# 21st Independent Spirit Awards

The 21st Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 2005, were announced on March 4, 2006. It was hosted by Sarah Silverman.

## Winners and nominees

| Best Feature | Best Director |
| Brokeback Mountain Capote Good Night, and Good Luck. The Squid and the Whale The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain Gregg Araki – Mysterious Skin Noah Baumbach – The Squid and the Whale George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck. Rodrigo García – Nine Lives |
| Best Male Lead | Best Female Lead |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote Jeff Daniels – The Squid and the Whale Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain David Strathairn – Good Night, and Good Luck. | Felicity Huffman – Transamerica Dina Korzun – Forty Shades of Blue Laura Linney – The Squid and the Whale S. Epatha Merkerson – Lackawanna Blues Cyndi Williams – Room |
| Best Supporting Male | Best Supporting Female |
| Matt Dillon – Crash Firdous Bamji – The War Within Jesse Eisenberg – The Squid and the Whale Barry Pepper – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Jeffrey Wright – Broken Flowers | Amy Adams – Junebug Maggie Gyllenhaal – Happy Endings Allison Janney – Our Very Own Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain Robin Wright Penn – Nine Lives |
| Best Screenplay | Best First Screenplay |
| Capote – Dan Futterman Nine Lives – Rodrigo García The Squid and the Whale – Noah Baumbach The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga The War Within – Ayad Akhtar, Joseph Castelo and Tom Glynn | Transamerica – Duncan Tucker The Beautiful Country – Sabina Murray Fixing Frank – Ken Hanes Junebug – Angus MacLachlan Me and You and Everyone We Know – Miranda July |
| Best First Feature | Best Documentary |
| Crash Lackawanna Blues Me and You and Everyone We Know Thumbsucker Transamerica | Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Grizzly Man Romántico La Sierra Sir! No Sir! |
| Best Cinematography | Best Foreign Film |
| Good Night, and Good Luck. – Robert Elswit Capote – Adam Kimmel Keane – John Foster Last Days – Harris Savides The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Chris Menges | Paradise Now • Palestine/Netherlands/Germany/France The Death of Mr. Lazarescu • Romania Duck Season • Germany/Turkey Head-On • France Tony Takitani • Japan |

### Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Film |
| 6 | The Squid and the Whale |
| 4 | Brokeback Mountain |
| 4 | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada |
| 4 | Capote |
| 3 | Good Night, and Good Luck. |
| 3 | Nine Lives |
| 3 | Transamerica |
| 2 | Crash |
| 2 | Junebug |
| 2 | Lackawanna Blues |
| 2 | Me and You and Everyone We Know |
| 2 | The War Within |
Films that won multiple awards :
| Awards | Film |
| 2 | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2 | Capote |
| 2 | Crash |
| 2 | Transamerica |

## Special awards
### John Cassavetes Award

Conventioneers
* Brick
* Jellysmoke
* The Puffy Chair
* Room

### Truer Than Fiction Award

Occupation: Dreamland
* Our Brand Is Crisis
* Romántico
* Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela

### Producers Award

Caroline Baron – Capote and Monsoon Wedding
* Ram Bergman – Brick and Conversations with Other Women
* Mike S. Ryan – Junebug and Palindromes

### Someone to Watch Award

Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana – Cavite
* Robinson Devor – Police Beat
* Jay Duplass – The Puffy Chair