jesse Scolaro.
BEST SCREENPLAY
Ayad Akhtar, Joseph Castelo, Tom Glynn, The War Within
Guillermo Arriaga, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
Dan Futterman, Capote
Rodrigo García, Nine Lives
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Kenneth Hanes, Fixing Frank
Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know
Angus MacLachlan, Junebug
Sabina Murray, The Beautiful Country
Duncan Tucker, Transamerica
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Amy Adams, Junebug
Maggie Gyllenhaal , Happy Endings
Allison Janney, Our Very Own
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
Robin Wright Penn, Nine Lives
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Firdous Bamji, The War Within
Matt Dillon, Crash
Jesse Eisenberg, The Squid and the Whale
Barry Pepper, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Jeffrey Wright, Broken Flowers
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Dina Korzun, Forty Shades of Blue
Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
S. Epatha Merkerson, Lackawanna Blues
Cyndi Williams, Room
BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Elswit, Good Night, and Good Luck
John Foster, Keane
Adam Kimmel, Capote
Chris Menges, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Harris Savides, Last Days
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the Director)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania) Director, Cristi Puiu.
Duck Season, (Mexico) Director Fernando Eimbcke.
Head-On (Germany/Turkey) Director: Fatih Akin.
Paradise Now (Palestine/Netherlands/Germany/France) Director Hany Abu-Assad.
Tony Takitani (Japan), Director Jun Ichikawa
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the Director)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Director Alex Gibney.
Grizzly Man, Director Werner Herzog.
La Sierra, Directors Scott Dalton, Margarita Martinez.
Romántico , Director, Mark Becker
Sir! No Sir! Director, David Zeiger