2026 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

Nominations Announced: December 3, 2025
Awards Ceremony: February 16, 2026

Look, I get why Film Independent ditched gender-specific acting categories back in 2023. The argument that dividing performers by gender felt outdated makes sense on paper. But here's what I don't understand: why cut the number of winners in half? They combined lead and supporting into two pools of ten nominees each, then picked one winner per pool. We went from four acting winners to two. Sure, go ahead and make the categories gender-neutral, but would it kill them to still recognize two performers from each group? The energy at this ceremony has felt deflated ever since. The Spirit Awards used to have a scrappy, seat-of-their-pants vibe, held in a tent on the beach with winners who seemed genuinely surprised. Now it moves indoors to the Palladium in Hollywood, and I'm hoping new host Ego Nwodim (taking over from two years of Aidy Bryant) can inject some life back into it. Films must cost $30 million or less to compete, with the John Cassavetes Award reserved for features under $1 million. Notable contenders include Barry Jenkins-produced Sorry, Baby, Joel Edgerton's turn in Train Dreams, and the TV categories now honoring new scripted series alongside documentaries. I've got a feeling Ego Nwodim has big-time host energy. Let's hope she gets to use it.

The true beginning of the end of awards season always arrives with the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and this year the show traded its trademark beachside casualness for a return indoors at the Hollywood Palladium — its first time there since 1994. The shift from the Santa Monica Pier tent to a cavernous concert hall brought a welcome sense of occasion, but it also sanded down some of the scrappy, anything-can-happen energy that has long defined the Spirits. Host Ego Nwodim worked hard to keep the night buoyant, but the sheer scale of the room often swallowed punchlines whole. Well-constructed jokes landed with a thud, while spontaneous crowd work felt oddly mismatched to the formality of the space. The logistics didn't help. Winners, as always, were seated miles from the stage, and the long walk meant applause routinely evaporated before they even reached the podium — leaving more than a few acceptance speeches to begin in awkward near-silence. The night's most reliable sparks came from presenters Robbie Hoffman and Tig Notaro, both of whom brought a looseness and confidence that the show could have used more of. On the winners front, the results struck a balance between the expected and the gratifyingly off-beat. I still can't get past the decision to combine the gendered acting categories into a single prize. In a year this deep with performances, limiting the field to one winner feels less progressive than simply reductive — there was more than enough excellence to justify two trophies. As for what it all means going forward, the Spirits don't always map cleanly onto the Oscars, and this year looks no different. Naomi Ackie's win, for instance, doesn't translate to the Academy race without a nomination, and while Byrne remains a formidable contender, I still find that performance falling short of Buckley's. Personally, I was thrilled to see my favorite film of the year, Train Dreams, show up three times, and to watch the crafts be recognized — especially the cinematography prize for Adolpho Veloso and the editing win for Sofía Subercaseaux on The Testament of Ann Lee, both richly deserved for work that's as precise as it is transporting.

FILM

Best Feature

⭐ Train Dreams — Producers: Michael Heimler, Will Janowitz, Marissa McMahon, Ashley Schlaifer, Teddy Schwarzman - WINNER! ⭐

Peter Hujar's Day — Producers: Jonah Disend, Jordan Drake

The Plague — Producers: Derek Dauchy, Joel Edgerton, Roy Lee, Lucy McKendrick, Steven Schneider, Lizzie Shapiro

Sorry, Baby — Producers: Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski

Twinless — Producers: David Permut, James Sweeney

Best First Feature

⭐ Lurker — Director: Alex Russell; Producers: Galen Core, Archie Madekwe, Marc Marrie, Charlie McDowell, Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky, Olmo Schnabel, Jack Selby - WINNER! ⭐

Blue Sun Palace — Director: Constance Tsang; Producers: Sally Sujin Oh, Eli Raskin, Tony Yang

Dust Bunny — Director/Producer: Bryan Fuller; Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee

East of Wall — Director/Producer: Kate Beecroft; Producers: Shannon Moss, Melanie Ramsayer, Lila Yacoub

One of Them Days — Director: Lawrence Lamont; Producers: Deniese Davis, Poppy Hanks, James Lopez, Issa Rae, Sara Rastogi

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Made for Under $1,000,000)

⭐ Esta Isla (This Island) — Directors/Writers/Producers: Cristian Carretero, Lorraine Jones Molina; Writer: Kisha Tikina Burgos - WINNER! ⭐

The Baltimorons — Director/Writer/Producer: Jay Duplass; Writer/Producer: Michael Strassner; Producers: David Bonnett Jr., Drew Langer

Boys Go to Jupiter — Director/Writer: Julian Glander

Eephus — Director/Writer/Producer: Carson Lund; Writer/Producer: Michael Basta; Writer: Nate Fisher; Producers: David Entin, Tyler Taormina

Familiar Touch — Director/Writer/Producer: Sarah Friedland; Producers: Alexandra Byer, Matthew Thurm

Best Director

⭐ Clint Bentley, Train Dreams - WINNER! ⭐

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

⭐ Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby - WINNER! ⭐

Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, Splitsville

Angus MacLachlan, A Little Prayer

James Sweeney, Twinless

Christian Swegal, Sovereign

Best First Screenplay

⭐ Alex Russell, Lurker - WINNER! ⭐

Andrew DeYoung, Friendship

Elena Oxman, Outerlands

Syreeta Singleton, One of Them Days

Constance Tsang, Blue Sun Palace

Best Lead Performance

⭐ Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You - WINNER! ⭐

Everett Blunck, The Plague

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 - WINNER! ⭐

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

⭐ Kayo Martin, The Plague - WINNER! ⭐

Liz Larsen, The Baltimorons

Misha Osherovich, She's the He

SZA, One of Them Days

Tabatha Zimiga, East of Wall

Best Cinematography

⭐ Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams - WINNER! ⭐

Alex Ashe, Peter Hujar's Day

Norm Li, Blue Sun Palace

David J. Thompson, Warfare

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker, Dust Bunny

Best Editing

⭐ Sofía Subercaseaux, The Testament of Ann Lee - WINNER! ⭐

Ben Leonberg, Good Boy

Carson Lund, Eephus

Fin Oates, Warfare

Sara Shaw, Splitsville

Robert Altman Award (Ensemble Cast)

⭐ The Long Walk — Director: Francis Lawrence; Casting Director: Rich Delia; Ensemble Cast: Judy Greer, Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Garrett Wareing - WINNER! ⭐

Best Documentary

⭐ The Perfect Neighbor — Director/Producer: Geeta Gandbhir; Producers: Sam Bisbee, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne - WINNER! ⭐

Come See Me in the Good Light — Director/Producer: Ryan White; Producers: Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen

Endless Cookie — Director: Peter Scriver; Director/Producer: Seth Scriver; Producers: Dan Bekerman, Alex Ordanis, Jason Ryle, Chris Yurkovich

My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow — Director/Producer: Julia Loktev

The Tale of Silyan — Director/Producer: Tamara Kotevska; Producers: Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski

Best International Film

⭐ The Secret Agent (Brazil) — Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho - WINNER! ⭐

All That's Left of You (Palestine, Jordan, Germany, Cyprus) — Director: Cherien Dabis

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Zambia, UK, Ireland) — Director: Rungano Nyoni

A Poet (Colombia) — Director: Simón Mesa Soto

Sirāt (Spain) — Director: Oliver Laxe

Producers Award

⭐ Tony Yang - WINNER! ⭐

Emma Hannaway

Luca Intili

Someone to Watch Award

⭐ Tatti Ribeiro, Director of Valentina - WINNER! ⭐

Neo Sora, Director of Happyend

Annapurna Sriram, Director of Fucktoys

Truer Than Fiction Award

⭐ Rajee Samarasinghe, Director of Your Touch Makes Others Invisible - WINNER! ⭐

Tony Benna, Director of André Is an Idiot

Brittany Shyne, Director of Seeds

TELEVISION

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series

⭐ Pee-wee as Himself — Executive Producers: Matt Wolf, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Paul Reubens, Candace Tomarken, Kyle Martin, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez - WINNER! ⭐

Citizen Nation — Creator: Bret Sigler; Executive Producers: Christopher Buck, Kyra Darnton

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time — Executive Producers: Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Ryan Coogler, Myles Estey, Ted Skillman, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Peter Nicks, Kalia King, Carolyn Payne, Sean David Johnson; Co-Executive Producer: Kelli Buchanan

Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television — Executive Producers: Issa Rae, Montrel McKay, John Maggio, Rachel Dretzin, John Ealer, Jonathan Berry, Dave Becky, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez; Co-Executive Producers: Esther Dere, Zachary Herrmann

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae — Executive Producers: Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow, Amy Kaufman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker; Producer: Yvonne Russo; Co-Executive Producer: Mark Becker

Best New Scripted Series

⭐ Adolescence — Creators/Executive Producers: Jack Thorne, Stephen Graham; Executive Producers: Philip Barantini, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Nina Wolarsky, Hannah Walters, Mark Herbert, Emily Feller; Co-Executive Producers: Carina Sposato, Niall Shamma, Peter Balm - WINNER! ⭐

Common Side Effects — Creators/Executive Producers: Joe Bennett, Steve Hely; Executive Producers: Mike Judge, Greg Daniels, Dustin Davis, James Merrill, Sean Buckelew, Benjy Brooke, Kelly Crews, Suzanna Makkos; Co-Executive Producer: Dave King

Forever — Creator/Executive Producer: Mara Brock Akil; Executive Producers: Regina King, Susie Fitzgerald, Shana C. Waterman, Reina King, Anthony Hemingway, Judy Blume, Erika Harrison, Sara E. White; Co-Executive Producer: Jerron Horton

Mr Loverman — Executive Producers: Lennie James, Hong Khaou, Jo McClellan, Faye Ward, Hannah Farrell, Hannah Price

North of North — Creators/Executive Producers: Stacey Aglok MacDonald, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril; Executive Producers: Garry Campbell, Anya Adams, Susan Coyne, Miranda de Pencier; Co-Executive Producers: Teresa M. Ho, Michael Goldbach, Kathryn Borel Jr., JP Larocque

Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series

⭐ Stephen Graham, Adolescence - WINNER! ⭐

Sydney Chandler, Alien: Earth

Ethan Hawke, The Lowdown

Lennie James, Mr Loverman

Anna Lambe, North of North

Lola Petticrew, Say Nothing

Seth Rogen, The Studio

Lovie Simone, Forever

Michelle Williams, Dying for Sex

Noah Wyle, The Pitt

Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series

⭐ Erin Doherty, Adolescence - WINNER! ⭐

Ariyon Bakare, Mr Loverman

Babou Ceesay, Alien: Earth

Sharon D Clarke, Mr Loverman

Taylor Dearden, The Pitt

Stephen McKinley Henderson, A Man on the Inside

Poorna Jagannathan, Deli Boys

Xosha Roquemore, Forever

Jenny Slate, Dying for Sex

Ben Whishaw, Black Doves

Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series

⭐ Owen Cooper, Adolescence - WINNER! ⭐

Asif Ali, Deli Boys

Wally Baram, Overcompensating

Michael Cooper Jr., Forever

Ernest Kingsley Junior, Washington Black

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series

⭐ Chief of War — Ensemble Cast: Charlie Brumbly, Luciane Buchanan, Cliff Curtis, Brandon Finn, Moses Goods, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Benjamin Hoetjes, Siua Ikale'o, Keala Kahuanui-Paleka, Mainei Kinimaka, Kaina Makua, Jason Momoa, Temuera Morrison, Te Kohe Tuhaka, James Udom - WINNER! ⭐