Silent film ‘The Artist’ bags top honours at Independent Spirit Awards

Washington: ‘The Artist’ emerged as the biggest winner at the Indie Awards and took home the top honour for the best feature and three other prizes on Saturday.

Jean Dujardin was also recognized as best male lead in the black-and-white silent film. The Frenchman already took home wins for the film at the Golden Globe Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the BAFTA Awards and Cannes Film Festival. French cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman also won for his work on ‘The Artist’, as well as director Michel Hazanavicius, People magazine reported. Michelle Williams, the ‘My Week with Marilyn’ star, earned best female lead for her on-screen transformation into dazzling blond icon Marilyn Monroe on Saturday at the 27th annual Independent Spirit Awards. Shailene Woodley and Christopher Plummer also won awards for their supporting roles in ‘The Descendants’ and ‘Beginners’ at the Seth Rogen-hosted Indie Spirit Awards. The winners at the ceremony were: Best Feature – The Artist Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius for ‘The Artist’ Best Male Lead – Jean Dujardin for ‘The Artist’ Best Female Lead – Michelle Williams for ‘My Week with Marilyn’ Best Supporting Male – Christopher Plummer for ‘Beginners’ Best Supporting Female – Shailene Woodley for ‘The Descendants’ Best First Feature – ‘Margin Call’ Best Screenplay – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash for ‘The Descendants’ Best First Screenplay – Will Reiser for ‘50/50’ Best Cinematography – Guillaume Schiffman for ‘The Artist’ Robert Altman Award – Margin Call Best Documentary – The Interrupters Best Foreign Film – A Separation (Iran) John Cassavetes Award – Pariah Audi Someone to Watch Award – Mark Jackson for ‘Without’ Truer Than Fiction Award – Heather Courtney for ‘Where Soldiers Come From’ Piaget Producers Award – Sophia Lin for ‘Take Shelter’ ANI