As the legendary Yogi Berra once said, it’s deja vu all over again. It seems like just yesterday that I wrote about the writers strike and its impact on the independent film industry. Now, with the possibility of an actors strike looming in the distance, only a few words need to be changed for those year-old articles to be just as relevant. So, just as I said back then about the writers strike, I haven’t written much about the possibility of an actors strike here although I’ve been following it pretty closely.

Even those with very little knowledge about the industry know that the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has been threatening to strike against the producers, mainly over the issue of “new media” — actors want to get paid for their work being distributed via the Internet, mobile phones, etc, the very same issues which kept writers away from their desks. The politics is something left for another discussion. But I’ve been asked what, if any, effect this will have on the independent film industry so I thought it might be worth taking a look at it.

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The 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center’s Silver Screen Theater in West Hollywood. Like the Golden Globes, separate awards are given for movies and television. Garnering the most nominations are Doubt, Milk, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The awards will be simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. Here are the motion picture nominees.

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Don’t relax just yet — there are plenty of awards still being announced. The Austin Film Critics Association, San Diego Film Critics Society, and San Francisco Film Critics Circle have just weighed in with their selections for 2008.

Milk and Slumdog Millionaire continue to haul them in, The Dark Knight gets some well-deserved recognition, and Sweden’s Let The Right One In, one of my Top 10 Picks from Tribeca, sweeps all three lists for Best Foreign Film.

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Awards season rolls on with the The Boston Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Online, and International Press Academy all announcing their selections over the weekend.

A look back through the previous posts on this blog will reveal a trend emerging among this year’s lists so far — Slumdog Millionaire and Milk consistently top the narrative features while Man on Wire nabs best documentary kudos.

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As we first announced here back in October, Michael Welch, currently being seen as Mike Newton in the blockbuster smash hit Twilight, will soon be appearing in a gritty independent film titled Rough Hustle.

The project is well underway with weeks of shooting completed on location in Mesquite, Nevada and Las Vegas. The town of Mesquite welcomed the crew with open arms and the local media reported on the excitement.

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The New York Film Critics Circle has weighed in with their picks of the 2008 year in cinema. “It’s a mark of a healthy culture that people want to read and engage in the debate on movies on a serious level,” Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum told indieWIRE. The chair of the New York Film Critics Circle this year, she noted that the awards were spread among a number of films. “Earlier in the year people were saying it’s no a strong year, but there is such a variety this year.”

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The Film Independent’s Spirit Awards are very close to my heart, as they’re essentially the Oscars for indies, and often foretell some of those awards as well. Last year many of the films which were nominated for (and eventually won) Spirit Awards went on to dominate many Academy Awards categories.

The 2009 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards ceremony will take place in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica and will air uncut, uncensored, and commercial-free on IFC (Independent Film Channel) at 5 PM Eastern and Pacific Time on Saturday, February 21, 2009. An edited re-broadcast will air later that night on AMC.

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