..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

February 25, 2005

For Immediate Release

ALEXANDER PAYNE’S SIDEWAYS SWEEPS AT THE 20th IFP INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

LOS ANGELES, CA (February 26, 2005) -- The 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards, was held Saturday, February 26, at a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The Spirit Awards is a celebration honoring films made by filmmakers who embody independence and who dare to challenge the status quo. This annual event, which began as a small grassroots program, has grown into one of the most anticipated events of the film year.

This year’s big winner was Fox Searchlight Pictures’ Sideways, which won Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead (Paul Giamatti), Best Supporting Male (Thomas Haden Church), Best Supporting Female (Virginia Madsen) and Best Screenplay. Sideways was written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, directed by Alexander Payne and produced by Michael London. (Full winner, presenter lists following).

This year's ceremony was sponsored by Premier Sponsors: IFC, Entertainment Weekly, DIRECTV, Bravo, and Netflix; and by Principal Sponsors: Turning Leaf Vineyards, Hewlett-Packard, Acura, America Online, Inc., and American Express. On 3 Productions produced the Official 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards General Attendee Gift Bag and Presenter Gift Lounge. The Viceroy and Sheraton Delfina were the Official Host Hotels and WireImage is the Official Photographer of the IFP Independent Spirit Awards. American Airlines is the Official Airline Partner of IFP/Los Angeles.

The ceremony aired live on IFC, beginning at 5:00 pm EST. It will re-broadcast on Bravo later this evening beginning with an exclusive one-hour red carpet show at 9:00 pm EST/PST followed by the awards ceremony at 10:00 pm EST/PST.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson served as Master of Ceremonies. Quentin Tarantino and Salma Hayek served as Honorary Co-Chairs. Diana Zahn-Storey produced the 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards for the eleventh year.

The following is a complete list of the winners:

Best Feature Fox Searchlight Pictures
Sideways Producer: Michael London

Best Director Fox Searchlight Pictures
Alexander Payne Sideways

Best Screenplay Fox Searchlight Pictures
Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor Sideways

Best First Feature Fox Searchlight Pictures
Garden State Director: Zach Braff
Producers: Pamela Abdy, Gary Gilbert,

Dan Halsted, Richard Klubeck

Best First Screenplay HBO Films/Fine Line Features
Joshua Marston Maria Full of Grace

John Cassavetes Award Paramount Classics
(For the Best Feature made for under $500,000)
Mean Creek Writer/Director: Jacob Aaron Estes

Producers: Susan Johnson, Rick Rosenthal, Hagai Shaham

Best Debut Performance* Focus Features
Rodrigo de la Serna The Motorcycle Diaries
*Actors making their first appearance in a feature film

Best Supporting Female Fox Searchlight Pictures
Virginia Madsen Sideways

Best Supporting Male Fox Searchlight Pictures
Thomas Haden Church Sideways

Best Female Lead HBO Films/Fine Line Features
Catalina Sandino Moreno Maria Full of Grace

Best Male Lead Fox Searchlight Pictures
Paul Giamatti Sideways

Best Cinematography Focus Features
Eric Gautier The Motorcycle Diaries

Best Foreign Film Fine Line Features
The Sea Inside Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Best Documentary IFC Films
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Directors: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

Gina Kwon, producer of Me and You and Everyone We Know and The Motel, received the eighth annual Bravo/American Express Producers Award, which honors producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality independent films. The winner of the Producers Award received an unrestricted grant of $20,000 funded by Bravo and American Express.

Jem Cohen director of Chain, won the eleventh annual Turning Leaf Someone To Watch Award, a $20,000 grant created to honor a director of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award is funded by Turning Leaf Vineyards.

Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, directors of Born Into Brothels, won the eighth annual DIRECTV/IFC Truer Than Fiction Award, presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features. The award is accompanied by a $20,000 unrestricted grant funded by DIRECTV and IFC.

A Special Distinction Award was given to the ensemble cast of Mean Creek: Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck, and Carly Schroeder. The nominating committee was struck by these young actors who turned in performances so uniformly unselfish and so intricately in tune with each other that it became impossible to single any one of them out from their extraordinary achievement together.

IFP INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD WINNERS BY DISTRIBUTOR:

FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES 7
FINE LINE FEATURES 3
FOCUS FEATURES 2
HBO FILMS 2
IFC FILMS 1
PARAMOUNT CLASSICS 1

Attendees
Joining host Dawn Hudson, Executive Director of IFP/Los Angeles, were Master of Ceremonies Samuel L. Jackson, and Honorary Co-Chairs Salma Hayek and Quentin Tarantino.

Presenters included: Tom Arnold, Maria Bello, Gael Garcia Bernal, Selma Blair, Cate Blanchett, Kate Bosworth, Jesse Bradford, Benjamin Bratt, Don Cheadle, Patricia Clarkson, Marc Forster, Jodie Foster, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Alan Grier, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Regina King, Val Kilmer, Laura Linney, Olivier Martinez, Michael McKean, Bridget Moynahan, Dennis Quaid, Aidan Quinn, Christine Ricci, Liev Schrieber, Marisa Tomei, Michelle Trachtenberg, Robin Williams, Elijah Wood and Robin Wright Penn.

Celebrity Guests and Nominees included: Sohreh Aghdashloo, Kevin Bacon, Zach Braff, Jeff Bridges, Bill Condon, Julie Delpy, David Duchovny, Kimberly Elise, Vera Farmiga, Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Alexander Payne, Giovanni Ribisi, Peter Sargaard, Kyra Sedgwick, Jennifer Tilly, Mario Van Peebles, Mike White, and many, many more…

About the 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards
Hosted annually on the Saturday before the Oscars, the IFP Independent Spirit Awards honor films and filmmakers who embody independence and challenge the status quo. Televised in millions of homes and covered internationally by the press, the Independent Spirit Awards program has become the vanguard event in independent film, recognizing the achievements of independent filmmakers and promoting independent film to a wider audience. The Independent Spirit Awards nominees are chosen on the basis of original, provocative subject matter; uniqueness of vision; economy of means, with particular attention paid to total budget and individual compensation; and percentage of independent financing.

In order to be eligible for consideration, submitted films must have shown at a commercial theater during the 2004 calendar year or have played at one of the following seven film festivals: Los Angeles Film Festival, New York, Seattle, Sundance, Telluride, Toronto or New Directors/New Films.

Awards are given in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Debut Performance, Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Film, and Best Documentary.

This year’s nominees for Best Feature were Baadasssss!, Kinsey, Maria Full of Grace, Primer, and Sideways. Best First Feature nominees were Brother to Brother, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite, Saints and Soldiers, and The Woodsman.

IFP/Los Angeles, a nonprofit membership organization, champions the cause of independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. IFP/LA provides its members with professional advice, educational programs, affordable camera and equipment rentals, and discounts to hundreds of industry-related businesses. IFP/LA’s Filmmaker Labs offer writers, directors, and producers the opportunity to develop their projects. IFP/LA’s mentorship and job placement program, Project:Involve, pairs filmmakers from culturally diverse communities with film industry professionals. IFP/Los Angeles also produces the IFP Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, celebrating the best of American and international independent cinema. With more than 6,000 members, IFP/Los Angeles is Southern California’s largest non-profit organization for independent filmmakers.

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