# 9th Independent Spirit Awards

The 9th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 1993, were announced on March 19, 1994 at the Hollywood Palladium. The nominations were announced on January 14, 1994. Actor and director Robert Townsend hosted the ceremony, which was previously a position held on to for eight consecutive years by Buck Henry.

## Controversy

The announcement of this year's nominations—made by a committee of a governing body called the Independent Features Project West—was postponed due to a confusion over the eligibility of Gramercy Pictures' drama A Dangerous Woman. The IFPW board determined that the film, which initially had received two nominations, had been partially funded by Universal Pictures and thus was not eligible, according to then-IFPW President Cathy Main; Gramercy Pictures is jointly owned by Universal Pictures and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. In response, Gramercy Pictures President Russell Schwartz said the IFPW's rules "make no sense" and the IFPW is "as archaic as the (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences') foreign language rules". Schwartz also added that Universal's only involvement was to guarantee a bank loan to the filmmaker and its money was not used.

## Winners and nominees

| Best Feature | Best Director |
| Short Cuts Equinox Much Ado About Nothing Ruby in Paradise The Wedding Banquet | Robert Altman – Short Cuts Ang Lee – The Wedding Banquet Victor Nuñez – Ruby in Paradise Robert Rodriguez – El Mariachi John Turturro – Mac |
| Best Male Lead | Best Female Lead |
| Jeff Bridges – American Heart Vincent D'Onofrio – Household Saints Mitchell Lichtenstein – The Wedding Banquet Matthew Modine – Equinox Tyrin Turner – Menace II Society | Ashley Judd – Ruby in Paradise Suzy Amis – The Ballad of Little Jo May Chin – The Wedding Banquet Ariyan A. Johnson – Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. Emma Thompson – Much Ado About Nothing |
| Best Supporting Male | Best Supporting Female |
| Christopher Lloyd – Twenty Bucks David Chung – The Ballad of Little Jo Tate Donovan – Inside Monkey Zetterland Todd Field – Ruby in Paradise Edward Furlong – American Heart | Lili Taylor – Household Saints Lara Flynn Boyle – Equinox Ah-Leh Gua – The Wedding Banquet Lucinda Jenney – American Heart Julianne Moore – Short Cuts |
| Best Screenplay | Best First Feature |
| Short Cuts – Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt Combination Platter – Edwin Baker and Tony Chan Household Saints – Nancy Savoca and Richard Guay Ruby in Paradise – Victor Nuñez The Wedding Banquet – Ang Lee, Neil Peng, and James Schamus | El Mariachi American Heart Combination Platter Mac Menace II Society |
| Best Cinematography | Best International Film |
| Menace II Society – Lisa Rinzler American Heart – James R. Bagdonas Chain of Desire – Nancy Schreiber Equinox – Elliot Davis Ruby in Paradise – Alex Vlacos | The Piano • Australia / New Zealand Like Water for Chocolate • Mexico Naked • UK Orlando • UK The Story of Qiu Ju • China / Hong Kong |

## Films with multiple nominations and awards
### Films that received multiple nominations

| Nominations | Film |
| 6 | Ruby in Paradise |
| 6 | The Wedding Banquet |
| 5 | American Heart |
| 4 | Equinox |
| 4 | Short Cuts |
| 3 | Household Saints |
| 3 | Menace II Society |
| 2 | The Ballad of Little Jo |
| 2 | Combination Platter |
| 2 | El Mariachi |
| 2 | Mac |
| 2 | Much Ado About Nothing |

### Films that won multiple awards

| Awards | Film |
| 3 | Short Cuts |

## Special awards
### John Cassavetes Award

* Jim Jarmusch

### Special Distinction Award

* Sandra Schulberg