In nominations announced on Wednesday, Ira Sachs’ “Peter Hujar’s Day” led the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations on with five, followed by “Blue Sun Palace,” “Lurker,” “One of Them Days,” “Sorry Baby” and “Train Dreams” with four.
Other films with multiple nominations included “The Plague” with three and a group of films including “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” “Hedda,” “Splitsville” and “A Little Prayer” with two.
The Best Feature nominees are “Peter Hujar’s Day,” “The Plague,” “Sorry, Baby,” “Train Dreams” and “Twinless.” Director nominees are Ira Sachs for “Peter Hujar,” Clint Bentley for “Train Dreams” and Eva Victor for “Sorry, Baby,” along with Mary Bronstein for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” and Lloyd Lee Choi for “Lucky Lu.”
Acting nominees in the three gender-neutral categories include Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Kathleen Chalfant (“Familiar Touch”), Joel Edgerton (“Train Dreams”), Keke Palmer (“One of Them Days”) and Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) in the lead category; Zoey Deutch (“Nouvelle Vague”), Kirsten Dunst (“Roofman”), Rebecca Hall (“Peter Hujar’s Day”), Jane Levy (“A Little Prayer”) and Jacob Tremblay (“Sovereign”) in supporting; Misha Osherovich (“She’s the He”), Kayo Martin (“The Plague”) and Tabatha Zimiga (“East of Wall” in Best Breakthrough Performance.
“The Long Walk” won the Robert Altman Award, which goes to a film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. Documentary nominees included “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air in Moscow” and “The Tale of Silyan,” while the Best International Film category nominees were “All That’s Left of You,” “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” “A Poet,” “The Secret Agent” and “Sirat.”
The television categories recognized “Citizen Nation,” “Pee-wee as Himself,” “Adolescence,” “Common Side Effects” and “Forever,” among others. TV acting nominees included Stephen Graham for “Adolescence,” Ethan Hawke for “The Lowdown,” Seth Rogen for “The Studio,” Noah Wyle and Taylor Dearden for “The Pitt,” Stephen McKinley Henderson for “A Man on the Inside,” Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate for “Dying for Sex” and Ben Whishaw for “Black Doves.” Whishaw was also nominated for “Peter Hujar’s Day,” making him the only performer nominated both for film and television.
With Oscar favorites like “One Battle After Another,” “Hamnet” and “Sinners” ineligible because their budgets were over the $30 million limit, and non-U.S. films like “It Was Just an Accident” and “Sentimental Value” eligible only in the international category, the slate of film nominees was heavily weighted toward small indies and will likely look dramatically different from the Academy’s lineup when it’s announced on Jan. 22.
Of the Best Feature nominees, only “Train Dreams” is considered a potential Oscar contender, with just a couple of nominated actors, mostly Rose Byrne and Joel Edgerton, currently figuring in Oscar predictions.
While indies like “Peter Hujar’s Day,” “The Plague,” “One of Them Days” and “Sorry, Baby” got a boost from the nominations, the typically idiosyncratic Spirit Award nominating committees were far more selective in their appreciation for higher-profile films like “Hedda,” with two acting nominations; “Nouvelle Vague,” with a single nod for Deutch; and “The Testament of Ann Lee,” whose sole nomination came for editing.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on February 15, 2026 — not on the beach in Santa Monica as it has been for years, but at the Hollywood Palladium.
The Film Independent Spirit Awards are open to films that were made for less than $30 million and were either programmed at one of eight specific film festivals, exhibited theatrically for at least one week during 2025 or been available on a commercial, fee-based streaming service during the calendar year.
Except in the Best International Film and Best Documentary categories, films must also qualify as “American productions” by having U.S. citizens or permanent residents in two of the three positions of director, producer or writer. Films that do not qualify as American are eligible in the international category for narrative films or the documentary category for nonfiction films.
The films must also be considered “independent” in the judgment of the Film Independent nominating committees, which makes that determination on the basis of “uniqueness of vision,” “original, provocative subject matter,” “diversity (on camera and behind the camera)” and “economy of means.”
In the television categories, programs are eligible only in their first season.
Over the past 10 years, the Spirit Award nominations have typically included one, two or three films that go on to receive Oscar nominations for Best Picture, and about five actors who would also be recognized by the Academy. Last year, the films that scored at both ceremonies were “Nickel Boys,” “The Substance” and the Spirit and Oscar winner, “Anora.”
The complete list of nominations:
2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominees
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)
“Peter Hujar’s Day”
“The Plague”
“Sorry, Baby”
“Train Dreams”
“Twinless”
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)
“Blue Sun Palace”
“Dust Bunny”
“East of Wall”
“Lurker”
“One of Them Days”
BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Bentley, “Train Dreams”
Mary Bronstein, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Lloyd Lee Choi, “Lucky Lou”
Ira Sachs, “Peter Hujar’s Day”
Eva Victor, “Sorry Baby”
BEST SCREENPLAY
“A Little Prayer”
“Sorry, Baby”
“Sovereign”
“Splitsville”
“Twinless”
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
“Blue Sun Palace”
“Friendship”
“Lurker”
“One of Them Days”
“Outerlands”
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”
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Naomi Ackie, “Sorry, Baby”
Zoey Deutch, “Nouvelle Vague”
Kirsten Dunst, “Roofman”
Rebecca Hall, “Peter Hujar’s Day”
Nina Hoss, “Hedda”
Jane Levy, “A Little Prayer”
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Liz Larson, “The Baltimorons”
Kayo Martin, “The Plague”
Misha Osherovich, “She’s the He”
SZA, “One of Them Days”
Tabatha Zimiga, “East of Wall”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Blue Sun Palace”
“Dust Bunny”
“Peter Hujar’s Day”
“Train Dreams”
“Warfare”
BEST EDITING
“Eephus”
“Good Boy”
“Splitsville”
“The Testament of Ann Lee”
“Warfare”
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
“The Baltimorons”
“Boys Go to Jupiter”
“Eephus”
“Esta Isla (This Island)”
“Familiar Touch”
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast)
“The Long Walk” — director Francis Lawrence, casting director Rich Delia, ensemble cast Judy Greer, Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Garrett Wareing
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
“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 (Award given to the director)
“All That’s Left of You”
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”
“A Poet”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sirat”
PRODUCERS AWARD (Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality independent films)
Emma Hannaway
Luca Intili
Tony Yang
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (Recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition)
Tatti Ribeiro, director of “Valentina”
Neo Sora, director of “Happyend”
Annapurna Sriram, director of “Fucktoys”
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition)
Tony Benna, director of “Andre Is an Idiot”
Rajee Samarasinghe, Director of “Your Touch Makes Others Invisible”
Brittany Shyne, Director of “Seeds”
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
“Citizen Nation”
“Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time”
“Pee-Wee as Himself”
“Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television”
“Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae”
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)
“Adolescence”
“Common Side Effect”
“Forever”
“Mr. Loverman”
“North of North”
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Sydney Chandler, “Alien: Earth”
Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”
Ethan Hawke, “The Lowdown”
Lennie James, “Mr. Loverman”
Anna Lambe, “North of North”
Lola Petticrew, “Say Nothing”
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
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 BREAKTRHOUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Asif Ali, “Deli Boys”
Wally Baram, “Overcompensating”
Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”
Michael Cooper Jr., “Forever”
Ernest Kingsley Junior, “Washington Black”
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
“Chief of War”
Charlie Brumbly, Luciane Buchanan, Cliff Curtis, Brandon Finn, Moses Goods, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Benjamin Hoetjes, Siua Ikale’o, Keala Kahuanui-Paleka, Mainei Kinimaka, Kaina Makua, Jason Momoa, Temuera Morrison, Te Kohe Tuhaka, James Udom