Live Broadcast of The 2002 Independent Spirit Awards Airing Saturday, March 23 at 5:00PM/ET and 2:00PM/PT Only on IFC
The Independent Film Channel (IFC) presents a cinematic celebration of past festival favorites with The Spirit Awards Best Fest, beginning Monday, March 18 at 8:00PM/ET and continuing to Saturday March 23. In addition, IFC will broadcast live The 2002 Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, March 23 at 5:00PM/ET and 2:00PM/PT.
Kicking off the festival is the cablecast premiere of Robert Altman’s highly acclaimed, Cookie’s Fortune, airing Monday March 18th at 8:00PM/ET. Rounding out the festival is the premiere of Victor Nunez’s award-winning Ulee’s Gold, airing Saturday, March 23 at 8:00PM/ET. Additional critically celebrated films featured include Darren Aronofsky’s Pi; Bill Condon’s Gods and Monsters; Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art; and Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo ’66; among others.
The Spirit Awards Best Fest line-up of award-winning independent films include:
Cookie’s Fortune – directed by Robert Altman
Monday, March 18 at 8:00PM/ET
This ensemble piece featuring Liv Tyler, Glen Close, Julianne Moore and Chris O’Donnell is an intriguing tale about an eccentric and entangled group of family and friends living in the Deep South. Jewel Mae “Cookie” Orcutt is the widowed matriarch of a small-town Mississippi family. Cookie is found dead by her niece after committing suicide. Her niece then attempts to cover it up and make it look like murder, lest having to deal with the embarrassment and shame the suicide would bring on her rather dysfunctional family.
Pi (1998) – directed by Darren Aronofsky
Monday, March 18 at 11:30PM/ET
The Independent Spirit Award winner is a remarkable thriller about a tortured mathematician who searches for the numerological key to the universe while being pursued by a high-powered Wall Street firm and a mysterious Jewish cabal. Sean Gullett, Mark Margolis and Ben Shenkman star.
Girls Town (1996) – directed by Jim McKay
Monday, March 18 at 10:00PM/ET
Lili Taylor stars in this largely improvised film that follows the effect a high school girl’s suicide has on her three friends. The grieving friends grow closer and discover that their dead companion was raped.
High Art (1998) – directed by Lisa Cholodenko
Tuesday, March 19 at 8:00PM/ET
Independent Spirit Award winner Ally Sheedy stars as Lucy Berliner, a once-famous photographer turned addict. Syd (Radha Mitchell) discovers that the woman living above her flat is none other than the talented yet enigmatic artist. When the two meet, a budding relationship develops and the once junkie receives another chance at life and love.
Five Corners (1988) – directed by Tony Bill
Tuesday, March 19 at 9:45PM/ET
Set during the politically turbulent era of the Sixties in a lower middle-class New York neighborhood, Heinz (John Turturro) has just been released from prison but is still obsessed with Linda (Jodie Foster). Linda turns for help to Harry (Tim Robbins), an ex-boyfriend who has recently taken up the cause of non-violence. However, Harry soon finds himself in a morally compromising situation where violence is the only solution.
Buffalo 66 (1998) – directed by Vincent Gallo
Wednesday, March 20 at 8:00PM/ET
Written, directed and starring Vincent Gallo, this Independent Spirit Award nominee is the offbeat tale of an ex-con who kidnaps an amateur dancer and convinces her to masquerade as his wife. Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara co-star.
Straight out of Brooklyn (1991) – directed by Matty Rich
Wednesday, March 20 at 10:00PM/ET
Set in Brooklyn’s Red Hook housing projects, 19-year-old Matty Rich wrote, produced and directed, this rough, realistic look at a young black man’s disastrous solution to his working-class family’s poverty. Stars Ali Shahid Abdul Wahha, Joseph A. Thomas and Barbara Sanon.
The Spanish Prisoner (1997) – directed by David Mamet
Thursday, March 21 at 8:00PM/ET
Campbell Scott and Steve Martin star in this incredibly clever thriller about a business executive who has created a process that will make money for his company. It is inevitable that he becomes the target of industrial espionage.
River’s Edge (1987) – directed by Tim Hunter
Thursday, March 21 at 10:00PM/ET
Crispin Glover and Dennis Hopper give electrifying performances in this Independent Spirit Award winning drama about a murdered high school girl whose corpse becomes the main attraction for a group of teenaged outcasts.
Spanking the Monkey (1994) – directed by David O. Russell
Thursday, March 21 at 11:45PM/ET
Feature-length film debut of writer/director, David O. Russell, this radically funny black comedy about a college freshman who finds himself on the edge of sexual insanity when he is forced to spend the summer taking care of his disabled mother. Stars Jeremy Davies, Benjamin Hendrickson and Alberta Watson.
Wild at Heart (1990) – directed by David Lynch
Friday, March 22 at 8:00PM/ET
David Lynch’s pedal-to-the-metal road movie about an ex-con and his girlfriend being pursued by a private investigator and a vicious hitman stars Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe and Diane Ladd.
Gods and Monsters (1998) – directed by Bill Condon
Friday, March 22 at 10:00PM/ET
Director Bill Condon imagines the last days of openly gay Hollywood director James Whale
(Ian McKellen) as he tries to strike up a close friendship with his handsome, yet dim gardener (Brendan Fraser) in this Oscar