The Stars Practice Their Waves At The Independent Spirit Awards

The Independent Spirit Awards were held Saturday in Santa Monica -- a precursor to the Oscars, but not always a good barometer of who will win Sunday night.

As their name implies, the Indie Awards are focused on "artist-driven filmmaking" and "independent thinkers."

Still, The Artist was the big winner yesterday - taking the prize for Best Feature and Best Actor, for Jean Dujardin. The film has led all the awards events so far, so we imagine Harvey Weinstein and Dujardin are preparing for a win tonight!

Michelle Williams picked up the other big award yesterday, for Best Female Lead in My Week With Marilyn.

The awards were hosted by Seth Rogan, who recently picked up a significant award himself -- the actor was named Stone of the Year by High Times magazine ... congrats, Seth!

Here's a full list of the other winners:

Best Feature – The Artist

Best Male Lead – Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Female Lead – Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Male – Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Female – Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best First Feature – J.C. Chandor (director) - Margin Call

Best Screenplay – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants

Best First Screenplay – Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Cinematography – Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist

Best Documentary – Steve James (director) – The Interrupters

Best International Film – A Separation (Iran)

Piaget Producers Award – Take Shelter

Robert Altman Award – Margin Call

John Cassavetes Award – Dee Rees (director), Nekisa Cooper (producer) – Pariah

Audi Someone to Watch Award – Mark Jackson (director), Without

Nokia Truer Than Fiction Award – Heather Courtney (director), Where Soldiers Come From