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Well the Spirit Awards aired tonight on IFC and the results are in:

Best Feature: Little Miss Sunshine

Best Female Lead: Shareeka Epps (Half Nelson)

Best Male Lead: Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)

Best Female Supporting: Frances McDormand (Friends with Money)

Best Male Supporting: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)

Best First Screenplay: Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro (Pans Labyrinth)

Best First Feature: Sweet Land

Best Documentary: The Road to Guantanamo

Best Foriegn Film: The Lives of Others

John Cassavettes Award: Quinceañera

Truer Than Fiction Award: P.O.V.: The Tailenders (#19.5)

The Independent Spirit Awards are sponsored by Film Independent, the L.A. based off-shoot of Independent Feature Project, and celebrate the year's best films made outside of the Hollywood circuit.

I like the Spirit Awards a lot because A) they are quite informal and B) they tend to highlight some really great, low-profile releases, especially in the John Cassavetes Award, which celebrates features made for under $500,000.

I was privileged enough to be a voter this year, and it was a very interesting experience. Aside from all the perks (free screenings and free netflix for several months!), I got to see what it's like to part of a major awards ceremony. I'm glad to see that many of the films I voted for won awards, although I am disappointed at Little Miss Sunshine's semi-sweep. That movie irked me a little bit; I was really swinging for Pan's Labyrinth. But with Sunshine taking so many awards as we get closer to Oscar time, I wonder how it will affect this year's Best Picture results.

Sarah Silverman hosted again this year, and the vibe was pretty much the same - a bit dirty, a bit sexy, and a lot more informal than most other award shows. Check out this clip from last year, to give you an idea of what the Spirit Awards are like.