Tuesday Flickers: "Precious" and "The Last Station" Top Indie Spirit Awards Noms

No surprise here: The stunning Precious, a harrowing urban drama directed by Lee Daniels and featuring a knock-out performance by rookie actor Gabbye Sidibe, cleaned up with five nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Daniels, Sidibe, and co-star Mo'Nique ought to start polishing up their Oscar acceptance speeches now; good chance they'll need them.

The Last Station, concerning the life of Tolstoy, also nabbed five, followed by war-trauma drama The Messenger, which received four.

Multiple nominations, too, went to the beautifully acted and written 500 Days of Summer, for best feature, best screenplay, and best male lead (Joseph Gordon Levitt).

Sad/sweet rock documentary Anvil!, locked out of the Oscar nominations, got a little love this time.

And "Paranormal Activity," which easily generated the most scares per dollar spent on any movie this year (budget: $15k; box office, so far: $100 million+), earned a nomination for best first feature.

Ceremonies will air live and uncut March 5 at 8 p.m. (PST) on the Independent Film Channel.

For more information, see the Los Angeles Times story here.

The complete list.....

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
500 Days of Summer
Amreeka
Precious
Sin Nombre
The Last Station

BEST DIRECTOR
The Coen Brothers for A Serious Man
Lee Daniels for Precious
Cary Fukunaga for Sin Nombre
James Grey for Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
The Messenger
Paranormal Activity

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Big Fan
Humpday
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

BEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman for The Messenger
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station
Lee Toland Krieger for The Vicious Kind
Greg Mottola for Adventureland
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber for 500 Days of Summer

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes for Cold Souls
Scott Cooper for Crazy Heart
Cherien Dabis for Amreeka
Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious
Tom Ford, David Scearce for A Single Man

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello for Downloading Nancy
Helen Mirren for The Last Station
Gwentyth Paltrow for Two Lovers
Gabby Sidibe for Precious
Nisreen Faour for Amreeka

BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
Colin Firth for A Single Man
Joseph Gordon Levitt for 500 Days Of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane for Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott for The Vicious Kind

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun for Cold Souls
Mo'Nique for Precious
Samantha Morton for The Messenger
Natalie Press for Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska for That Evening Sun

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clements for Gentleman Broncos
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger
Cristian McKay for Me And Orson Welles
Ramon McKinnon for That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins for A Serious Man
Adriano Goldman for Sin Nombre
Anne Misawa for Treeless Mountain
Andrij Parekh for Cold Souls
Peter Zeitlinger for Bad Lieutenant

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Anvil!
Food Inc
More Than a Game
October Country
Which Way Home

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
A Prophet
An Education
Everlasting Moments
Mother
The Maid

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
A Serious Man (Focus)

PRODUCERS AWARD
Karen Chien (The Exploding Girl, Santa Mesa)
Larry Fessenden (I Sell The Dead, The House Of The Devil)
Dia Sokol (Beeswax, Nights & Weekends)

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Kyle Patrick Alvarez for Easier With Practice
Asiel Norton for Redland
Tariq Tapa for Zero Bridge

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Natalia Almada for El General
Bill Ross, Turner Ross for Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Jessica Oreck for 45365