‘Lodging,’ ‘False Move’ Top Independent Nominees : Movies: Spirit Awards will be presented March 27 in a tent in Santa Monica.

Two films set in small-town America, “Gas Food Lodging” and “One False Move,” were each nominated for best picture and four other categories to lead the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards of 1992.

Also nominated for best feature film were the higher profile independents, “The Bad Lieutenant,” “Mississippi Masala” and “The Player.”

The nominations were announced Monday by the Independent Feature Project/West, a nonprofit organization for non-studio-affiliated American filmmakers, who often make films on shoestring budgets. Awards are handed out at an informal luncheon the Saturday before the Academy Awards ceremony and typically serve as an irreverent counterpoint to that event. This year’s Spirit Awards will be presented March 27 in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

Three of 1992’s most commercially successful independently made films, “Howards End,” “Raise the Red Lantern” and “The Crying Game,” received one nomination each--for best foreign-made film, the only category in which they were eligible. “Howards End,” the romantic, turn-of-the-century Merchant Ivory production, and “The Crying Game,” the suspenseful Neal Jordan film set in Northern Ireland and London, are both seen as potential contenders for the Oscar for best picture of 1992.

Among the top nominees, “Gas Food Lodging,” about an all-female family living in a rural Southwestern town, earned Allison Anders a nomination for directing and screenplay.

“One False Move,” which deals with a trio of criminals clashing with a small-town sheriff, received nominations for director Carl Franklin and screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton.

Although maverick director Robert Altman’s movie “The Player” was nominated as best picture, he was not selected among the directing nominees and the film received no other nominations. At last year’s ceremony, Altman was greeted as a champion of independent filmmaking--especially in the wake of “The Player,” a biting satire of mainstream Hollywood.

The list of nominations:

Best feature: “Bad Lieutenant” (Aries Film Releasing); “Gas Food Lodging” (IRS Releasing); “Mississippi Masala,” (The Samuel Goldwyn Co.); “One False Move,” (IRS Releasing); “The Player,” (Fine Line Features).

Best first feature: “Laws of Gravity” (RKO Pictures); “My New Gun” (IRS Releasing); “Reservoir Dogs” (Miramax Films); “Swoon,” (Fine Line Features); “The Waterdance,” (The Samuel Goldwyn Co.).

Director: Allison Anders, “Gas Food Lodging”; Abel Ferrara “Bad Lieutenant”; Carl Franklin, “One False Move”; Tom Kalin, “Swoon”; Quentin Tarantino “Reservoir Dogs.”

Screenplay: Keith Gordon, “A Midnight Clear”; Allison Anders, “Gas Food Lodging”; Paul Schrader, “Light Sleeper”; Billy Bob Thornton, “One False Move”; Neal Jimenez, “The Waterdance.”

Actress: Fairuza Balk, “Gas Food Lodging”; Edie Falco, “Laws of Gravity”; Catherien Keener “Johnny Suede”; Sheryl Lee, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”; Cynda Williams, “One False Move.”

Actor: Craig Chester, “Swoon”; Larry Fishburne, “Deep Cover”; Peter Greene, “Laws of Gravity”; Harvey Keitel “Bad Lieutenant”; Michael Rapaport, “Zebrahead.”

Supporting actress: Brooke Adams “Gas Food Lodging”; Sara Gilbert, “Poison Ivy”; Karen Silas, “Simple Men”; Denetra Vanase, “Jumpin’ at the Boneyard”; Alfre Woodard, “Passion Fish.”

Supporting actor: Steve Buscemi, “Reservoir Dogs”; William Forsythe, “The Waterdance”; Jeff Goldblum, “Deep Cover”; Wesley Snipes, “The Waterdance”; David Strathairn, “Passion Fish.”

Cinematography: Jon Jost, “All the Vermeers in New York”; Jean DeSegonzac, “Laws of Gravity”; Ed Lachman, “Light Sleeper”; Frederick Elmes, “Night on Earth”; Ellen Kuras, “Swoon.”

Score: Jon A. English, “All the Vermeers in New York”; Peter Haycock and Derek Holt, “One False Move”; Maureen McElheron, “The Tune”; Angelo Badalamenti, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”; Taj Mahal, “Zebrahead.”

Foreign film: “Close to Eden” (Miramax); “Danzon”(Sony Pictures Classics); “Howards End” (Sony); “Raise the Red Lantern” (Orion Classics); “The Crying Game” (Miramax).