# 28th Independent Spirit Awards

The 28th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2012, were presented on February 23, 2013. The nominations were announced on November 27, 2012. The ceremony was hosted by Andy Samberg.

## Winners and nominees

| Best Feature | Best Director |
| Silver Linings Playbook Beasts of the Southern Wild Bernie Keep the Lights On Moonrise Kingdom | David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet Ira Sachs – Keep the Lights On Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild |
| Best Male Lead | Best Female Lead |
| John Hawkes – The Sessions Jack Black – Bernie Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook Thure Lindhardt – Keep the Lights On Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe Wendell Pierce – Four | Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook Linda Cardellini – Return Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed |
| Best Supporting Male | Best Supporting Female |
| Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere Michael Peña – End of Watch Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom | Helen Hunt – The Sessions Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister's Sister Ann Dowd – Compliance Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice Lorraine Toussaint – Middle of Nowhere |
| Best Screenplay | Best First Screenplay |
| David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias – Keep the Lights On | Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed Rama Burshtein – Fill the Void Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank Rashida Jones and Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby |
| Best First Feature | Best Documentary Feature |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower Fill the Void Gimme the Loot Safety Not Guaranteed Sound of My Voice | The Invisible War The Central Park Five How to Survive a Plague Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present The Waiting Room |
| Best Cinematography | Best International Film |
| Ben Richardson – Beasts of the Southern Wild Yoni Brook – Valley of Saints Lol Crawley – Here Roman Vasyanov – End of Watch Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom | Amour • Austria / France / Germany Once Upon a Time in Anatolia • Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkey Rust and Bone • Belgium / France Sister • France / Switzerland War Witch • Canada |

### Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Film |
| 5 | Moonrise Kingdom |
| 5 | Silver Linings Playbook |
| 4 | Beasts of the Southern Wild |
| 4 | Keep the Lights On |
| 3 | Middle of Nowhere |
| 2 | Bernie |
| 2 | End of Watch |
| 2 | Fill the Void |
| 2 | Safety Not Guaranteed |
| 2 | The Sessions |
| 2 | Seven Psychopaths |
| 2 | Sound of My Voice |
Films that won multiple awards :
| Awards | Film |
| 4 | Silver Linings Playbook |
| 2 | The Sessions |

## Special awards
### John Cassavetes Award

Middle of Nowhere
* Breakfast with Curtis
* The Color Wheel
* Mosquita y Mari
* Starlet

### Truer Than Fiction Award

Peter Nicks – The Waiting Room
* Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel – Leviathan
* Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims – Only the Young

### Piaget Producers Award

Mynette Louie – Stones in the Sun
* Derrick Tseng – Prince Avalanche
* Alicia Van Couvering – Nobody Walks

### Someone to Watch Award

Adam Leon – Gimme the Loot
* David Fenster – Pincus
* Rebecca Thomas – Electrick Children

### Robert Altman Award

* Starlet – Sean Baker, Julia Kim, Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, and James Ransone

### Special Distinction Award

* Harris Savides

### Find Your Audience Award

Laura Colella – Breakfast with Curtis
* Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore – Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives
* John Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker – The History of Future Folk