EXIT Again! Spirits Go for Banksy, RESTREPO, THUNDER SOUL & Double Nods for MARWENCOL and SWEETGRASS

The 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations for February's awards earlier this morning in West Hollywood and once again, Banksy's EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP finds itself amongst the nominees.  Joining EXIT are Academy shortlister RESTREPO, audience favorite THUNDER SOUL as well as Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL and Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor SWEETGRASS, both of which were also nominated for the Truer Than Fiction grant prize.

The nod for EXIT comes after some confusion of whether the film would even be eligible for the Spirit Awards, which mandates an American provenance for its Documentary Feature nominees.  Even those on the EXIT team initially thought the film would not qualify, but after consideration of the Spirit Award rules - which allows films financed and filmed in America (even if its makers are not US-based) - the film was deemed eligible by Film Independent.

EXIT has now been nominated for three of the 5 major documentary awards (they were reportedly not eligible for the Gothams) - the film will vie Friday for the IDA prize for Best Documentary and it is nominated for six awards at January's Cinema Eye Honors.  The film was shortlisted for the Oscar earlier this month.

The Documentary Feature nomination for Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's RESTREPO marks renewed momentum for that film, which also finds itself in the Oscar hunt (and has two Cinema Eye nominations).  It's the first year-end recognition for Mark Landsman's fest-favorite THUNDER SOUL, which will be distributed by Roadside Attractions next spring.

The double nods for MARWENCOL and SWEETGRASS mark the first time that the Spirits have had two films up in both the Documentary Feature and Truer Than Fiction categories.  A double nominee is not unprecedented, however, and has in fact happened 4 times in the past: Margaret Brown's THE ORDER OF MYTHS (2009), Mark Becker's ROMANTICO (2006), Sheila Lynch's CHISHOLM '72 (2005) and Nathanial Kahn's MY ARCHITECT (2004).  Of these, only THE ORDER OF MYTHS went on to win either award, in that case it was Truer Than Fiction.

Life EXIT, MARWENCOL and SWEETGRASS will also be in the spotlight on Friday at the IDA Awards.  SWEETGRASS is up for the Best Documentary award and Malmberg will receive the organization's Emerging Filmmaker Award.  Both films are also up for multiple Cinema Eye Honors - MARWENCOL has four nominations including Feature, Direction and Debut, SWEETGRASS is up for Debut and Cinematography.

MARWENCOL and SWEETGRASS are joined in the Truer Than Fiction category by Lynn True and Nelson Walker's SUMMER PASTURE.

indieWIRE has the full list of 2011 nominees, including a leading 7 nominations for the shot-in-Southwest-Missouri WINTER'S BONE.