Peter Hujar's Day leads Independent Spirit nominations

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

• 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 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

• The Long Walk

Best International Film

• All That's Left Of You
• On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
• A Poet
• The Secret Agent
• Sirāt

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