18th Independent Spirit Awards

The 18th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 2002, were presented on March 22, 2003. It was hosted by John Waters. The nominations were announced on December 12, 2002.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

18th Independent Spirit Awards
Date	March 22, 2003
Site	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Hosted by	John Waters
Highlights
Best Film	Far from Heaven
Most awards	Far from Heaven (5)
Most nominations	Lovely & Amazing (6)
← 17th Independent Spirit Awards 19th →

Additionally, this ceremony is notable for when presenter Brittany Murphy seemingly bungled the reading of the winner for Best Debut Performance.^[6] In reference to her acting ability, legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote:

As for Brittany Murphy, for me, it goes back to the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards [where] Murphy was assigned to present one of the awards. Her task was to read the names of the five nominees, open an envelope, and reveal the name of the winner. This she turned into an opportunity for screwball improvisational comedy, by pretending she could not follow this sequence, not even after the audience shouted instructions and the stage manager came to whisper in her ear not once but twice. There were those in the audience who were dumbfounded by her stupidity. I was dumbfounded by her brilliance.^[7]

Suspiciously, video footage of the entire ceremony is absent from online resources despite prior and subsequent ceremonies being made available in their entirety officially on Film Independent's YouTube account. However, footage of Murphy's alleged act was used for the 2021 HBO Max documentary titled What Happened, Brittany Murphy?.^[8]

Winners and nominees

Todd Haynes, Best Director winner

Derek Luke, Best Male Lead winner

Julianne Moore, Best Female Lead winner

Dennis Quaid, Best Supporting Male winner

Emily Mortimer, Best Supporting Female winner

Mike White, Best Screenplay winner

Best Feature	Best Director
Far from Heaven The Good Girl Lovely & Amazing Secretary Tully	Todd Haynes – Far from Heaven Joe Carnahan – Narc Nicole Holofcener – Lovely & Amazing Bernard Rose – Ivans Xtc Gus Van Sant – Gerry
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
Derek Luke – Antwone Fisher Graham Greene – Skins Danny Huston – Ivans Xtc Jeremy Renner – Dahmer Campbell Scott – Roger Dodger	Julianne Moore – Far from Heaven Jennifer Aniston – The Good Girl Maggie Gyllenhaal – Secretary Catherine Keener – Lovely & Amazing Parker Posey – Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
Dennis Quaid – Far from Heaven Alan Arkin – Thirteen Conversations About One Thing Ray Liotta – Narc John C. Reilly – The Good Girl Peter Weller – Ivans Xtc	Emily Mortimer – Lovely & Amazing Viola Davis – Antwone Fisher Jacqueline Kim – Charlotte Sometimes Juliette Lewis – Hysterical Blindness Julianne Nicholson – Tully
Best Screenplay	Best First Screenplay
The Good Girl – Mike White Lovely & Amazing – Nicole Holofcener Roger Dodger – Dylan Kidd Thirteen Conversations About One Thing – Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher Tully – Hilary Birmingham and Matt Drake	Secretary – Erin Cressida Wilson Hysterical Blindness – Laura Cahill Igby Goes Down – Burr Steers Interview with the Assassin – Neil Burger Kissing Jessica Stein – Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt
Best First Feature	Best Debut Performance
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys Interview with the Assassin Manito Paid in Full Roger Dodger	Nia Vardalos – My Big Fat Greek Wedding Bob Burrus – Tully America Ferrera – Real Women Have Curves Raven Goodwin – Lovely & Amazing Artel Great – Dahmer
Best Cinematography	Best Documentary Feature
Far from Heaven – Edward Lachman Gerry – Harris Savides Interview with the Assassin – Richard Rutkowski Narc – Alex Nepomniaschy Personal Velocity: Three Portraits – Ellen Kuras	Bowling for Columbine The Cockettes Devil's Playground How to Draw a Bunny Scratch
Best Foreign Film
Y tu mamá también • Mexico Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner • Canada Bloody Sunday • Ireland / UK The Piano Teacher • France Time Out • France

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award

Personal Velocity: Three Portraits

• Charlotte Sometimes
• Dahmer
• Ivans Xtc
• The Slaughter Rule

Truer Than Fiction Award

Jennifer Dworkin – Love & Diane

• Jeffrey Blitz – Spellbound
• Eugene Jarecki – The Trials of Henry Kissinger
• Mark Moskowitz – Stone Reader

Producers Award

Effie Brown – Real Women Have Curves and Stranger Inside

• Allen Bain and Jesse Scolaro – Cry Funny Happy and Manito
• Eden Wurmfeld – Fanci's Persuasion and Kissing Jessica Stein

Someone to Watch Award

Przemysław Reut – Paradox Lake

• Eric Eason – Manito
• Eitan Gorlin – The Holy Land

Films with multiple wins and nominations

Films that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Film
6	Lovely and Amazing
5	Far from Heaven
4	The Good Girl
	Ivans Xtc
	Tully
3	Dahmer
	Interview with the Assassin
	Manito
	Narc
	Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
	Roger Dodger
	Secretary
2	Antwone Fisher
	Charlotte Sometimes
	Gerry
	Hysterical Blindness
	Kissing Jessica Stein
	Real Women Have Curves
	Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

Films that won multiple awards

Nominations	Film
5	Far from Heaven