Everyone knows the Golden Globes aren’t taken seriously because they’re awarded by a mere 84 voters -- but what about the Independent Spirit Awards?
Celebrating its 25th ceremony this month, the Spirits are voted on by about 4,000 members of Film Independent -- who can buy their way in to the group for $95.
But it’s almost impossible for members to see all the nominated films.
Of the 40 up for awards this year, very few have had either theatrical or DVD distribution. And there is no money for screeners like those the major studios distribute to Oscar voters.
“It isn’t a fair competition if the majority of members can’t see a majority of the films,” said one disgruntled voter who contacted theWrap.
This year, the lineup includes such high-profile, widely distributed films as “Precious,” “An Education,” “(500) Days of Summer” and “Crazy Heart.”
But up against them are titles like “The Vicious Kind,” “Zero Bridge,” “Treeless Mountain” and “Fifty Dead Men Walking.”
Indeed, if “Zero Bridge” doesn’t win the John Cassavetes Award for a feature made for less than $500,000, it’s probably because most voters couldn’t see it.
More likely, they never even heard of it.
The executive director of Film Independent, Dawn Hudson, says she understands the problem.
“It’s a huge dilemma, and it always has been,” says Hudson. “We nominate films that don’t have distribution, or they have such limited distribution that you have to go to a festival to catch them.
"But if we only nominated films that everybody can see, we wouldn’t be doing our job.”
That raises the question: What is the value of an Indie Spirit award?
Spirit Awards nominations are made by small committees of film professionals and critics and voted on by the members of Film Independent, a non-profit organization that draws almost all of its operating revenue from the Spirit Awards show and telecast. (It’ll air live and uncut on IFC on Friday night, March 5.)
More than half these members, says Hudson, are independent filmmakers. The rest are divided between people who work in the industry and devotees who pay the $95 yearly fee to join, vote and receive a variety of members benefits -- from monthly screenings and tutorials to access to discounted filmmaker services.
Film Independent holds one free screening of each nominated film at the Regal Cinemas LA Live Stadium in downtown Los Angeles, and another in New York. In addition, it offers each nominated film the opportunity to send screeners to the membership.
But between piracy concerns and the cost of producing and mailing the screeners, the majority of films do not take advantage of the option.
In 2008, the first year the program was in operation, only two films sent screeners; last year, eight did.
This year, six films mailed screeners: “Amreeka,” “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” “Easier with Practice,” “The Messenger,” “Precious” and “The Vicious Kind.”
