The 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards have announced their nominees. Netflix tops the nominations with 18 nods, while A24 follows with 10. The contenders for Best Feature include “Peter Hujar’s Day”—which led with five nominations—“The Plague,” “Sorry, Baby,” “Train Dreams,” and “Twinless.” Four of the five nominated titles premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
I do love “The Plague” love — that’s a small gem that’s bound to go under-the-radar this year. Personally, some other deserving indies that weren’t nominated for Best Feature: “The Mastermind,” “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” “Friendship,” “Splitsville,” “Warfare,” “Blue Moon,” “Roofman,”
Notable snubs: There was no Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”) in the acting category. “Sentimental Value” and “It Was Just An Accident” are absent in International Film.
To qualify for a Spirit Award, films must have been made for under $30M, which rules out quite a few Oscar contenders, including “One Battle After Another” “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” and “Marty Supreme.”
The 2026 Independent Spirit Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 15, 2026. It should be noted that they went gender-neutral back in 2022, which is why the acting categories are composed of 10 nominees.
The full list of nominees is 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 (made for under $1M)
“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
“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”
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”BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Liz Larsen, “The Baltimorons”
Kayo Martin, “The Plague”
Misha Osherovich, “She’s the He”
SZA, “One of The 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”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”BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
“All That’s Left of You”
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”
“A Poet”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sirat”