Take Shelter, Artist lead Spirit Awards with five nominations

The Weinstein Company’s The Artist and SPC’s Take Shelter each earned five nominations, followed by The Descendants, Beginners, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Drive on four apiece. The winners will be announced at the Spirit Awards on Feb 25 2012 in Santa Monica.

BEST FEATURE
50/50
Beginners
Drive
Take Shelter
The Artist
The Descendants

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Mike Mills – Beginners
Jeff Nichols – Take Shelter
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive

BEST SCREENPLAY
Joseph Cedar – Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Tom McCarthy – Win Win
Mike Mills - Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Another Earth
Dir: Mike Cahill
Pdrs: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker

In The Family
Dir: Patrick Wang
Pdrs: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang

Margin Call
Dir: JC Chandor
Pdrs: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Dir: Sean Durkin
Pdrs: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond

Natural Selection
Dir: Robbie Pickering
Pdrs: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Mike Cahill, Brit Marling – Another Earth
JC Chandor – Margin Call
Patrick deWitt – Terri
Phil Johnson – Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser – 50/50

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – presented to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to writer, director and producer. EPs are not listed.

Bellflower
Wr-dir: Evan Glodell
Prds: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw

Circumstance
Wr-dir: Maryam Keshavarz
Prds: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M Lee

Hello Lonesome
Wr-dir-pdr: Adam Reid

Pariah
Wr-dir: Dee Rees
Pdr: Nekisa Cooper

The Dynamiter
Wr: Brad Inglesby
Dir: Matthew Gordon
Prds: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Art Jones, Mike Jones, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Lauren Ambrose – Think Of Me
Rachael Harris – Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

BEST MALE LEAD
Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Woody Harrelson – Rampart
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Anjelica Huston – 50/50
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana – Gun Hill Road
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Albert Brooks – Drive
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
John C Reilly – Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll – Midnight In Paris

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Joel Hodge – Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
Darius Khondji – Midnight In Paris
Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter

BEST DOCUMENTARY
An African Election
Dir-pdr: Jarreth Merz

Bill Cunningham New York
Dir: Richard Press
Prd: Philip Gefter

The Interrupters
Dir: Steve James
Prd: Alex Kotlowitz

The Redemption Of General Butt Naked
Dir-pdrs: Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion

We Were Here
Dir: David Weissman

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
A Separation (Iran)
Melancholia (Denmark-Sweden-France-Germany)
Shame (UK)
The Kid With A Bike (Belgium-France-Italy)
Tyrannosaur (UK)

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Chad Burris – Mosquita Y Mari
Sophia Lin – Take Shelter
Josh Mond – Martha Marcy May Marlene

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Simon Arthur – Silver Tongues
Mark Jackson – Without
Nicholas Ozeki – Mamitas

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Heather Courtney – Where Soldiers Come From
Danfung Dennis – Hell And Back Again
Alma Har’el – Bombay Beach

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Margin Call
Dir: JC Chandor
Casting dir: Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey
Ensemble cast:Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci