Juno shines at Spirit Awards

Feb 24, 2008, 14:42 GMT

When offbeat small town private school girl Juno McGuff gets pregnant during a single sexual encounter with her best friend Paul Bleeker, she decides to adopt the child out to desperately hopeful Vanessa Loring and her husband Mark, who is ambivalent about his marriage, not to mention the prospect of being a dad. During her pregnancy, Juno develops a crush on Mark -- but ultimately realizes that her true love ...more

Los Angeles - Quirky comedy Juno dominated the Independent Spirit Awards Saturday, a day before it goes for the biggest prize of all at the Academy Awards.

The hit comedy about a pregnant teenage girl garnered prizes for best feature film, best actress for Canadian newcomer Ellen Page and best first screenplay for stripper-turned-writer Diablo Cody.

The independent spirit awards are the top prizes in the independent movie world in the US. Page and Cody are also nominated for Oscars, along with director Jason Reitman, while the movie also competes in the best picture category against darker fare such as No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton and Atonement.

'This is so, so special,' Page said in accepting her award. 'This is pretty much Diablo Cody's fault,' she joked.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman won best male lead for playing a son dealing with an aging father in The Savages, while Cate Blanchett won the best supporting actress award for her role as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. Chiwetel Ejiofor won for best supporting male role for Talk to Me, and The Lookout won for best first feature film.

Best cinematography went to Janusz Kaminski for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; best director went to Julian Schnabel, also for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; best documentary went to Crazy Love. Best foreign film went to the Irish romance Once.