As an IFP member, each year I receive the great honor/perk of voting for the Independent Spirit Awards. Every year thirty-some films are nominated for the Spirits, and every year I try valiantly to see them all by the end of February, so that I can responsibly vote for each possible category.

I have yet to reach this goal.

Why? Well, despite IFP’s aim to make all the eligible films accessible to the voting viewing public, it’s often difficult to maneuver the screening schedule, much less maintain sanity while watching a steady onslaught of dramas too bleak for mainstream audiences. This means I usually miss a few, and I refuse to vote for a category unless I’ve seen all the films within it.

Still, each year my heart flutters when the nominees are named and I eagerly make notes and scrawl out schedules to better manage the marathon of indie-movie watching. So this go ’round, while I am braving the frigid NYC weather, staking out comfy seats in the cramped screening room, and dragging along super hip friends to the long list of acclaimed indie epics – I’ll be (metaphorically) bringing you along for the ride! In these posts you can share in my process as I view and vote for the best of 2010′s independent cinema.

So let’s do this!

68 days. 35 films. A total running time of approximately 3,736 minutes. Game on.

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Previous to the announcement, I’d already seen three of the nominees. This is kind of par for the course. While I am an ardent fan of independent cinema, I tend to catch up with most of the indie darlings in January – when the best have been plucked from obscurity and corralled for my choosing – like a shiny red lobster in a tank.

Anyway, going in I’ve already seen three movies I quite enjoyed. A promising beginning:

Jack Goes Boating ~ Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman

Hoffman’s directorial debut brings the acclaimed Bob Glaudini stage play to the screen with an almost suffocating intimacy that draws you in and keeps you close to Hoffman’s affable reggae-loving loser and his quest to win over a silver-lining seeking Amy Ryan. You can read my full review here, but in brief: films like this are worth the trek to the teeny tiny theaters downtown.

Nominations: Best First Screenplay – Bob Glaudini, Best Supporting Female – Daphne Rubin-Vega, Best Supporting Male – John Oritz

Snubbed? Heartbreakingly affecting leads Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan are overlooked, but it’s good to see solid supporting players getting their due.

Tiny Furniture ~ Directed by Lena Dunham

This quirky quarter-life crisis tale is comedy in the vein of Woody Allen’s New York features, as it’s full of fresh yet familiar characters and blisteringly funny dialogue and features a protagonist more everyman than movie star. Lena Dunham’s semi-autobiographical film is drawing much notice, and may make Dunham the next indie It Girl. You can read my full review here.

Nominations: Best First Screenplay – Lena Dunham, Best First Feature, Best Cinematography – Jody Lee Lipes

Snubbed? While there are several eye-catching performances in Tiny Furniture, the listed nominees are definitely more deserving.

Blue Valentine ~ Directed by Derek Cianfrance

This scandalously sexual drama is so much more than its sex scenes. Blue Valentine is an intimate (though at times dragging) journey of a couple’s rise and fall. The intersecting narratives of then and now are in turns endearing and heart-wrenching. While not a perfect film, it contains one of my favorite cinematic moments of 2010, a scene so full of grace and beauty that it has lingered in my memory for weeks…and counting.

Nominations: Best Female Lead – Michelle Williams

Snubbed? Ryan Gosling as the devoted and adoring boyfriend/husband was always charming and ultimately devastating. His absence from the nominee list stuns me.

This Week by the Numbers:

Assaults: 3

Awkward Sex Scenes: 5

Quirky Protagonists: 2

Movies Featuring NYC: 3

Films Watched: 3/35

Runningtime Conquered: 307 minutes

State of Mind: Feeling good. Despite the dark emotions running through each of these indies, there’s enough joive de vive therein that I’m left with more joy than pain.

Week 2. Week 3. Week 4. Week 5. Week 6. Week 7. Week 8. Week 9. Week 10.

What are your thoughts on these nominees?