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| Peter Hujar’s Day Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
Nominations for the 2026 Independent Spirit Awards were announced today, with Ira Sachs' photographer biopic Peter Hujar's Day out in front on four nominations, while Lurker, Train Dreams, Sorry, Baby, Blue Sun Palace and one Of Them Days each secured four.
The most important awards for independent film, with each competitor limited to a budget of $30m, the Spirits can catapulted new filmmakers into the big league. They also give a less geographically biased overview of what's going on in the film industry than most of the major awards.
The winners will be announced at the Hollywood palladium in Los Angeles on 15 February.
Those film nominations in full:
Best Picture
Best First Feature
- Blue Sun Palace
- Dust Bunny
- East Of Wall
- Lurker
- One Of Them Days
John Cassavettes 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
- Splitsville
- A Little Prayer
- Twinless
- Sovereign
- Sorry, Baby
Best First Screenplay
- Friendship
- Outerlands
- Lurker
- One Of Them Days
- 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
- Théodore Pellerin, Lurker
- Tessa Thompson, Hedda
- Ben Whishaw, Peter Hujar's Day
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
- Archie Madekwe, Lurker
- Kali Reis, Rebuilding
- Jacob Tremblay, Sovereign
- Haipeng Xu, Blue Sun Palace
Breakthrough Performance
- Liz Larsens, The Baltimorons
- Misha Osherovich, She's The He
- Kayo Martin, The Plague
- Sza, One Of Them Days
- Tabatha Zimiga, East Of Wall
Best Cinematography
- Peter Hujar's Day
- Blue Sun Palace
- Warfare
- Train Dreams
- Dust Bunny
Best Editing
- Good Boy
- Eephus
- Warfare
- Splitsville
- The Testament Of Ann Lee
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
Robert Altman Award
Best International Film
Producers Award
- Emma Hannaway
- Luca Intilli
- Tony Yang
Someone To Watch Award
- Tatti Ribeiro, director of Valentina
- Neo Sora, director of Happyend
- Annapurna Sriram, director of Fucktoys
Truer Than Fiction Award
- Tony Benna, director of André Is An Idiot
- Rajee Samarasinghe, director of Your Touch Makes Others Invisible
- Brittany Shyne, director of Seeds
