Kudos to Winners of the Indie Spirit Awards!

Congratulations to the Independent films featured this past weekend at the Spirit Awards and at the Oscars!"Spotlight" took home the "Best Film" in both festivals.

The DIY Film Fest takes pride in noting that a documentary about the abuse of children by Boston Priests was featured in last year's winners at the DIY Film festival.  "Basta" is a powerful indictment of the powers that be, made by a victim of abuse.  Glad to see that such a powerful message is receiving the kind of "Spotlight" it deserves.

Kudo's to the team behind "Spotlight" and "Basta" - and the courage it took for those to come forward and talk about the truth. Here's the trailer for last year's Jury Prize winner from the DIY Film Festival:





Also notable for DIY Filmmakers everywhere - the multiple nominations and awards for the film "Tangerine" - nominated as Best Picture at the Spirit Awards, the entire film was shot DIY style on an iphone 6.



There's no excuse for not making your film!!!

The deadline for entering the DIY Film Festival has passed for this year's festival. The finalists will be announced soon.  Thank you to all of you worldwide who've entered the Festival!!!  Stay tuned!!!

Meanwhile, here are the winners from this weekend's spirit awards films.

Spotlight’ Leads Spirit Awards 2016: Complete Winners List

By Matt Donnelly on February 27, 2016 @ 1:55 pm Follow @MattDonnelly

 

Fun on Santa Monica Beach

“Spotlight” takes Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay while Brie Larson and Abraham Attah take top acting prizes
Hollywood braved the sand on Saturday for the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, where “Spotlight” emerged as the big winner on the beach in Santa Monica, California.

The investigative journalism drama took Best Feature, Best Director for Tom McCarthy, Best Screenplay and the Robert Altman Award among others.

The acting categories brought Brie Larson one step closer to a clean sweep of the season, as she rated Best Female Lead for “Room.” Mya Taylor made history as the first trans performer to win Best Supporting Female for “Tangerine.”

Photos: 2016 Spirit Awards: Red Carpet Arrivals (Photos)
The men of “Beasts of No Nation” swept the men’s performance category with Best Male Lead for 15-year-old Abraham Attah and Best Supporting Male for Idris Elba. Indonesian genocide documentary “The Look of Silence” also won Best Documentary.
The 2016 ceremony tapped “Saturday Night Live” breakout and forthcoming “Ghostbusters” star Kate McKinnon to co-host with “Silicon Valley” funnyman Kumail Nanjiani.

The pair’s opening monologue featured the expected jabs at indie film culture (“It’s definitely about losing money,” McKinnon said of investors) and some gloating over the Indie Spirits’ considerably better representation of diversity in comparison to the Oscars.


Best Feature
“Anomalisa”
“Beasts of No Nation”
“Carol”
“Spotlight” *WINNER
“Tangerine”

Best Director
Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson, “Anomalisa”
Cary Joji Fukunaga, “Beasts of No Nation”
Todd Haynes, “Carol”
David Robert Mitchell, “It Follows”

Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight” *WINNER
Sean Baker, “Tangerine”
Also Read: How Is the Oscar Best Picture Winner Chosen Exactly? A Short Explainer
Best Female Lead
Cate Blanchett, “Carol”
Rooney Mara, “Carol”
Bel Powley, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”
Brie Larson, “Room” *WINNER 
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, “Tangerine”

Best Male Lead
Abraham Attah, “Beasts of No Nation” *WINNER
Jason Segel, “The End of the Tour”
Christopher Abbott, “James White”
Koudous Seihon, “Mediterranea”
Ben Mendelsohn, “Mississippi Grind”

Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Jason Leigh, “Anomalisa”
Marin Ireland, “Glass Chin”
Robin Bartlett, “H.”
Cynthia Nixon, “James White”
Mya Taylor, “Tangerine” *WINNER

Best Supporting Male
Idris Elba, “Beasts of No Nation” *WINNER
Richard Jenkins, “Bone Tomahawk”
Paul Dano, “Love & Mercy”
Kevin Corrigan, “Results”
Michael Shannon, “99 Homes”

Best Screenplay
“Anomalisa”
“Bone Tomahawk”
“Carol”
“The End of the Tour”
“Spotlight” *WINNER

Best First Feature
“The Diary of a Teenage Girl” *WINNER
“James White”
“Manos Sucas”
“Mediterranea”
“Songs My Brothers Taught Me”
Also Read: Even at Diverse Spirit Awards, 'Spotlight' Sweep Keeps Focus on Oscar
Best First Screenplay
“The Diary of a Teenage Girl”
“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”
“Mediterranea”
“The Mend”
“Room” *WINNER

Best Editing
“Heaven Knows What”
“It Follows”
“Manos Sucias”
“Room”
“Spotlight” *WINNER

Best Cinematography
“Beasts of No Nation”
“Carol” *WINNER 
“It Follows”
“Meadowland”
“Songs My Brothers Taught Me”
Also Read: Never Mind the Oscars: The Spirit Awards Get Indie - and Diverse
Best Documentary
“Best of Enemies”
“Heart of a Dog”
“The Look of Silence” *WINNER
“Meru”
“The Russian Woodpecker”
“(T)error”

Best International Film
“Embrace of the Serpent”
“Girlhood”
“Mustang”
“A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence”
“Son of Saul” *WINNER

John Cassavetes Award
“Advantageous”
“Christmas, Again”
“Heaven Knows What”
“Krisha” *WINNER
“Out of My Hand”

Robert Altman Award
“Spotlight”

Piaget Producers Award
Darren Dean
Mel Eslyn *WINNER
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith

Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award
“God Bless the Child”
“King Jack” *WINNER
“Songs My Brother Taught Me”

Truer Than Fiction Award
“Among the Believers”
“Incorruptible” *WINNER
“A Woman Like Me”

DIY Film Fest winner Thomas Dolby remembering Dan Hicks

2014 DIY Film Festival winner Thomas Dolby remembering his friend, the late great Dan Hicks:

The deadline approaches....

Hello DIY Filmmakers!

It's that time of year when the DIY Film festival gathers all of its entries.  As per the listing on WithoutABox.com, the festival accepts entries until Feb. 20th.  (If one or two straggle in after the date, it's okay, but no later than the end of the month).

The Time. She flies. Swiftly.

Then we will announce the finalists by email in a couple of weeks.  Congratulations to all of you for finishing your film and getting it out into the world!!!  We welcome your entry to our festival, and hope you have luck with it at our festival and other festivals as well.

Pointing to some old fashioned time device.

But this post is to remind you that the clock is indeed ticking, and the time is close to the end of accepting films.  We accept online submissions, so follow the instructions at WithoutABox.com our exclusive place for entries. 

This is the 14th year of our film festivals and we've had some really great filmmakers over the years.  Festival winner Cody Blue Snider has recently won film festivals, and we hear that he's about to announce directing his first feature film based on one of his shorts!

Cody Blue Snider winner for "All That Remains"

We congratulate all of our filmmakers, past and present, and looking forward to celebrating your filmmaking abilities.  As the French Avante Garde filmmaker Jean Cocteau is quoted as saying "When the cost of making a film is as much as a pencil and a piece of paper, then we'll have true artists making films."  

In the past, Pinnacle Editing systems has supplied our prize winning editing pacakages.

That day is upon us.