Austin Filmmakers Have That Independent Spirit

Many Texas- and Austin-based filmmakers were honored yesterday by nominations for 2014 Independent Spirit Awards.

The ceremony that focuses solely on independent filmmaking offers up many familiar categories (Best Feature, Best Director), and some specialized categories as well (best feature made for less than $500,000 – also known as the “John Cassavetes Award”).

And Austinites are nominated all over this map.

Before Midnight, the third installment of the cross-generational love story between Ethan Hawke's Jesse and Julie Delpy's Celine, has received two nominations: Best Female Lead (against Short Term 12's Brie Larson) and Best Screenplay. Director (and Austin Film Society co-founder) Richard Linklater penned the screenplay with Hawke and Delpy. Linklater has received seven Spirit nominations over the span of his filmmaking career.

Yen Tan’s Pit Stop, which we discovered during South by Southwest and rediscovered during October’s Polari, has been nominated for the John Cassavetes Award. He goes up against another Austin-based director – Andrew Bujalski, with his Computer Chess – as well as Crystal Fairy, Museum Hours, and This Is Martin Bonner.

And, of course, we're proud to say Jeff Nichols was nominated for Best Director, along greats like Dallas' Shane Carruth and Alexander Payne. Nichols' Mud will be honored with the Robert Altman Award as well for its ensemble cast and casting direction.

Congrats to all! The ceremony will be March 1, 2014; Patton Oswalt hosts.

Read the complete list of nominees here, and check out our Film Listings for reviews of many of the nominated pictures.