Award Season Kicks Off...

GOTHAM FILM AWARDS:

Best Feature: (tie) BEGINNERS and THE TREE OF LIFE
Best Documentary: BETTER THIS WORLD
Best Ensemble: BEGINNERS
Breakthrough Actor: FELICITY JONES - LIKE CRAZY
Breakthrough Director: DEE REES - PARIAH
Audience Award: Girlfriend
Best Film Not Playing at a Theatre Near You: SCENES OF CRIME


INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS:

Best Feature:
50/50 - Beginners - Drive - Take Shelter - The Artist - The Descendants

Best Director:
Mike Mills - Beginners
Nicholas Weinding Refn - Drive
Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Robert Altman Award: Margin Call

Best International Film:
A Separation - Melancholia - Shame - The Kid With a Bike - Tyrranasaur

Best Male Lead:
Demian Bichir - A Better Life
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Woody Harrelson - Rampart
Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

Best Female Lead:
Lauren Ambrose - Think of Me
Rachel Harris - Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye - Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

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 Supporting Female:
Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter
Angelica Huston - 50/50
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana - Gun Hill Road
Shaileen Woodley - The Descendants

Best Documentary:
An African Selection
Bill Cunningham New York
The Interrupters
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
We Were Here

Best First Screenplay:
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling - Another Earth
J.C. Chandor - Margin Call
Patrick DeWitt - Terri
Phil Johnston - Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser - 50/50

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 Cinematography:
Joel Hodge - Bellflower
Benjamin Kuh-Sulk - The Off Hours
Darius Kond-Jee - Midnight in Paris
Gui-omme Shiffman - The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron - The Dynamiter

John Cassavetes Award (For Films Made Under $500k):
Bellflower - Circumstance - Hello Lonesome - Pariah - The Dynamiter

Best First Features:
Another Earth - In the Family - Margin Call - Martha Marcy May Marlene - Natural Selection


NEW YORK FILM CRITICS WINNERS:

Best Picture: THE ARTIST
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Best Screenplay: Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball
Best Actor: Brad Pitt - Moneyball & The Tree of Life
Best Actress: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks - Drive
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain - The Help & Take Shelter & Tree of Life
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life
Best First Features: Margin Call
Best Documentary: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation



So, for the first day, our big winners are The Artist, Jessica Chastain, Tree of Life, Margin Call, Albert Brooks and Beginners. I do wonder if Chastain's chances will firmly be with The Help or if she can get in for one of her other performances.

And Michelle Williams is officially the Meryl Streep of the Spirit Awards.