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"The Apostle," Robert Duvall's film about a Pentecostal minister, was the big winner Thursday when the Independent Feature Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting American independent filmmakers, announced nominees for its 13th annual Spirit Awards.
Duvall's film received six nominations, the most of any independent film. "Hard Eight," "Star Maps" and "Ulee's Gold" each received five nominations.
But perhaps the most notable nominated films were two that few moviegoers have heard of, "Habit" and "Loved." These films, nominated in the best director and best feature film categories, respectively, share something in common that underscores the difficulties today's independent filmmakers face: Both have yet to find a domestic distributor.
"As more and more films are being made, there's just more competition for getting a distributor to commit to your film," said Dawn Hudson, IFP / West's executive director. "We want to bring attention to those films that don't necessarily get the attention or the time in the marketplace that they deserve."
Besides "Loved," which was directed by Erin Dignam, nominees for best feature are: "The Apostle" (October Films), directed by Duvall; "Chasing Amy" (Miramax), directed by Kevin Smith; "Ulee's Gold" (MGM), directed by Victor Nun~ez; and "Waiting for Guffman" (Sony Pictures Classics), directed by Christopher Guest.
Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter"--one...
