15th Independent Spirit Awards

The Independent Spirit Awards were presented on March 25, 2000 on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The awards are voted on by the 9,000 members of the Independent Feature Project

The nominees (and the winners in bold) are:

Feature:
Election
The Limey
The Straight Story
Sugar Town
Cookie's Fortune

Director:
Alexander Payne - Election
Harmony Korine - julien donkey-boy
Steven Soderbergh - The Limey
David Lynch - The Straight Story
Doug Liman - Go

First Feature (over $500,000)
Being John Malkovich
Boys Don't Cry
Three Seasons
Twin Falls Idaho
Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl

First Feature (under $500,000)
The Blair Witch Project
La Ciudad
Compensation
Judy Berlin
Treasure Island

Female Lead
Diane Lane - Walk on the Moon
Janet McTeer - Tumbleweeds
Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry
Susan Traylor - Valerie Flake
Reese Witherspoon - Election

Male Lead
John Cusack - Being John Malkovich
Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story
Terence Stamp - The Limey
David Strathairn - Limbo
Noble Willingham - The Corndog Man

Supporting Female
Barbara Barrie - Judy Berlin
Vanessa Martinez - Limbo
Sarah Polley - Go
Chloe Sevigny - Boys Don't Cry
Jean Smart - Guinevere

Supporting Male
Charles S. Dutton - Cookie's Fortune
Luis Guzman - The Limey
Terrence Howard - The Best Man
Clark Gregg - The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
Steve Zahn - Happy, Texas

Debut Performance
Kimberly J. Brown - Tumbleweeds
Jessica Campbell - Election
Jade Gordon - Sugar Town
Toby Smith - Drylongso
Chris Stafford - Edge of Seventeen

Screenplay
Kevin Smith - Dogma
Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor - Election
Audrey Wells - Guinevere
Lem Dobbs - The Limey
James Merendino - SLC Punk!

First Screenplay
Tod Williams - The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
Charlie Kaufman - Being John Malkovich
Kimberly Peirce - Andy Bienen, Boys Don't Cry
Anne Rapp - Cookie's Fortune
John Roach, Mary Sweeney - The Straight Story

Cinematographer
M. David Mullen - Twin Falls Idaho
Lisa Rinzler - Three Seasons
Anthony Dod Mantle - julien donkey, boy
Jeffrey Seckendorf - Judy Berlin
Harlan Bosmajian - La Ciudad

Foreign Film
All About My Mother - Spain
Run Lola Run - Germany
My Son the Fanatic - England
Topsy-Turvy - England
Rosetta - Belgium, France

We didn't have the winners of the last three awards when we went to press.

Motorola Producers Award
Pam Koffler - producer of I'm Losing You and Office Killer
Eva Kolodner, producer of Boys Don't Cry and Hide and Seek
Paul Mezey, producer of La Ciudad
Christine Walker, producer of Backroads and Homo Heights

DLJ Direct Truer than Fiction Award (documentary filmmaker)
Owsley Brown - Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles
Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgan - On the Ropes
Michael Camerini, Shari Robertson - Well Founded Fear
Rory Kennedy - American Hollow

Movado Someone to Watch Award
Dan Clark - The Item
Julian Goldberger - Trans
Lisanne Skyler - Getting to Know You
Cauleen Smith - Drylongso