30th Independent Spirit Awards

30th Independent Spirit Awards
Awarded for	Best in independent film
Date	February 21, 2015
Site	Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Hosted by	Fred Armisen Kristen Bell
Highlights
Best Feature	Birdman
Most awards	Birdman (3)
Most nominations	Birdman (6)
Television coverage
Channel	IFC
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The 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2014, were presented by Film Independent on February 21, 2015.^[1] The nominations were announced on November 25, 2014.^[2] The ceremony was hosted by Fred Armisen and Kristen Bell, and aired live for the first time on IFC.^[3]

Winners and nominees[]

Best Feature	Best Director
Birdman Boyhood Love Is Strange Selma Whiplash	Richard Linklater – Boyhood Damien Chazelle – Whiplash Ava DuVernay – Selma Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman David Zellner – Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
Michael Keaton – Birdman as Riggan Thomson André 3000 – Jimi: All Is by My Side as Jimi Hendrix Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler as Louis "Lou" Bloom John Lithgow – Love Is Strange as Ben Hull David Oyelowo – Selma as Martin Luther King Jr.	Julianne Moore – Still Alice as Dr. Alice Howland Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant as Ewa Cybulska Rinko Kikuchi – Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter as Kumiko Jenny Slate – Obvious Child as Donna Stern Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive as Eve
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
J. K. Simmons – Whiplash as Terence Fletcher Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler as Rick Ethan Hawke – Boyhood as Mason Evans Sr. Alfred Molina – Love Is Strange as George Garea Edward Norton – Birdman as Mike Shiner	Patricia Arquette – Boyhood as Olivia Evans Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year as Anna Morales Carmen Ejogo – Selma as Coretta Scott King Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of the Closing Doors as Mariana Emma Stone – Birdman as Sam Thomson
Best Screenplay	Best First Screenplay
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski – Big Eyes J. C. Chandor – A Most Violent Year Jim Jarmusch – Only Lovers Left Alive Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias – Love Is Strange	Justin Simien – Dear White People Desiree Akhavan – Appropriate Behavior Sara Colangelo – Little Accidents Justin Lader – The One I Love Anja Marquardt – She's Lost Control
Best First Feature	Best Documentary Feature
Nightcrawler Dear White People A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Obvious Child She's Lost Control	Citizenfour – Laura Poitras 20,000 Days on Earth – Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard The Salt of the Earth – Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders Stray Dog – Debra Granik Virunga – Orlando von Einsiedel
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman Darius Khondji – The Immigrant Sean Porter – It Felt Like Love Lyle Vincent – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Bradford Young – Selma	Tom Cross – Whiplash Sandra Adair – Boyhood John Gilroy – Nightcrawler Ron Patane – A Most Violent Year Adam Wingard – The Guest
Best International Film
Ida (Denmark / France / Poland / United Kingdom) – Paweł Pawlikowski Force Majeure (France / Norway / Sweden) – Ruben Östlund Leviathan (Russia) – Andrey Zvyagintsev Mommy (Canada) – Xavier Dolan Norte, the End of History (Philippines) – Lav Diaz Under the Skin (Switzerland / United Kingdom) – Jonathan Glazer

Films with multiple nominations and awards[]

Films that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Film
6	Birdman
5	Boyhood
	Nightcrawler
	Selma
4	Love Is Strange
	Whiplash
3	A Most Violent Year
2	A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
	The Immigrant
	Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
	Obvious Child
	Only Lovers Left Alive
	She's Lost Control

Films that won multiple awards

Awards	Film
3	Birdman
2	Boyhood
	Nightcrawler
	Whiplash

Special awards[]

John Cassavetes Award[]

Land Ho!

• Blue Ruin
• It Felt Like Love
• Man From Reno
• Test

Robert Altman Award[]

(The award is given to its film director, casting director, and ensemble cast)

• Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson, Cassandra Kulukundis, Josh Brolin, Hong Chau, Benicio del Toro, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Sasha Pieterse, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Serena Scott Thomas, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, and Reese Witherspoon

Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award[]

Recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl's since 1851.

Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia – H.

• Ana Lily Amirpour – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
• Chris Eska – The Retrieval

Piaget Producers Award[]

Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Chris Ohlson

• Chad Burris
• Elisabeth Holm

Truer than Fiction Award[]

Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by LensCrafters.

Dan Krauss – The Kill Team

• Sara Dosa – The Last Season
• Darius Clark Monroe – Evolution of a Criminal
• Amanda Rose Wilder – Approaching the Elephant

Special Distinction Award[]

(The award is given to its film director, producers, and ensemble cast for its uniqueness of "vision, honesty of direction and screenwriting, superb acting and achievement on every level of filmmaking")

• Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller (director/producer), E. Max Frye (writer), Dan Futterman (writer), Anthony Bregman (producer), Megan Ellison (producer), Jon Kilik (producer), Steve Carell (cast), Mark Ruffalo (cast), and Channing Tatum (cast)

References[]