Taking place the day before the Oscars, the Independent Spirit Awards were originally founded to honour American films financed and made outside the traditional Hollywood studio system. Now, in their I6th year, they have grown, like their cousin The Sundance Film Festival, from relative obscurity to a major media and marketing event. They have also caught the public's attention, this year being the first that bleachers had to be erected around the ceremony.

However, with the boundary between the Hollywood and "non-studio" film blurring further every year, how exactly does one define "independent film" today? As this year's best director Ang Lee - for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - aptly put it, "nobody can be really independent making movies anymore".

This was further emphasised by the fact that three of this year's Best Actress nominees (Joan Allen, Ellen Burstyn and Laura Linney) were also up for the Oscar. The Spirits have tried to recognise this and, as a result, have somewhat relaxed their eligibility requirements.

Briefly, to be eligible for a Spirit nomination a film must have been screened at a commercial cinema during the previous calendar year or have played at one of the six major American film festivals: New York, Seattle, Sundance, Telluride, Toronto or New Directors/New Films. The film must have original, provocative subject matter, a uniqueness of vision, and, of course, a large percentage of independent financing. An 11-person nominating committee applies these criteria and the nominations are then thrown open to the 9,000 members of the national Independent Feature Project to vote. Although there are always the occasional head-scratchers among the films deemed eligible/non-eligible, the nominating committee generally remains true to the vision.

Held in a giant tent erected on the beach in Santa Monica, the Spirits have a relaxed atmosphere that is the antithesis of Oscar night. One of the event's great pleasures is strolling around before and after the ceremony rubbing shoulders and chatting casually with the stars.

There was Jared Leto looking very groovy in corn rows and shades, last year's winners Chloe Sevigny and Hilary Swank, best supporting actress nominee - for Requiem for a Dream - Jennifer Connelly, looking as gorgeous as ever with current boyfriend Josh Charles, and the always affable Jennifer Lilly who says that her next project will be a remake of The Magnificent Ambersons, ("because Orson Welles didn't get it right the first time"').

Gabriel Byrne was there with diminutive co-presenter Holly Hunter, as was Paul Ruebens aka Pee-Wee Herman who appears to be making a comeback. The afternoon proceeded smoothly under the guidance of the event's favorite host John Waters and included a hilarious "tribute" to the manager of LA's favorite art house cinema "The Sunset Five", who proceeded to berate a list of indie stars who practice the nefarious art of cinema hopping.

To no one's surprise the day's big winner was Sony Pictures Classics' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with three awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress Zhang Ziyi) followed by Artisan Entertainment's Requiem for a Dream with two (Best Actress Ellen Burnstvn and Best Cinematography) and Paramount Classics' You Can Count on Me, also with two (Best First Feature and Best Screenplay for writer/director Kenneth Lonergan).

Best Actor went to Javier Bardem for Fine Line Features' Before Night Falls and Best Supporting Actor to Willem Dafoe for Lions Gate Films' Shadow of the Vampire.