Photo by Robyn Beck

"Precious" dominated the 25th Spirit Awards March 5 with wins for best feature, best director (Lee Daniels), best first screenplay (Geoffrey Fletcher), best female lead (Gabourey Sidibe), and best supporting female (Mo'Nique).

It's a poetic turn for the film, which focuses on the kind of girl that no one looks at twice, to have such an overwhelming acknowledgment from the independent film community. Likewise, in the press room, Sidibe joked that her upcoming plans included "world domination."

This might have had something to do with her co-star Mariah Carey whispering that very phrase in her ear. "Mariah gives me all my bad ideas," said Sidibe, laughing. "[The film's success] really is a testament to the genius of Mr. Daniels. He has the power to transform people with completely different personalities into something 180 degrees different."

Daniels expressed excitement for the upcoming Oscars, which took place two days later. "I am over the moon. Whether or not we win the Oscar, yeah, I would love to win the Oscar, but I think that we've won because they've acknowledged 'Precious' and I think that that is in itself a win. It's a very big win," said Daniels.

Each year the Spirit Awards honors the best in groundbreaking, unique films with budgets under $20 million. The event, which aired on IFC (Independent Film Channel), took place on LA Live's event deck in downtown Los Angeles.

The night's host, British comedian Eddie Izzard, joked that the ceremony's move this year from Santa Monica to downtown L.A. might have been a step down: "It went from a tent on a beach to a tent in a car park—how independent."

Other highlights of the night included Roger Ebert's standing ovation before his own Truer Than Fiction Award was presented to Bill Ross and Turner Ross, the directors of "45365," and the metal band Anvil winning best documentary and performing live twice at the show.

"Anvil! The Story of Anvil" director Sacha Gervasi called the win the "cherry on the cake" and reacted to being left off the list of Oscar nominees. "I mean, look, of course we didn't get an Oscar nomination. It's Anvil. Let's just be realistic, okay," Gervasi said. "Many Academy members have been incredibly supportive, but in the Oscar branch, the median age is kind of in the 60s to 70s. Four minutes into this movie, Lips takes out a marital aid and plays his guitar. I think maybe we lost a few of them then."

"Crazy Heart" and the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man" took home two wins each. "Crazy Heart" earned best first feature for writer-director Scott Cooper, and Jeff Bridges joked onstage that his award for best male lead "is really going to tie the room together," as a little nod to his character The Dude from the Coens' "The Big Lebowski."

And "A Serious Man" earned best cinematography and the Robert Altman Award, one of the few awards in the industry that includes casting directors on top of the film's cast and director.

CDs Ellen Chenoweth and Rachel Tenner said that "the whole point of this movie was to try to create a world that wasn't going to be based on names, that was going to draw you in and just let the story unfold on its own." For instance, unknowns Jessica McManus, Aaron Wolff, and Sari Lennick are all from Minneapolis, where the film was shot.

Best screenplay went to Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber for "(500) Days of Summer," best foreign film went to Lone Scherfig for "An Education," and best supporting male went to Woody Harrelson for "The Messenger." In his acceptance speech, Harrelson recalled hanging out with John Cassavetes years ago. "Some consider him the father of indies," said Harrelson. "He was so passionate about what he did, and he could have had it all, but he chose this. And I recognize that quality in everyone in this room."

Mo'Nique, who has blazed through this year's awards season as the front-runner for best supporting actress, said she completely changed after playing Mary Jones in "Precious."

"When Mr. Daniels first told me about the character, and coming from a background of being molested, I knew who Mary Jones was. When he said, 'Action,' I was excited to bring that character to life with no lollipop and bubblegum, 'We got to ease it up a little bit,' because then the truth wouldn't have been told, so when you watch that film, we wanted you to believe those characters were who they were," she said.

"When I finished that film, I was different. It allowed me not to judge nothing and nobody, because in your darkest moment when things just seem like they can't get any better for you, don't you want somebody to love you through it? That's what this film was for us: to simply love through it and stop judging…. So treat people how you truly want to be treated and watch what the universe will do for you."

*Full List of 2010 Independent Spirit Award Nominees/Winners (in bold):

Best Feature
SIN NOMBRE, Amy Kaufman
PRECIOUS, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
THE LAST STATION, Chris Curling, Jens Meurer, Boonie Arnold
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Mason Novick, Steven J. Wolfe
AMREEKA, Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin

Best Director
James Gray, TWO LOVERS
Michael Hoffman, THE LAST STATION
Lee Daniels, PRECIOUS
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A SERIOUS MAN
Cary Joji Fukunaga, SIN NOMBRE

Best First Feature
THE MESSENGER, Oren Moverman, Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller
EASIER WITH PRACTICE, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Cookie Carosella
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, Oren Peli, Jason Blum
CRAZY HEART, Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall, Rob Carliner, Judy Cairo, T Bone Burnett
A SINGLE MAN, Tom Ford, Andrew Miano, Robert Salerno, Chris Weitz

John Cassavetes Award
ZERO BRIDGE, Tariq Tapa, Hilal Ahmed Langoo, Josée Lajoie
TREELESS MOUNTAIN, So Yong Kim, Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy
THE NEW YEAR PARADE, Tom Quinn, Steve Beal
HUMPDAY, Lynn Shelton
BIG FAN, Robert Siegal, Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin

Best Screenplay
Lee Toland Krieger, THE VICIOUS KIND
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, THE MESSENGER
Michael Hoffman, THE LAST STATION
Greg Mottola, ADVENTURELAND
Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER

Best First Screenplay
Geoffrey Fletcher, PRECIOUS
Scott Cooper, CRAZY HEART
Sophie Barthes, COLD SOULS
Cherien Dabis, AMREEKA
Tom Ford and David Scearce, A SINGLE MAN

Best Female Lead
Gwyneth Paltrow, TWO LOVERS
Helen Mirren, THE LAST STATION
Gabourey Sidibe, PRECIOUS
Maria Bello, DOWNLOADING NANCY
Nisreen Faour, AMREEKA

Best Male Lead
Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART
Souléymane Sy Savané, GOODBYE SOLO
Colin Firth, A SINGLE MAN
Adam Scott, THE VICIOUS KIND
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER

Best Supporting Female
Samantha Morton, THE MESSENGER
Natalie Press, FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING
Dina Korzun, COLD SOULS
Mia Wasikowska, THAT EVENING SUN
Mo'Nique, PRECIOUS

Best Supporting Male
Christopher Plummer, THE LAST STATION
Woody Harrelson, THE MESSENGER
Raymond McKinnon, THAT EVENING SUN
Jemaine Clement, GENTLEMEN BRONCOS
Christian McKay, ME AND ORSON WELLES

Best Foreign Film
LA NANA (THE MAID), Sebastián Silva
MOTHER, Bong Joon-Ho
EVERLASTING MOMENTS, Jan Troell
AN EDUCATION, Lone Scherfig
A PROPHET, Jacques Audiard

Best Documentary
WHICH WAY HOME, Rebecca Cammisa
OCTOBER COUNTRY, Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher
MORE THAN A GAME, Kristopher Belman
FOOD, INC., Robert Kenner
ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL, Sacha Gervasi

Best Cinematography
Adriano Goldman, SIN NOMBRE
Anne Misawa, TREELESS MOUNTAIN
Peter Zeitlinger, BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
Andrij Parekh, COLD SOULS
Roger Deakins, A SERIOUS MAN

Robert Altman Award
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Ellen Chenoweth, Rachel Tenner, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Jessica McManus, Fred Melamed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff, A SERIOUS MAN

Piaget Producers Award
Dia Sokol, BEESWAX, NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS
Larry Fessenden, I SELL THE DEAD, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
Karin Chien, THE EXPLODING GIRL, SANTA MESA

Acura Someone to Watch Award
Tariq Tapa, ZERO BRIDGE
Kyle Patrick Alvarez, EASIER WITH PRACTICE
Asiel Norton, REDLAND

Chaz and Roger Ebert Truer than Fiction Award
Natalia Almada, EL GENERAL
Jessica Oreck, BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO
Bill Ross and Turner Ross, 45365