"Tangerine" Reminds Us That Film Can Still Be Groundbreaking

There's a lot of talk about "Tangerine." From the moment it premiered at Sundance earlier this year, it instantly became known as 'the movie that was shot on entirely on an iPhone.' Director/Writer/Producer Sean S. Baker did indeed film the movie using an iPhone, three of them to be exact; The film was made for only $100,000 and Baker used a Mac Book's Final Cut Pro to edit the project.

Now, the film has been kicking up awards chatter. "Orange Is The New Black" star and everywoman Laverne Cox hosted a screening of the film this past week (one that I was invited to, but ultimately could not attend) for voters of the Academy Awards. The goal? To get the film's stars Mya Taylor and Kiki Rodriguez some awards buzz. The two just made history as the first trans actresses to be nominated for Independent Spirt Awards, while Taylor won the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Performance this past week.

So yes, there's a lot of talk, all of it is incredibly deserved. "Tangerine" is not only one of the best movies you'll see this year, but it's one of the best indie films to be released in some time. In a world filled with films like "Gravity" and a thousand super hero movies, this tiny film reminds us all that there's still actual magic left in the medium of film.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: "Carol," "Beasts of No Nation" and "Spotlight" Show Strength

The Independent Spirit Awards are hardly predictive of the Oscars; In many cases, they highlight the smaller films that get left out of the overall larger conversation. However, they're important to examine, because of how the high-profile films that do show up here.

So when a film like "Carol," one that is critically acclaimed but sort of an underdog when you look at people's Oscar predictions, leads the nomination count here, that's an important takeaway. It hardly means that the Golden Globes, critics and Oscars will follow the same path, but it shows where some of the heat and momentum is. For right now, at least.

Other leaders are the Netflix film, "Beasts of No Nation" and "Spotlight," while some presumed frontrunners fell a little flat. Take a look for yourself at the full list of nominations below.