SANTA MONICA—The nominees for the 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominees were unveiled with “Peter Hujard’s Day” leading all contenders with a total of 5 nominations including Best Feature. Followed close behind were a bevy of other films that each earned 4 nominations apiece which included: “Blue Sun Palace,” “The Plague,” “Sorry, Baby,” “Train Dreams. Lucky Lu,” “Lurker,” “One of Them Days” and “Twinless.”

A partial list of this year’s nominees can be viewed below:

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”
-“Familiar Touch”

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 “Novelle 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 “Soverign”
-Haipeng Xu “Blue Sun Palace”

Best Breakthrough Performance

-Liz Larsen “The Baltimorons”
-Misha Osherovich “She’s the He”
-Kayo Martin “The Plague”
-SZA “One of Them Days”
-Tabatha Zimiga “East of Wall”

Best Director

-Clint Bently “Train Dreams”
-Mary Bronstein “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
-Llyod 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 “Soverign”
-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 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”

Best Editing

-Ben Leonberg “Good Boy”
-Carson Lund “Eephus”
-Fin Oates “Warfare”
-Sara Shaw “Splitsville”
-Sofia Subercaseaux “The Testament of Ann Lee”

Best Documentary

-“Come See Me in the Good Light”
-“Endless Cookie”
-“My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow”
-“The Perfect Neighbor”
-“The Tale of Silyan”

The 2026 ceremony will be held at a new location for the first time in 40 years. Instead of inside a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, the ceremony will take place on February 15, 2026 at the Hollywood Palladium.