Submissions are open! As of today, we are officially gearing up for the 29^th Film Independent Spirit Awards. Mark your calendars, indie filmmakers: The regular submission deadline is Tuesday, September 17, 2013 and the final deadline is Tuesday, October 15, 2013. Nominations will be announced November 26, 2013, and the Awards Ceremony will take place on March 1, 2014 in our favorite spot: under the tent at the beach alongside the Pacific. (It airs later that night on IFC.)

We’re especially excited about this year’s ceremony as we’re adding a Best Editing category for the first time ever. “The critical importance of editing in the filmmaking process cannot be overstated, something we look forward to celebrating at the Spirit Awards,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. The Spirit Awards also honor the year’s best work in these categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (for the best feature made for less than  $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best International Film and Best Documentary. Filmmaker Grants include the Someone to Watch Award, Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award, Piaget Producers Award and the Jameson FIND Your Audience Award.

We thought it might be inspiring to this year’s hopefuls to take a look back and relive the big moments of some of last year’s big winners with the Thank-You Cam, plus get a look at what they’ve been up to since.

David O. Russell, Best Director/Best Screenplay Silver Linings Playbook

Our fave Thank-You Cam moment

“You have to have the most independent voices come fighting from the bottom. I like being an underdog. I like fighting from the bottom. It makes me reach deeper. It keeps you more raw and real.”

What he’s been up to At the Los Angeles Film Festival, Russell came by to sit down with his good pal Spike Jonze to talk about Spike’s work and how the two have helped with each other’s work over the years. The audience also got a sneak peak at Jonze’s first feature in four years, Her.

A few months ago, Russell wrapped American Hustle, the story of a con artist and his partner who were forced to work with a federal agent to turn the tables on other cons, mobsters and politicians—namely, the volatile mayor of impoverished Camden, New Jersey. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner. Check out the newly released trailer. Deemed “Oscar bait,” it’s got Seventies hair, a big buzz and a December 13 release date.

Jennifer Lawrence, Best Female Lead/Silver Linings Playbook

Our fave Thank-You Cam moment “I’m shaking. It feels terrifying. It’s going to be exciting in five minutes. Every time they say my name, it’s like I’m going to get my head cut off or something.”

What she’s been up to It’s been a wild ride of a year for J.Law, whose been racking up the awards and the adoration from fans—thanks to a seemingly endless series of endearing moments, including tripping up the Oscar’s stage, flipping out over meeting Jack Nicholson and running away from Jeff Bridges at Comic Con, as New York magazine’s Vulture, put it, “Iike a starstruck goofball.” Besides teaming with Russell on American Hustle, J.Law has been busy kicking ass as Katniss in Hunger Games: Catching Fire, due out November 22, 2013. In her “spare time,” Jennifer was shot for the cover of the iconic September issue of Vogue.

John Hawkes, Best Male Lead/The Sessions

Our fave Thank-You Cam moment

“A lot of movies on big budgets need to kind of guess what the audience wants, and independent film and its storytellers tell the stories they want to tell.”

What he’s been up to

Hawkes’ latest film, Life of Crime just announced its World Premiere as the Closing Night film at the Toronto International Film Festival.  It’s the Jackie Brown prequel, based on Elmore Leonard’s The Switch, and stars Jennifer Anniston, Isla Fisher, Tim Robbins and Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def).

Ava DuVernay, Cassavetes Award Middle of Nowhere

Our fave Thank-You Cam Moment

“Film Independent has done so much for our film, from the Gala that we were gifted with at the LA Film Festival to just being able to call and pick up the phone and ask questions about a camera… the sense of camaraderie and community has done a lot for me.”

What she’s been up to Her doc Venus Vs. documents the long battle for equal wages among the sexes in tennis that began with Billie Jean King and was later championed by Venus Williams. It recently aired on ESPN as part of the network’s Nine for IX series (nine films about women athletes made by women filmmakers). Now, the first Black woman to win the Best Director prize at Sundance—who made her name on micro-budget films—is gearing up to direct the big-budget Martin Luther King biopic Selma. (David Oyelowo, DuVernay’s lead in Middle of Nowhere, will play Dr. King.)