The 24th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 2008, were announced on February 21, 2009. It was hosted by Steve Coogan.
Winners and nominees
{| class="wikitable" !Best Feature !Best Director |- |The Wrestler
Ballast Frozen River Rachel Getting Married Wendy and Lucy |Tom McCarthy – The Visitor
Ramin Bahrani – Chop Shop Jonathan Demme – Rachel Getting Married Lance Hammer – Ballast Courtney Hunt – Frozen River |- !Best Male Lead !Best Female Lead |- |Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona Richard Jenkins – The Visitor Sean Penn – Milk Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker |Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Summer Bishil – Towelhead Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married Tarra Riggs – Ballast Michelle Williams – Wendy and Lucy |- !Best Supporting Male !Best Supporting Female |- |James Franco – Milk
Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker Charlie McDermott – Frozen River Jim Myron Ross – Ballast Haaz Sleiman – The Visitor |Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt – Rachel Getting Married Rosie Perez – The Take Misty Upham – Frozen River Debra Winger – Rachel Getting Married |- !Best Screenplay !Best First Screenplay |- |Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Woody AllenSangre de Mi Sangre – Christopher Zalla Savage Grace – Howard A. Rodman Sugar – Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Synecdoche, New York – Charlie Kaufman |Milk – Dustin Lance BlackBallast – Lance Hammer Frozen River – Courtney Hunt Rachel Getting Married – Jenny Lumet The Wackness – Jonathan Levine |- !Best First Feature !Best Documentary |- |Synecdoche, New York
Afterschool Medicine for Melancholy Sangre de Mi Sangre Sleep Dealer |Man on Wire
The Betrayal Encounters at the End of the World The Order of Myths Up the Yangtze |- !Best Cinematography !Best Foreign Film |- |The Wrestler – Maryse AlbertiBallast – Lol Crawley Chop Shop – Michael Simmonds Medicine for Melancholy – James Laxton Milk – Harris Savides | The Class • FranceGomorrah • Italy Hunger • Ireland/UK The Secret of the Grain • France Silent Light • Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany
Films with multiple nominations and awards +Films that received multiple nominationsNominationsFilm6BallastFrozen RiverRachel Getting Married4Milk3The VisitorThe Wrestler2Chop ShopThe Hurt LockerWendy and LucySangre de Mi SangreSynecdoche, New YorkVicky Cristina Barcelona +Films that won multiple awardsAwardsFilm3The Wrestler2Synecdoche, New YorkVicky Cristina Barcelona
Special awards
John Cassavetes AwardIn Search of a Midnight Kiss Prince of Broadway The Signal Take Out Turn the River
Truer Than Fiction Award The Order of Myths Anvil! The Story of Anvil Loot
Producers Award Heather Rae – Frozen River and Ibid Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy – Treeless Mountain and I'll Come Running Jason Orans – Goodbye Solo and Year of the Fish
Someone to Watch Award Lynn Shelton – My Effortless Brilliance Barry Jenkins – Medicine for Melancholy Nina Paley – Sita Sings the Blues
Robert Altman Award Synecdoche, New York — Charlie Kaufman, Jeanne McCarthy, Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest and Michelle Williams
External links 2008 Spirit Awards at IMDb Official show on YouTube
References