TV Article 'Moonrise Kingdom,' 'Silver Linings Playbook' lead Indie Spirit noms By Anthony Breznican Anthony Breznican Anthony is a Senior Writer for EW. EW's editorial guidelines Published on November 27, 2012 06:41PM EST Runaway kids and a guy with a runaway temper led the Independent Spirit Award nominations with Moonrise Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook collecting five bids each, including best picture. Their rivals in the best picture race are Bernie, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Keep the Lights On. With big-screen behemoths like Lincoln, Argo, and Les Miserables dominating Oscar talk, Film Independent's awards — chosen by filmmakers, actors, critics, and festival programers — cast the spotlight on some smaller films that are nonetheless worthy of consideration this award season. It's a welcome boost for Silver Linings, which is already being talked about as a Best Picture player at the Oscars, but it is a critical success for Moonrise, which has many admirers but came out so long ago that any reminder for Academy voters is a necessary one. Moonrise's other nominations were for director Wes Anderson, who shared a screenplay nod with Roman Coppola, cinematographer Robert Yeoman, and supporting actor Bruce Willis, who played the lonesome police captain leading the search for the two pint-sized runaways. The film also picked up best feature at last night's independent-minded Gotham Awards. Silver Linings, meanwhile, also picked up director and screenplay mentions for David O. Russell, as well as male and female leads for Bradley Cooper, as a bi-polar man looking for love, and Jennifer Lawrence as the erratic, sex-addict widow he falls for. A notable snub was The Sessions, which earned lead nominations for stars John Hawkes and Helen Hunt, but nothing for picture, director, or screenplay. Nominees with four each included the Sundance favorites Beasts of the Southern Wild, about a little girl facing the end of the world; Keep the Lights On, a tragic love story about a man who falls for an addict; and Middle of Nowhere, the story of a woman who falls in love with another man while her husband is in prison. One surprise individual with multiple mentions was Matthew McConaughey, who had a lead actor nomination for the brutal Killer Joe, and a supporting actor nod for his charismatic stripper boss in Magic Mike. Since the latter is a role that has a bit of Oscar buzz around it, this could help build some momentum for him. The unfortunate thing is, the Oscars tend to overlook these smaller movies. Not always, mind you, but often. While the production of these lower-budget films may be scrappier and less glossy than their studio rivals, awards like the Indie Spirits help focus a bit more attention on them. Last year, Demián Bichir got a mention for the immigrant story A Better Life, and later the Screen Actors Guild Awards decided to nominate him. From there, Academy voters realized: this is a movie we need to see — and on Feb. 26 last year, there Bichir was among the Best Actor contenders. Here's hoping voters find some awards-worthy work among these nominees. Jump to the next page for the full Independent Spirit Award list. BEST FEATURE Beasts of the Southern Wild Bernie Keep the Lights On Moonrise Kingdom Silver Linings Playbook BEST DIRECTOR Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild BEST SCREENPLAY Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On BEST FIRST FEATURE Fill the Void Gimme the Loot Safety Not Guaranteed Sound of My Voice The Perks of Being a Wallflower BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY Rama Burshtein, Fill the Void Derek Connolly, Safety Not Guaranteed Christopher Ford, Robot & Frank Rashida Jones & Will McCormack, Celeste and Jesse Forever Jonathan Lisecki, Gayby JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – (for features under $500,000) Breakfast with Curtis Middle of Nowhere Mosquita y Mari Starlet The Color Wheel BEST FEMALE LEAD Linda Cardellini, Return Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed BEST MALE LEAD Jack Black, Bernie Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook John Hawkes, The Sessions Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe Wendell Pierce, Four BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister Ann Dowd, Compliance Helen Hunt, The Sessions Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere BEST SUPPORTING MALE Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike David Oyelowo, Middle of Nowhere Michael Péna, End of Watch Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Yoni Brook, Valley of Saints Lol Crawley, Here Ben Richardson, Beasts of the Southern Wild Roman Vasyanov, End of Watch Robert Yeoman, Moonrise Kingdom BEST DOCUMENTARY How to Survive a Plague Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present The Central Park Five The Invisible War The Waiting Room BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM Amour (France) Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (Turkey) Rust And Bone (France/Belgium) Sister (Switzerland) War Witch (Democratic Republic of Congo) PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD Nobody Walks, Alicia Van Couvering Prince Avalanche, Derrick Tseng Stones in the Sun, Mynette Louie SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD Pincus, director David Fenster Gimme the Loot, director Adam Leon Electrick Children, director Rebecca Thomas TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (given to emerging documentary filmmaker) Leviathan, directors Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel The Waiting Room, director Peter Nicks Only the Young, directors Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mims ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (for ensemble cast) Starlet Director: Sean Baker Casting Director: Julia Kim Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ransone For more on award season Follow @breznican READ MORE: 'Zero Dark Thirty' and 'Les Miserables' storm awards season 'Les Miserables': First interviews with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway 'Life of Pi': Five close calls for this 'unfilmable' survival adventure