3rd Independent Spirit Awards

The 3rd Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 1987, were announced on February 11, 1988. The ceremony was hosted by Buck Henry and was held at 385 North, a restaurant in Los Angeles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

3rd Independent Spirit Awards
Date	February 11, 1988
Site	Los Angeles, California U.S.
Hosted by	Buck Henry
Highlights
Best Film	River's Edge
Most awards	The Dead (2) River's Edge (2)
Most nominations	Matewan (6)
← 2nd Independent Spirit Awards 4th →

Winners and nominees

John Huston, Best Director winner

Dennis Quaid, Best Male Lead winner

Sally Kirkland, Best Female Lead winner

Morgan Freeman, Best Supporting Male winner

Anjelica Huston, Best Supporting Female winner

Best Feature	Best Director
River's Edge The Big Easy The Dead Matewan Swimming to Cambodia Tough Guys Don't Dance	John Huston – The Dead Jonathan Demme – Swimming to Cambodia Tim Hunter – River's Edge Jim McBride – The Big Easy John Sayles – Matewan
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
Dennis Quaid – The Big Easy Spalding Gray – Swimming to Cambodia Terry O'Quinn – The Stepfather Mickey Rourke – Barfly James Woods – Best Seller	Sally Kirkland – Anna Lillian Gish – The Whales of August Debra Sandlund – Tough Guys Don't Dance Louise Smith – Working Girls Joanne Woodward – The Glass Menagerie
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
Morgan Freeman – Street Smart Wings Hauser – Tough Guys Don't Dance James Earl Jones – Matewan Vincent Price – The Whales of August David Strathairn – Matewan	Anjelica Huston – The Dead Karen Allen – The Glass Menagerie Kathy Baker – Street Smart Martha Plimpton – Shy People Ann Sothern – The Whales of August
Best Screenplay	Best Cinematography
River's Edge – Neal Jimenez Anna – Agnieszka Holland The Dead – Tony Huston Matewan – John Sayles Swimming to Cambodia – Spalding Gray	Matewan – Haskell Wexler Barfly – Robby Müller The Dead – Fred Murphy Slam Dance – Amir Mokri Tough Guys Don't Dance – John Bailey
Best First Feature	Best International Film
Dirty Dancing – Emile Ardolino Anna – Yurek Bogayevicz Hollywood Shuffle – Robert Townsend Siesta – Mary Lambert Waiting for the Moon – Jill Godmilow	My Life as a Dog • Sweden Au revoir les enfants • France / West Germany Hope and Glory • United Kingdom Prick Up Your Ears • United Kingdom Tampopo • Japan

Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Film
6	Matewan
5	The Dead
4	Swimming to Cambodia
	Tough Guys Don't Dance
3	Anna
	The Big Easy
	River's Edge
	The Whales of August
2	Barfly
	The Glass Menagerie
	Street Smart

Films that won multiple awards

Awards	Film
2	The Dead
	River's Edge