James Howard Woods is an American actor. He is known for fast-talking intense roles on stage and screen. He received numerous accolades including three Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He started his career in minor roles on and off-Broadway before making his Broadway debut in The Penny Wars (1969), followed by Borstal Boy (1970), The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1971), and Moonchildren (1972). Woods' early film roles include in The Visitors (1972), The Way We Were (1973) and Night Moves (1975). He starred in the NBC miniseries Holocaust (1978) opposite Meryl Streep.
Christine Jane Baranski is an American actress. She has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Tony Awards. She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom Cybill (1995–1998). Baranski is also known for her roles as Diane Lockhart in the legal drama series The Good Wife (2009–2016) and its spin-off series The Good Fight (2017–2022) as well as Agnes van Rhijn in the HBO Max period drama The Gilded Age (2022–present).
Sarah Catharine Paulson is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Sarah Wayne Callies is an American actress. She is known for starring as Sara Tancredi in Fox's Prison Break, Lori Grimes in AMC's The Walking Dead, and more recently, as Birdie Nicolletti in ABC's The Company You Keep. She has also starred as Katie Bowman in USA Network's Colony and Robin Perry in NBC's Council of Dads and has had film roles in Whisper (2007), Black Gold (2011), and The Show (2017).
Jill Eisenstadt is an American novelist, screenwriter, teacher and freelance journalist.
Michael Corbett Shannon is an American actor. He is a frequent collaborator with director Jeff Nichols, having appeared in Nichols' films Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012), Midnight Special and Loving, and The Bikeriders (2023). Shannon received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations, for Revolutionary Road (2008), and Nocturnal Animals (2016). He received Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his role in 99 Homes (2014).
The 17th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 2001, were announced on March 23, 2002. It was hosted by John Waters.
Debra Eisenstadt is an American writer, director, producer and editor.
Mumblecore is a subgenre of independent film characterized by naturalistic acting and dialogue, low budgets, an emphasis on dialogue over plot, and a focus on the personal relationships of young adults. Filmmakers associated with the genre include Andrew Bujalski, Lynn Shelton, the Duplass brothers Mark and Jay, Greta Gerwig, Aaron Katz, Joe Swanberg, and Ry Russo-Young. In many cases, though, these directors reject the term. The genre is a mostly American phenomenon. The related term mumblegore has been used for films mixing the mumblecore and horror genres.
Zoe Lister-Jones is an American actress and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows Delocated (2009–2010), Whitney (2011–2013), and New Girl (2015). Lister-Jones made her directorial debut with the 2017 comedy-drama film Band Aid. In 2020, she wrote and directed the horror film The Craft: Legacy. During the Covid-19 pandemic she co-wrote and co-directed the comedy-drama film How It Ends (2021) with Daryl Wein. In 2023 she produced, wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy series Slip for The Roku Channel, with Dakota Johnson as executive producer under her TeaTime Pictures banner. On December 5, 2023, it was announced that Slip was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards.
Kendra Smith is an American musician who was a founding member of The Dream Syndicate, a member of Opal, and later recorded as a solo artist.
Oleanna is a 1994 drama film written and directed by David Mamet based on his 1992 play and starring William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt. The plot concerns a contentious meeting between a student and a college professor. Macy reprised his role from the original stage production. The film was nominated for a Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.
Sarah Elizabeth Butler is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Jennifer Hills in the I Spit on Your Grave film series.
Amy Seimetz is an American actress and filmmaker. She has appeared in several productions, including AMC's The Killing, HBO's Family Tree, and films like Upstream Color, Alien: Covenant, Pet Sematary, and No Sudden Move.
Blue is an American drama web series created by Rodrigo García and starring Julia Stiles. The pilot episode aired on June 11, 2012. It originally aired on the WIGS channel on YouTube but eventually streamed on Hulu, Fox.com, and WIGS' own website for its third season, which takes the form of four long-form episodes lasting 40–60 minutes rather than the shorter episodes of the first two seasons.
Brett D. Morgen is an American documentary filmmaker. His directorial credits include The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002), Crossfire Hurricane (2012), Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015), Jane (2017), and Moonage Daydream (2022).
Lady Bird is a 2017 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwig in her solo directorial debut, starring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith. Set in Sacramento, California from fall 2002 to fall 2003, it focuses on a high school senior who shares a turbulent relationship with her mother.
Blush is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Debra Eisenstadt and starring Wendi McLendon-Covey. It premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival under the title Imaginary Order. The film was released on April 10, 2020 by Gravitas Ventures.
Pig is a 2021 American drama film written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, from a story by Vanessa Block and Sarnoski. The film stars Nicolas Cage as a truffle-hunter who lives alone in the Oregon wilderness and must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped. It also stars Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin.
Daydream Believer is a 2001 American film written and directed by Debra Eisenstadt and starring Sybil Kempson.
