2026 Spirit Awards Nominations Announced By Film Independent

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We are deep into Awards Season right now, and for fans of Independent Film and TV, this article is for you. 

Film Independent just announced the nominees for the 2026 Spirit Awards. This year’s class of nominees shows the hard work and dedication that Independent Filmmakers do on a day-to-day basis. Every single project nominated deserves to be here, and your next favorite Indie Film or TV project might be in here. You can check out the full list of nominees below:

Film Categories

Best Feature

• Peter Hujar’s Day 
• The Plague 
• Sorry, Baby 
• Train Dreams 
• Twinless

Best First Feature

• Blue Sun Palace 
• Dust Bunny 
• East Of Wall 
• Lurker 
• One Of Them Days

John Cassavetes Award

• The Baltimorons 
• Boys Go To Jupiter 
• Eephus 
• Esta Isla (This Island) 
• Familiar Touch

Best Director

• Clint Bentley (Train Dreams) 
• Mary Bronstein (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You)
• Lloyd Lee Choi (Lucky Lu)
• Ira Sachs (Peter Hujar’s Day) 
• Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

Best Screenplay

• Michael Angelo Covino & Kyle Marvin (Splitsville)
• Angus Maclachlan (A Little Prayer)
• James Sweeney (Twinless)
• Christian Swegal (Sovereign)
• Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

Best First Screenplay

• Andrew Deyoung (Friendship) 
• Elena Oxman (Outerlands) 
• Alex Russell (Lurker) 
• Syreeta Singleton (One Of Them Days) 
• Constance Tsang (Blue Sun Palace)

Best Lead Performance

• Everett Blunck (The Plague) 
• Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You) 
• Kathleen Chalfant (Familiar Touch) 
• Chang Chen (Lucky Lu) 
• Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) 
• Dylan O’Brien (Twinless) 
• Keke Palmer (One Of Them Days) 
• Theodore Pellerin (Lurker) 
• Tessa Thompson (Hedda) 
• Ben Whishaw (Peter Hujar’s Day)

Best Supporting Performance

• Naomi Ackie (Sorry, Baby) 
• Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague) 
• Kirstin Dunst (Roofman) 
• Rebecca Hall (Peter Hujar’s Day) 
• Nina Hoss (Hedda) 
• Jane Levy (A Little Prayer) 
• Archie Madekwe (Lurker) 
• Kali Reis (Rebuilding) 
• Jacob Tremblay (Sovereign) 
• Haipeng Xu (Blue Sun Palace)

Best Documentary

• Come See Me In The Good Light 
• Endless Cookie 
• My Undesirable Friends: Part 1- Last Air In Moscow 
• The Perfect Neighbor 
• The Tale Of Silyan

Best International Film

• All That’s Left Of You (Palestine, Jordan, Germany, Cyprus) 
• On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Zambia, UK, Ireland) 
• A Poet (Columbia) 
• The Secret Agent (Brazil) 
• Sirat (Spain)

Best Editing

• Ben Leonberg (Good Boy) 
• Carson Lund (Eephus) 
• Fin Oates (Warfare) 
• Sara Shaw (Splitsville) 
• Sofia Subercaseaux (The Testament Of Ann Lee)

Best Cinematography

• Alex Ashe (Peter Hujar’s Day) 
• Norm Li (Blue Sun Palace) 
• David J. Thompson (Warfare) 
• Adolpho Veloso (Train Dreams) 
• Nicole Hirsch Whitaker (Dust Bunny)

Robert Altman Award

• Winner: The Long Walk

Emerging Filmmaker Awards

Producers Award

• Emma Hannaway
• Luca Intili 
• Tony Yang

Someone To Watch Award

• Tatti Ribeiro 
• Neo Sora 
• Annapurna Sriram

Truer Than Fiction Award

• Tony Benna 
• Rajee Samarasinghe
• Brittany Shyne

TV Nominees

Best New Scripted Series

• Adolescence (Netflix) 
• Common Side Effects (Adult Swim) 
• Forever (Netflix)
• Mr Loverman (BBC)
• North Of North (Netflix/CBC/APTN)

Best New Non-Scripted Or Documentary Series

• Citizen Nation (PBS)
• Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic) 
• Pee-Wee As Himself (HBO)
• Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television (HBO) 
• Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae (Hulu)

Best Lead Performance

• Sydney Chandler (Alien: Earth) 
• Stephen Graham (Adolescence) 
• Ethan Hawke (The Lowdown) 
• Lennie James (Mr. Loverman)
• Anna Lambe (North Of North) 
• Lola Petticrew (Say Nothing) 
• Seth Rogan (The Studio) 
• Lovie Simone (Forever) 
• Michelle Williams (Dying For Sex) 
• Noah Wylie (The Pitt)

Best Supporting Performance

• Ariyon Bakare (Mr Loverman) 
• Babou Ceesay (Alien: Earth) 
• Sharon D Clarke (Mr Loverman) 
• Taylor Dearden (The Pitt) 
• Erin Doherty (Adolescence) 
• Stephen McKinley Henderson (A Man On The Inside) 
• Poorna Jagannathan (Deli Boys) 
• Xosha Roquemore (Forever) 
• Jenny Slate (Dying for Sex) 
• Ben Whishaw (Black Doves)

Best Breakout Performance

• Asif Ali (Deli Boys) 
• Wally Baram (Overcompensating) 
• Owen Cooper (Adolescence) 
• Michael Cooper Jr. (Forever) 
• Ernest Kingsley Junior (Washington Black)

Best Ensemble Cast

• Winner: Chief Of War (Apple TV)

The awards will be on February 15th, and can be watched on both Film Independent’s YouTube channel and IMDB’s YouTube Channel.