35-473: The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $ 1,000,000 by the Film Independent , a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after actor / screenwriter / director John Cassavetes , a pioneer of American independent film. The award is given to the directors, writers and producers of
70-695: A Free Store, (where not only the goods, but the management roles were free), a Free Medical Clinic, and even a short-lived Free Bank. The Diggers evolved into a group known as the Free Family, which established chains of communes around the Pacific Northwest and Southwest . Coyote was the best known resident of the Black Bear Ranch commune in Siskiyou County, California . Coyote had first discovered Zen in his teens via
105-469: A drug addict, then a prostitute, had her children stolen, and continued to spiral downhill until she turned her life around. This story was published in Zyzzyva , and awarded the 1993–1994 Pushcart Prize . He also states he was a close friend of singer Janis Joplin . Coyote has a website, which features the titles of all his movies and extended samples of much of his writing. He is a member at RedRoom.com,
140-494: A film. Created for the 15th Independent Spirit Awards , it was originally called the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature (Under $ 500,000) . After that, the rules changed so that any feature film budgeted under $ 500,000 could be eligible (regardless of how many films the director has made), hence the new name. The first recipient of the award was the horror film The Blair Witch Project . In 2023,
175-494: A gold medal in the 2024 Independent Publisher Book Awards (aka IPPY) Competition [Category #91]. Coyote's left-wing politics are evident in his articles for Mother Jones magazine, some of which he wrote as a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention ; in his disagreements with David Horowitz ; and in his autobiography Sleeping Where I Fall . In 2006, Coyote developed a political television show for Link TV called "The Active Opposition" and in 2007 created Outside
210-462: A hallucination", he said, "and you'll just remain a white man and be ok. Or, you could consider that the Universe opened itself to you, and if you consider it deeply enough, you might become a human being." Peter considered what he had been saying for several months, and then changed his last name to Coyote, the first step toward understanding its significance. The immediate, unanticipated consequence,
245-439: A nominating committee. In 1985, Peter Coyote and Jamie Lee Curtis presented winners with a Plexiglas pyramid designed by Carol Bosselman, which contain a suspended shoestring, printed with sprocket holes, representing the shoestring budgets of independent films. The Reel Gold Award, also designed by Bosselman, was given to Steve Wachtel for allowing Independent Features Project/West continuing free use of his screening room. It
280-483: A profound experience with something he recognized as an animal spirit. At the next dawn he came to in a cornfield dotted with paw-prints. A few years later, he came across Coyote's Journal , a poetry magazine, and recognized its logo as the same paw-prints he had seen during his peyote experience. After meeting Rolling Thunder (John Pope), a purported Paiute-Shoshone shaman , who informed him that there were two ways to regard what he had experienced. "You could consider it
315-522: A small candy store in the Bronx . Coyote "was raised in a highly intellectual, cultural but unreligious family", involved in left-wing politics. He grew up in Englewood, New Jersey , and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School there in 1960. Coyote later said that he was "half black and half white inside" due to the strong influence of Susie Nelson, his family's African-American housekeeper. Coyote
350-423: A website for authors. In April 2015, his memoir The Rainman's Third Cure: An Irregular Education was released, where he "provides portraits of mentors that shaped him—including his violent, intimidating father, a bass player, a Mafia Consiglieri, and beat poet Gary Snyder, who introduced him to the practice of Zen." In September 2021, Four Way Books released a collection of Coyote's poetry entitled Tongue of
385-556: Is an American actor, director, screenwriter , author, and narrator of films, theater, television, and audiobooks . He worked on films, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cross Creek (1983), Jagged Edge (1985), Bitter Moon (1992), Kika (1993), Patch Adams (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), A Walk to Remember (2002), and Femme Fatale (2002). His voice work includes his narration for
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#1732794351639420-724: Is produced by Film Independent, a not-for-profit arts organization that used to produce the LA Film Festival . Film Independent members vote to determine the winners of the Spirit Awards. The awards show is held inside a tent at a parking lot of the beach in Santa Monica, usually on the day before the Academy Awards (since 1999; originally the Saturday before). The show was previously broadcast live on
455-641: Is the maternal uncle of librarian Jessamyn West . While a student at Grinnell College , Iowa, in 1961, Coyote was one of the organizers of a group of twelve students who traveled to Washington, D.C. during the Cuban Missile Crisis supporting President John F. Kennedy 's "peace race". Kennedy invited the group into the White House , the first time protesters had ever been so recognized, and they met for several hours with McGeorge Bundy . The group received wide press coverage. They mimeographed
490-480: The Diggers , an anarchist group known for operating anonymously and without money. They created provocative "theater" events designed to heighten awareness of problems associated with the notion of private property, consumerism, and identification with one's work. They fed nearly 600 people a day for "free", asking only that people pass through a six-foot by six-foot square known as The Free Frame of Reference. They ran
525-607: The IFC network in the US until 2023, when it was moved to YouTube , as well as Hollywood Suite in Canada and A&E Latin America . Winners were previously presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the bare budgets of independent films. Since 2006, winners receive a metal trophy depicting a bird with its wings spread sitting atop of a pole with
560-659: The War on Terror . He also narrated the 12-hour Ken Burns series on the National Parks , and 15 episodes for the National Geographic Explorer series. In 2010 he narrated the documentary Solitary Confinement on the effect of long-term isolation, with footage taken from Colorado State Penitentiary where all prisoners are held this way. In 2014, he appeared in the TNT television series Perception , as
595-553: The Box with Peter Coyote starting on Link TV's special, Special: The End of Oil – Part 2 . Many of Coyote's stories from the 1967 to 1975 counter-culture period are included in his memoir, Sleeping Where I Fall, published by Counterpoint Press in April 1998. One of the stories incorporated into his book is "Carla's Story," about a 16-year-old mother who lived communally with Coyote, and who, after learning of her husband's murder, became
630-836: The Lost Ark (1981), and auditioned for the part. Coyote's first starring role was in the science fiction adventure Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982). He also starred in Jagged Edge (1985) and Outrageous Fortune (1987). Since then, he has made more than 120 films for theaters and television and has played starring roles for many directors, including Roman Polanski ( Bitter Moon ), Pedro Almodóvar ( Kika ), Martin Ritt ( Cross Creek ), Jean-Paul Rappeneau ( Bon Voyage ), Diane Kurys ( A Man in Love ), and Walter Salles ( Exposure ). For his 1990 guest appearance on
665-602: The Mime Troupe. Coyote directed the first cross-country tour of The Minstrel Show, Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel, a controversial play closed by authorities in several cities. From 1967 to 1975, Coyote was a prominent member of the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury counterculture community and a founding member, along with Emmett Grogan , Peter Berg , Judy Goldhaft, Kent Minault, Nina Blasenheim, David Simpson, Jane Lapiner, and Billy Murcott, of
700-541: The TV section. Current categories Retired categories The Independent Features Project/West was founded by Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas . In 1984 the FINDIE Awards (Friends of Independents) were conceived by Independent Features Project/West board member Jeanne Lucas and Independent Features Project/West President Anne Kimmel and director/writer Sam O'Brien was an event producer. The awards are voted on by
735-591: The documentary film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and the National Geographic -produced PBS documentary based on Jared Diamond 's Guns, Germs, and Steel . He also narrated an episode of the series Lost in April 2006. In 2008, he narrated Torturing Democracy , a documentary produced by PBS which details the George W. Bush administration 's use of " enhanced interrogation techniques " in
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#1732794351639770-454: The father of the main character, Dr. Daniel Pierce, and narrated Burns' The Roosevelts: An Intimate History ; the latter saw him win his first Primetime Emmy Award . In 2019, he narrated Burns' PBS documentary Country Music . Most recently he has provided narration for a number of commercials produced by The Lincoln Project . and narrated the audiobook, Trilogy - Three True Stories of Scoundrels and Schemers by Peggy Adler , which won
805-671: The mid-1960s, including the Summer of Love . Coyote was born Robert Peter Cohon on October 10, 1941, in New York City , the son of Ruth ( née Fidler) and Morris Cohon, an investment banker. His father was of Sephardic Jewish descent and his mother came from a working-class Ashkenazi Jewish family. Her father, trained as a rabbi in Russia, escaped being drafted into the Imperial Russian Army , and eventually ran
840-523: The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics . He narrated the PBS series The Pacific Century (1992), winning an Emmy . He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator in 2015 for his work on Ken Burns ' s documentary miniseries The Roosevelts: An Intimate History . Coyote was one of the founders of the Diggers , an anarchist improv group active in Haight-Ashbury during
875-801: The resulting headlines and sent them to every college in the United States. He was also in a band called the Kittatinny Mountain Boys. Upon graduation from Grinnell with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1964, he moved to the West Coast , despite having been accepted at the Iowa Writers' Workshop , and commenced working toward a master's degree in creative writing at San Francisco State University . While still at Grinnell, Coyote ingested peyote and had
910-724: The rules changed to include any feature film budgeted under $ 1,000,000. Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards , originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards , and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards , are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California , to independent filmmakers . Founded in 1984, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit Awards in 1986. The ceremony
945-407: The shoestrings from the previous design wrapped around the pole. In 2020, new categories were announced for the 36th Independent Spirit Awards , which would honor the best in television productions and performances. These categories included Best New Scripted Series , Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance , and Best Ensemble Cast. In 2022, it
980-460: The television series Road to Avonlea , he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In addition to his movie work in more recent films such as Sphere , A Walk to Remember , and Erin Brockovich , Coyote has also appeared in many made-for-television movies and miniseries, and he does commercial voice-overs. Coyote was cast in lead roles on several television series: The 4400 in 2004 and The Inside in 2005. After The Inside
1015-589: The works of Jack Kerouac , Gary Snyder , and other Beats . Coyote met Snyder with the Diggers and was impressed with Snyder's "gravitas and elegance, his care and deliberation". In 1975, Coyote undertook meditation practice and eventually became a dedicated practitioner of American Zen Buddhism, moving into the San Francisco Zen Center . He was later ordained a lay priest in the Sōtō tradition and
1050-444: Was announced that gender neutral acting categories would be implemented and that the previous gendered film categories — Male Lead , Female Lead , Male Supporting and Female Supporting — would be retired in favor of a Best Lead Performance and a Best Supporting Performance categories, which would feature 10 nominees each. Other new categories added included Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Lead and Supporting Performance in
1085-572: Was associated with Filmex . In 1986, Bosselman designed and sculpted the Independent Spirit Award statue that is still given out today, using a lost wax bronze casting method. Independent Features Project/West eventually became Film Independent. Dawn Hudson was director of Independent Features Project/West in 1995. Barbara Boyle was Independent Features Project/West president from 1994 to 1999. Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon ; October 10, 1941)
Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-575: Was canceled, Coyote returned to The 4400 as a special guest star for their two-part season finale, then joined the cast of ABC 's series Commander in Chief as the Vice President of the United States , and the next year did a four-episode turn as Sally Field 's disreputable boyfriend in Brothers & Sisters . In 2005, Coyote served as the narrator for several prominent projects including
1155-478: Was ordained as a Zen Priest in 2015. Coyote performed audiobook recordings of Shunryu Suzuki 's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and Paul Reps 's Zen Flesh, Zen Bones as well as narrating the documentary Inquiry into the Great Matter: A History of Zen Buddhism . In 1978, Coyote began acting again ("to shake the rust out") appearing in plays at San Francisco's award-winning Magic Theatre . While he
1190-522: Was playing the lead in the world premiere of Sam Shepard 's True West , a Hollywood agent approached him, and his film career began with Die Laughing (1980). He gave supporting performances in Tell Me a Riddle (1980), Southern Comfort (1981), and as the mysterious scientist "Keys" in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). He was seriously considered for the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders of
1225-601: Was that no one, not even Peter knew who Peter Coyote was, and he was liberated from his personal history. From that point on, he never knew "where the rabbit would break from the brush". After a short apprenticeship at the San Francisco Actor's Workshop , he joined the San Francisco Mime Troupe , a radical political street theater whose members were arrested for performing in parks without permits. Coyote acted, wrote scripts, and directed in
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