Reed Saxon, Associated Press photos Actors Illeana Douglas and Cuba Gooding Jr. make the award presentation for best documentary at the 2007 Spirit Awards.

By Barbara Vancheri
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The misfit family of "Little Miss Sunshine" cruised to easy victory yesterday afternoon at the Spirit Awards, where the road-trip comedy won prizes for best feature, directors, supporting actor Alan Arkin and first screenplay.

"Everybody feels as though their family isn't normal sometimes," Michael Arndt, the writer of "Little Miss Sunshine," said after the ceremony, held at the beach under an enormous white tent. "Hopefully, this film will make people see the humor in the disparateness of families but also that family is a sort of refuge, in the end, from the world."

	Actor Alan Arkin accepts the award for best supporting male for his role in "Little Miss Sunshine." Click photo for larger image. 2007 Spirit Award Winners Best feature: "Little Miss Sunshine" Best directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, "Little Miss Sunshine" Best male lead: Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson." Best female lead: Shareeka Epps, "Half Nelson.' Best supporting male: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine." Best supporting female: Frances McDormand, "Friends With Money." Best documentary: 'The Road to Guantanamo." Best foreign film: "The Lives of Others." : Best screenplay: Jason Reitman, "Thank You for Smoking." Best cinematography: Guillermo Navarro, "Pan's Labyrinth." Best first feature: "Sweet Land." Best first screenplay: Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine." John Cassavetes Award, for under $500,000 feature: "Quinceanera. Special distinction: David Lynch and Laura Dern, "in recognition of their unique and stunning collaborative work"

In making his acceptance speech, it was clear family -- natural and movie-made -- was on Arkin's mind.

"If my mother was here today, if she was alive, she would be thinking at this very moment, 'Is he gonna find something to fall back on, like a teacher's license?' I am humbled, I am honored, and I feel very small which is exactly the way I felt when I started in this business, so I'm right back to where I began."

He called the "Sunshine" shoot, which required hours of close quarters in a series of yellow, unair-conditioned VW buses, "the most cohesive, loving, warmest, most lovable production I've ever been connected with."

The Spirit Awards, which honor movies completed for under $20 million (a single superstar's salary on some productions), are a free-wheeling cousin to the other ceremony held the same weekend in late February or early March -- the Oscars. They are produced by Film Independent, a non-profit membership organization that champions independent film.

At the Spirits, some stars dress up, while others dress down. Marcia Gay Harden donned a white suit with killer purple spiked heels while master of ceremonies Sarah Silverman talked dirty -- again, as last year -- while outfitted like a school girl in jumper and white blouse with Peter Pan collar and cap sleeves.

Men and women in T-shirts with "This Side Down" stamped across the back handed out free bags of Pop Secret popcorn to guests, media representatives and regular folks who lined the metal dividers near the beach hoping to spot Daniel Craig or America Ferrera or Josh Hartnett or Tobey Maguire or Cuba Gooding Jr. They were all there, along with scores of others.

The Spirit Awards draw a younger, hipper crowd and that was reflected in the leading actor and actress winners: Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps, both from "Half Nelson." Gosling plays a Brooklyn teacher with a gift for inspiration and an addiction to crack and alcohol, and Epps is one of his students.

Gosling, who quickly made a name for himself in movies such as "The Believer" and "The Notebook," is still in his 20s but Epps will only graduate from high school this year. Still, she edged out her elders, Catherine O'Hara, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Williams and Elizabeth Reaser.

Epps met writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck as a 12-year-old when she appeared in a short film they made. Gosling, who gave his young co-star his navy suit jacket to shield her from cool beach breezes and dropping temperatures not compatible with her satiny dress, credited her with the film's success in his acceptance speech.

In the press tent, he joked, "I had to meet and audition for Shareeka, it was a long, grueling process, but she finally gave me the job." He added that he wasn't sure the film would even get distributed, so "all this is a great surprise and we love the film, so that's even better."

Although Arkin didn't come into the press tent to field questions and Frances McDormand, a winner for her supporting turn in "Friends With Money" was absent, Gosling acknowledged the groundswell of support for "Half Nelson" among the media.

"A lot of critics and press really took our film on and championed it and made sure that people went out and saw it. They used their voice and I'm grateful to them for that."

When asked about his Oscar chances, Epps wouldn't let him cede the title to anyone else. "Let me answer that question. Ryan, we all know he's one of the best actors of his generation, he has a sure shot for tomorrow."

Other snapshots from the afternoon:

"Sweet Land" won for best first feature but it has no distributor. Pittsburghers were lucky to see this charming story of a mail-order bride who arrives in 1920 Minnesota to marry a Norwegian farmer. Director Ali Selim said he's received letters from Israel, France and elsewhere in the world, all affirming, "That's my story." He and the producers, who include actor Alan Cumming, just signed a DVD distribution deal.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the very tall, very articulate director of the German film "The Lives of Others" (coming to Pittsburgh on Friday) said he was traveling when reports surfaced about the Berlin Wall coming down. People thought it was a tasteless joke and began booing until they realized it was true. Just as America came to terms with Vietnam through movies such as "The Deer Hunter," so can Germany. "Film can be a type of therapy for a nation."

Robert Altman will be immortalized with a Robert Altman Award, to be given next year for the first time to a film's director and ensemble cast.

At one point, Arndt was fired from "Little Miss Sunshine" for resisting early studio suggestions that the father become the lead of the story. He thought that would shift the film from comedy to drama. He prevailed, with the support of the directors, and was hired back, although the movie took years to get made.

Money isn't everything, as the makers of "Quinceanera" proved. Wash Westmoreland, one of the writer-directors, said the director of photography asked him, "What would it have been like if we'd had, like $2 million and had a real budget?" And they concluded, it wouldn't have been as good; it got its heart from the way it was made.