Women star in IFP film nominations

Films about women searching for meaning in their lives dominated the top nominations for the 2003 IFP Independent Spirit Awards announced Wednesday morning. “Lovely and Amazing,” “Far From Heaven,” and “The Good Girl,” each starring female leads in complex, emotional performances, received the most nominations.

In addition to those films, best picture nominees were “Secretary” and “Tully.”

The nominees for best female lead are Jennifer Aniston for “The Good Girl,” Maggie Gyllenhaal for “Secretary,” Catherine Keener for “Lovely & Amazing,” Julianne Moore for “Far From Heaven,” and Parker Posey for “Personal Velocity.”

Best male lead contenders are Graham Greene for “Skins,” Danny Huston for “ivans xtc,” Derek Luke for “Antwone Fisher,” Jeremy Renner for “Dahmer” and Campbell Scott for “Roger Dodger.”

Digitally shot films made inroads into the cinematography category with three nominees compared with zero last year.

Those passed over included Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her” in the foreign film category; Denzel Washington for his first feature as director, “Antwone Fisher”; director Miguel Arteta for “The Good Girl,” which otherwise received four nominations; and the biggest independent hit of all time, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” which received only one nomination, for best debut performance for Nia Vardalos. In addition, the critically acclaimed independent film “Tadpole” -- picked up by Miramax at last year’s Sundance Film Festival -- did not receive any nominations. Once considered the mainstay of independent film, Miramax received only one nomination this year, for Charles Stone’s “Paid in Full” for best first feature.

Independent Feature Project L.A. executive director Dawn Hudson acknowledged that some contenders had been overlooked, mainly because of the way the selection process works. A committee of 14 industry specialists watched more than 170 films over two months to determine the nominations. The committee was selected by director/screenwriter Bill Condon (“Gods and Monsters”) and Hudson.

“Because it is a jury process, not a balloting process, there is a little bit of spreading the wealth in the nominations,” said Hudson.

The Independent Spirit Awards, which began as a lunchtime gathering 18 years ago for a selective group of independent film figures, has ballooned into a major event. This year’s nominations include:

For best director, Joe Carnahan (“Narc”), Todd Haynes (“Far From Heaven”) Nicole Holofcener (“Lovely & Amazing”), Bernard Rose (“ivans xtc”) and Gus Van Sant (“Gerry”).

Best screenplay, Mike White for “The Good Girl,” Nicole Holofcener for “Lovely & Amazing,” Dylan Kidd for “Roger Dodger,” Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher for “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing,” and Hilary Birmingham and Matt Drake for “Tully.”

For best debut performance, Bob Burrus for “Tully,” America Ferrera for “Real Women Have Curves,” Raven Goodwin for “Lovely & Amazing,” Artel Kayaru for “Dahmer” and Nia Vardalos for “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

Foreign film nominees are Ireland’s “Bloody Sunday,” by director Paul Greengrass; Canada’s “The Fast Runner” (Atanarjuat) by Zacharias Kunuk; France’s “The Piano Teacher,” by Michael Haneke; France’s “Time Out,” by Laurent Cantet; and Mexico’s “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” by Alfonso Cuaron.

Documentary contenders are “Bowling for Columbine,” “The Cockettes,” “Devil’s Playground,” “How to Draw a Bunny” and “Stevie.”

The ceremony will be held March 22 in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.