Émilien Néron and Sophie Nélisse star in Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar. Courtesy of Music Box Films.

With so many awards groups releasing their lists of nominees in all the major categories, Indie Outlook couldn’t help putting together its own. If Indie Outlook picked the nominees, they would look something like this. The one new category is Best Performer Under 18, which the Academy should add as soon as possible. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhané Wallis is living proof of that, and yet this year was so rich in contenders, she didn’t make Indie Outlook’s top five.

BEST PICTURE

The Impossible

Lincoln

The Master

Moonrise Kingdom

The Wise Kids

BEST ACTOR

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

John Hawkes, The Sessions

Denis Lavant, Holy Motors

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Tyler Ross, Nate & Margaret

BEST ACTRESS

Ann Dowd, Compliance

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Léa Seydoux, Farewell, My Queen

Kate Lyn Sheil, Green

Margarete Tiesel, Paradise: Love

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Michael Caine, The Dark Knight Rises

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Ewan McGregor, The Impossible

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister’s Sister

Sally Field, Lincoln

Grace Folsom, Things I Don’t Understand

Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

Allison Torem, The Wise Kids

BEST PERFORMER UNDER 18

Thomas Doret, The Kid with a Bike

Elle Fanning, Ginger & Rosa

Tom Holland, The Impossible

Sophie Nélisse, Monsieur Lazhar

Émilien Néron, Monsieur Lazhar

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Nathan Adloff and Justin D.M. Palmer, Nate & Margaret

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom

Stephen Cone, The Wise Kids

Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks

Sarah Polley, Take This Waltz

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Judd Apatow, This is 40

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Terence Davies, The Deep Blue Sea

Philippe Falardeau, Monsieur Lazhar

Tony Kushner, Lincoln

BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

Prashant Bhargava, Patang

Stephen Cone, The Wise Kids

Philippe Falardeau, Monsieur Lazhar

Joe Swanberg, Marriage Material

BEST EDITING

William Goldberg and Dylan Tichenor, Zero Dark Thirty

Stéphane Lafleur, Monsieur Lazhar

Nelly Quettier, Holy Motors

Elena Ruiz, The Impossible

Andrew Weisblum, Moonrise Kingdom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins, Skyfall

Shanker Raman, Patang

Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master

Ben Richardson, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Robert D. Yeoman, Moonrise Kingdom

BEST SCORE

Alexandre Desplat, Moonrise Kingdom

Mikhail Fiksel, The Wise Kids

Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer, Cloud Atlas

Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Nick Urata, Ruby Sparks

BEST SONG

“The Kids” from My Sucky Teen Romance

“Nate and Margaret” from Nate & Margaret

“Skyfall” from Skyfall

“This Gift” from The Odd Life of Timothy Green

“Who Were We?” from Holy Motors

BEST MAKEUP

Cloud Atlas

The Hobbit

Holy Motors

The Impossible

Lincoln

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Cloud Atlas

Farewell, My Queen

Holy Motors

Lincoln

Moonrise Kingdom

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Anna Karenina

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Cloud Atlas

Lincoln

Moonrise Kingdom

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Avengers

Compliance

The Dark Knight Rises

The Impossible

Skyfall

BEST SOUND EDITING

Chronicle

The Impossible

Life of Pi

The Master

Zero Dark Thirty

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Cloud Atlas

Flight

The Hobbit

The Impossible

Life of Pi

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Amour

Holy Motors

The Kid with a Bike

Monsieur Lazhar

A Simple Life

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

As Goes Janesville

How to Survive a Plague

The Invisible War

The Queen of Versailles

Erica Unger and Seth Unger star in Jack C. Newell’s Close Quarters. Courtesy of Nefarious Productions.

Spreading the wealth in the above categories has been so much fun, Indie Outlook couldn’t help adding a few honorable mentions—twenty to be exact. Get your Netflix queues ready, and enjoy…

Twenty Special Mentions

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

ParaNorman

BEST TV MOVIE

Game Change

BEST FOUND FOOTAGE MOVIE

Chronicle

BEST OSCAR-BAITING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

BEST SINISTER MONOLOGUE

Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

BEST TIMELY MONOLOGUE

Joel Murray, God Bless America

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A “FREAKS AND GEEKS” ALUMNUS

Linda Cardellini, Return

BEST MOTION-CAPTURE PERFORMANCE

Andy Serkis, The Hobbit (who else?)

BEST NEAR-WORDLESS PERFORMANCE

Christopher Walken, Dark Horse

BEST TRIBUTE TO A GREAT ACTOR

Josh Brolin, Men in Black 3

BEST TRIBUTE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC

Liberal Arts

BEST PROLIFIC TODDLER

Jude Swanberg, Empire Builder/Be Good/Marriage Material/The Zone

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Martin Landau, Frankenweenie

BEST INDIE SET FOR RELEASE IN JANUARY

Tiger Tail in Blue

BEST INDIE ENSEMBLE

Close Quarters

BEST AUSSIE IMPORT

The Snowtown Murders

BEST ANTI-ROMANCE

Young Goethe in Love

BEST CAMEO

James D’Arcy, Hitchcock

BEST CROWD-PLEASING PUNCH

Hulk, The Avengers

BEST CATCHPHRASE

“Argo f–k yourself!”

…and one more honorable mention…

BEST SIXTH NOMINEE FOR BEST ACTOR

Liam Neeson, The Grey