‘Anora,’ ‘I Saw The TV Glow,’ & ‘Shōgun’ Dominate The 2025 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

The Gotham Awards and the East Coast cinephile establishment have had their say. Now, it’s time for the West Coast and the premiere independent film event, the Film Independent Spirit Awards to unveil their annual nominations. This year’s class was led by “Anora” and “I Saw The TV Glow” which earned six nominations each. On the television side, “Shōgun“ led all programs with five nominations while “Baby Reindeer” and “English Teacher” landed four noms, respectively.

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The Best Feature nominees include “Anora,” “I Saw The TV Glow,” “The Substance,” “Sing Sing,” and “Nickel Boys.” The Best First Feature nominees are “Didi,” “In The Summers,” “Janet Planet,” “The Piano Lesson,” and “Problemista.”

Best New Scripted Series nominees include “Baby Reindeer,” “Diarra From Detroit,” “English Teacher,” “Fantasmas,” and “Shōgun.”

The Robert Altman Award which is bestowed to a director, casting director, and ensemble goes to Azazel Jacobs’s “His Three Daughters.” Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series goes to “How To Die Alone.”

“The Apprentice,” which got shut out of the Gotham Awards nominations, earned three including one for outspoken director Ali Abbasi. Considering the results of the recent election this is somewhat surprising. Focus Features’ “Didi” was a pleasant surprise taking four nominations including a Best Supporting Performance for Joan Chen. Unexpected nominations on the motion picture side included “Nightbitch’s” Amy Adams and “Cuckoo’s” Hunter Schafer in the Best Lead Performance category and, quizzically considering the long list of submissions, “Heretic’s” Scott Beck and Bryan Woods in Best Screenplay.

The celebrated Brady Corbet epic “The Brutalist,” which was made for less than $10 million, strangely earned just one nomination, Best Director.

Fun television nominees include Patti LuPone and Joe Locke for “Agatha All Along,” Cristin Milioti for “The Penguin,”

On the film side, Film Independent states that the nominating committees “selected nominees from over 17 different countries with budget ranges between $112,000 to $28 million, applying the following guidelines in determining nominees: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter, and economy of means. Of all the 2025 nominees, 46% are women and 30% are BIPOC. Among the nominated writers, directors, producers, and technical artists, 43% are women and 24% are BIPOC. The nominated performers are 54% women and 48% BIPOC.”

Based on their publicly known production costs, many of the television nominees did not make the budgetary threshold applied to film. This is nothing new as big-budgeted fare such as “Pachinko,” “Station Eleven,” “The Underground Railroad,” and “The Last of Us” have been recognized in the past.

A24 topped all film distributors with 19 nominations. NEON and Amazon MGM Studios landed seven each. FX/Hulu earned 10 on the television side and 13 overall if Disney+ is included. HBO Max took 5 noms while Netflix earned nine overall in both film and television.

Aidy Bryant will return to host this year’s ceremony which will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the indie film institution. This year’s event will be held Saturday, February 22 once again under the tent on Santa Monica Beach.

This year’s nominees are as follows:

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)

Anora

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys

Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing

Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton

The Substance

Producers: Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner

 

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)

Dìdi

Director/Producer: Sean Wang

Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters

In the Summers

Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio

Producers: Janek Ambros, Lynette Coll, Alexander Dinelaris, Cynthia Fernandez De La Cruz, Cristóbal Güell, Sergio Alberto Lira, Rob Quadrino, Jan Suter, Daniel Tantalean, Nando Vila, Slava Vladimirov, Stephanie Yankwitt

Janet Planet

Director/Producer: Annie Baker

Producers: Andrew Goldman, Dan Janvey, Derrick Tseng

The Piano Lesson

Director: Malcolm Washington

Producers: Todd Black, Denzel Washington

Problemista

Director/Producer: Julio Torres

Producers: Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emma Stone

 

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000. (Award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Big Boys

Writer/Director/Producer: Corey Sherman

Producer: Allison Tate

Ghostlight

Writer/Director: Kelly O’Sullivan

Director/Producer: Alex Thompson

Producers: Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Chelsea Krant, Eddie Linker, Alex Wilson

Girls Will Be Girls

Writer/Director/Producer: Shuchi Talati

Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne

Jazzy

Writer/Director/Producer: Morrisa Maltz

Writer/Producer: Lainey Shangreaux

Writers: Andrew Hajek, Vanara Taing

Producers: Miranda Bailey, Tommy Heitkamp, John Way, Natalie Whalen, Elliott Whitton

The People’s Joker

Writer/Director: Vera Drew

Writer: Bri LeRose

Producer: Joey Lyons

BEST DIRECTOR

Ali Abbasi

The Apprentice

Sean Baker

Anora

Brady Corbet

The Brutalist

Alonso Ruizpalacios

La Cocina

Jane Schoenbrun

I Saw the TV Glow

BEST SCREENPLAY

Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Heretic

Jesse Eisenberg

A Real Pain

Megan Park

My Old Ass

Aaron Schimberg

A Different Man

Jane Schoenbrun

I Saw the TV Glow

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Joanna Arnow

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Annie Baker

Janet Planet

India Donaldson

Good One

Julio Torres

Problemista

Sean Wang

Dìdi

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Amy Adams

Nightbitch

Ryan Destiny

The Fire Inside

Colman Domingo

Sing Sing

Keith Kupferer

Ghostlight

Mikey Madison

Anora

Demi Moore

The Substance

Hunter Schafer

Cuckoo

Justice Smith

I Saw the TV Glow

June Squibb

Thelma

Sebastian Stan

The Apprentice

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Yura Borisov

Anora

Joan Chen

Dìdi

Kieran Culkin

A Real Pain

Danielle Deadwyler

The Piano Lesson

Carol Kane

Between the Temples

Karren Karagulian

Anora

Kani Kusruti

Girls Will Be Girls

Brigette Lundy-Paine

I Saw the TV Glow

Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin

Sing Sing

Adam Pearson

A Different Man

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Isaac Krasner

Big Boys

Katy O’Brian

Love Lies Bleeding

Mason Alexander Park

National Anthem

René Pérez Joglar

In the Summers

Maisy Stella

My Old Ass

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dinh Duy Hung

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Jomo Fray

Nickel Boys

Maria von Hausswolff

Janet Planet

Juan Pablo Ramírez

La Cocina

Rina Yang

The Fire Inside

 

BEST EDITING

Laura Colwell, Vanara Taing

Jazzy

Olivier Bugge Coutté, Olivia Neergaard-Holm

The Apprentice

Anne McCabe

Nightbitch

Hansjörg Weissbrich

September 5

Arielle Zakowski

Dìdi

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast

His Three Daughters

Director: Azazel Jacobs

Casting Director: Nicole Arbusto

Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

Gaucho Gaucho

Directors/Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw

Producers: Christos Konstantakopoulos, Cameron O’Reilly, Matthew Perniciaro

Hummingbirds

Directors: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras

Co-Directors/Producers: Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco, Jillian Schlesinger

Producers: Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow

No Other Land

Directors/Producers: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor

Producers: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning

Patrice: The Movie

Director: Ted Passon

Producers: Kyla Harris, Innbo Shim, Emily Spivack

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Director: Johan Grimonprez

Producers: Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

All We Imagine as Light

France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg

Director: Payal Kapadia

Black Dog

China

Director: Guan Hu

Flow

Latvia, France, Belgium

Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Green Border

Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Hard Truths

United Kingdom

Director: Mike Leigh

PRODUCERS AWARD presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 28th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality independent films.

Alex Coco

Sarah Winshall

Zoë Worth

 SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD  – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 31st year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

Nicholas Colia

Director of Griffin in Summer

Sarah Friedland

Director of Familiar Touch

Pham Thien An

Director of Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

 

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 30th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie

Directors of Sugarcane

Carla Gutiérrez

Director of Frida

Rachel Elizabeth Seed

Director of A Photographic Memory

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)

Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color

Executive Producers: Idris Elba, Johanna Woolford Gibbon, Jamilla Dumbuya, Jos Cushing, Khaled Gad, Matt Robins, Chris Muckle, Sean David Johnson, Simon Raikes

Co-Executive Producer: Annabel Hobley

Hollywood Black

Executive Producers: Shayla Harris, Dave Sirulnick, Stacey Reiss, Jon Kamen, Justin Simien, Kyle Laursen, Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jeffrey Schwarz, Amy Goodman Kass, Michael Wright, Jill Burkhart

Co-Executive Producers: David C. Brown, Laurens Grant

Photographer

Executive Producers: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Pagan Harleman, Betsy Forhan

Co-Executive Producers: Anna Barnes, Brent Kunkle

Ren Faire

Executive Producers: Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Eli Bush, Dani Bernfeld, Lance Oppenheim, David Gauvey Herbert, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez

Co-Executive Producers: Abigail Rowe, Christian Vasquez, Max Allman

Social Studies

Creator/Executive Producer: Lauren Greenfield

Executive Producers: Wallis Annenberg, Regina K. Scully, Andrea van Beuren, Frank Evers, Caryn Capotosto

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)

Baby Reindeer

Creator/Executive Producer: Richard Gadd

Executive Producers: Wim De Greef, Petra Fried, Matt Jarvis, Ed Macdonald

Diarra From Detroit

Creator/Executive Producer: Diarra Kilpatrick

Executive Producers: Kenya Barris, Miles Orion Feldsott, Darren Goldberg

Co-Executive Producers: Ester Lou, Mark Ganek

English Teacher

Creator/Executive Producer: Brian Jordan Alvarez

Executive Producers: Paul Simms, Jonathan Krisel, Dave King

Co-Executive Producers: Kathryn Dean, Jake Bender, Zach Dunn

Fantasmas

Creator/Executive Producer: Julio Torres

Executive Producers: Emma Stone, Dave McCary, Olivia Gerke, Alex Bach, Daniel Powell

Co-Executive Producer: Ali Herting

Creators/Executive Producers: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks

Shōgun

Executive Producers: Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, Michaela Clavell

Co-Executive Producers: Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Brian Jordan Alvarez

English Teacher

Richard Gadd

Baby Reindeer

Lily Gladstone

Under the Bridge

Kathryn Hahn

Agatha All Along

Cristin Milioti

The Penguin

Julianne Moore

Mary & George

Hiroyuki Sanada

Shōgun

Anna Sawai

Shōgun

Andrew Scott

Ripley

Julio Torres

Fantasmas

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Tadanobu Asano

Shōgun

Enrico Colantoni

English Teacher

Betty Gilpin

Three Women

Chloe Guidry

Under the Bridge

Moeka Hoshi

Shōgun

Stephanie Koenig

English Teacher

Patti LuPone

Agatha All Along

Nava Mau

Baby Reindeer

Ruth Negga

Presumed Innocent

Brian Tee

Expats

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

Jessica Gunning

Baby Reindeer

Diarra Kilpatrick

Diarra From Detroit

Joe Locke

Agatha All Along

Megan Stott

Penelope

Hoa Xuande

The Sympathizer

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES

How to Die Alone

Ensemble Cast: Melissa DuPrey, Jaylee Hamidi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Arkie Kandola, Elle Lorraine, Michelle McLeod, Chris “CP” Powell, Conrad Ricamora, Natasha Rothwell, Jocko Sims