Independent Spirit Awards nominations announced

We The Animals leads pack

by Amber Wilkinson

We The Animals
We The Animals Photo: Zak Mulligan

Coming of age drama We The Animals, directed by Jeremiah Zagar leads the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards, announced today, with five nods.

The awards, which champion independent film, also saw Scotland's Lynne Ramsay pick up four nominations for You Were Never Really Here, matching Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade and Paul Schrader's First Reformed.

The Robert Altman award, which recognises a director, casting director and ensemble cast, will go to Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake.

The awards ceremony will take place on February 23.

Best Feature

Best First Feature

Best Female Lead

Best Male Lead

Best Director

Best Documentary

Best Supporting Male

Best Screenplay

  • Richard Glatzer (Writer/Story By), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, Colette
  • Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
  • Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
  • Boots Riley, Sorry To Bother You
  • Paul Schrader, First Reformed

Robert Altman Award

Best First Screenplay

Best Editing

Bonnie Award - A $50,000 (£39,000) grant given to a mid-career female director

Best International Film

John Cassavetes Award - given to the best feature made for less than ($500,000) £390,000

Best Supporting Female

Best Cinematography

Producers Award

  • Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
  • Gabrielle Nadig
  • Shrihari Sathe

Someone To Watch Award

  • Alex Moratto, director of Sócrates
  • Ioana Uricaru. director of Lemonade
  • Jeremiah Zagar, director of We The Animals

Truer Than Fiction Award

Share this with others on...
News

Stories still unspoken Interview with Thomas Pollack, Andrew McNeill and Katarina Kokenyova about Rozkvet

Where crows are watching JP Davidson and Craig Russell on nature, belief, UK horror and The Cull

Truth and lies Sean Hogan on true crime documentaries, unknowable characters and The Dark Gets In

A walking contradiction Sinéad O'Shea on James 'Fergie' Chambers Jr and All About The Money

Unconventional families Milcho Manchevski on being blacklisted and making Sister Brother Manhole Cover

Expecting the unexpected Jordan Mark Windsor and Sean Wallace on Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant

More news and features

We're bringing you all the latest news and reviews from the Belfast Film Festival, the Cheltenham International Film Festival and the Leeds International Film Festival.



We're looking forward to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the French Film Festival and DOC NYC.



We've recently brought you coverage of Halloween Frightfest, the Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Newfest, the London Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, Grimmfest and Beyond Fest.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon, Instagram and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest:


Sundance Announces Legacy line-up of archive films


Frightfest Newcastle event announced for May 2027


French Film Festival UK Programme announced


Tallinn Black Nights Documentary line-up and Special Screenings announced


London Winners announced