The acclaimed film won best feature, best director (Ang Lee) and best supporting female (Zhang Ziyi). The awards were handed out at a celebrity-packed luncheon under a marquee at Santa Monica beach.

Other multiple winners included the sibling melodrama ``You Can Count on Me,'' which won best first feature and best screenplay (Kenneth Lonergan).

The disturbing drugs drama ``Requiem for a Dream'' won best female lead (Ellen Burstyn) and best cinematography (Matthew Libatique).

The Independent Spirit Awards, now in their 16th year, honor provocative, low-budget films that were primarily financed outside the studio system. There is little crossover with the Academy Awards, and last year only actress Hilary Swank won awards at both events for her performance in ``Boys Don't Cry.''

But many Spirit Award winners this year will compete for Oscars on Sunday, including Taiwanese native Lee, Lonergan and Burstyn.

Other Oscar nominees who won Spirit Awards included Spanish actor Javier Bardem for his lead role as exiled Cuban novelist Reinaldo Arenas in ``Before Night Falls,'' and Willem Dafoe for his supporting role as actor Max Schreck in ``Shadow of the Vampire.''

``Crouching Tiger'' is competing for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture, director and foreign-language film, second only to ``Gladiator'' with 12 nominations.

(China Daily 03/25/2001)