LIST! Precious lead the Independent Spirit Awards winners 2010 Friday. Indepedent Spirit Awards winners were granted to five Precious nominees.

Huge!

“Precious” brought awards for Geoffrey Fletcher, director Lee Daniels, Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique. What a night.

Who decides what films are nominated? Says the Spirit Awards:

“Experts in the field. Three nominating committees – one each for Domestic Narrative Films, Documentary Films, and Foreign Narrative Films – are made up of 15-20 members of the film community. Committees may include film critics, film programmers, actors, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors.”

What’s the nomination process?

“It’s a rigorous process. All films submitted are distributed to the committee and are discussed at regular meetings throughout the fall. Each committee member will take the nominating guidelines into consideration when determining the nominees. A final two-day meeting is held prior to the nomination announcement where all committee members discuss the films at length and vote on each category.”

Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart” won Best First Feature of 2009.

Woody Harrelson also won for his role in “The Messenger” earning him best supporting actor.

“I don’t know how you distinguish one performance from another — it’s never felt right to me to declare a winner. Of course now, it feels a little more right.”