"Peter Hujar's Day" Leads the Spirit Award Nominations

by Cláudio Alves

PETER HUJAR'S DAY, Ira Sachs | © Janus Films

In the past few years, the Film Independent Spirit Awards have come closer and closer to The Academy, taste-wise. For a while, it seemed like they were becoming another station of the cross on the long path to Oscar gold, a precursor like so many others. For those who loved these prizes for their independent spirit, such a state of affairs was… well, dispiriting. This year, there's been a notable course correction. In part, it's a change predicated on a season dominated by American big-budget studio fare and international productions – both ineligible here. Still, when Peter Hujar's Day by Ira Sachs is your nomination leader, you're clearly not trying to live in the shadow of Oscar. Instead, the Spirits are doing their own thing, and that's how it should be.

Come discover the full list of nominees, on both the film and TV front, plus some color commentary, after the jump…

Best Feature 

• PETER HUJAR'S DAY
• THE PLAGUE
• SORRY, BABY
• TRAIN DREAMS
• TWINLESS

If you only care about these awards as far as they predict the Oscars, Train Dreams' presence here is just another confirmation that the Netflix movie is very much on the race. The others will probably have their biggest showing at the Spirits. The Plague is the most obscure of the bunch, so some folks may be discovering the drama thanks to the spotlight a Best Feature nomination shines on it. And isn't discovery one of the best parts of the season, especially this early when individual critics top tens and the like can be such a great source of recommendations? I think so, and hope some of you agree.

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 

Bentley, Sachs, and Victor come to this category with a matching Best Feature nomination, leaving Bronstein and Choi as the odd ones out. The former is proving that the critical furor around If I Had Legs I'd Kick You isn't just about Byrne's performance, but a whole vision of anxiety escalation on the verge of pitch-black comedy cum nervous breakdown. Weirdly enough, Lucky Lu is a similar exercise, though without the gallows humor spin. Like Bronstein's film, it centers around a tour de force, so it's nice to see a nomination like this, recognizing there's more to it than just an opportunity to gawk at a celebrated thespian showing the world what they can do best.

 

Best First Feature 

• Kate Beecroft, EAST OF WALL
• Bryan Fuller, DUST BUNNY
• Lawrence Lamont, ONE OF THEM DAYS
• Alex Russell, LURKER
• Constance Tsang, BLUE SUN PALACE

When a category is meant to honor artists at the start of their artistic journey, it can be a bit shocking to see an established industry name like Bryan Fuller among the nominees. And yet, it makes sense. This TIFF-premiered genre exercise represents the director's feature film debut after decades as an auteur of the small screen. One hopes Dust Bunny is at the level of his Pushing Daisies and Hannibal triumphs. Curious to see many of the same names honored at the Gothams repeat here, with Lamont being the most significant exception – a rare director-focused nomination for a broad comedy.

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

I'm not sure if it's lovely or abjectly sad that only three of these nominated performances feel in contention for the Oscars – Byrne, Edgerton, and Thompson. One of them is bound to take the win here, but their competition is still formidable, from O'Brien's double characterization to Chalfant's dispersing personhood, from Chang's Bicycle Thieves-esque portrait of a family man on the brink to Palmer's charisma explosion and delectable comedic timing. There's not a bad pick in the bunch. Even if one might quibble about who was left out – no Hawke, Seyfried, O'Connor? 

Also, at fifteen, Blunck must surely be one of the youngest performers ever nominated at the Spirit Awards.

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

Interesting to see which leads brought along their co-stars, and which supporting actors appear here despite their more talked-about protagonists not making it into the other list. Consider Ackie but no Victor, Dunst but no Tatum, Levy but no Strathairn, Reis but no O'Connor. It's a great group of nominees, even if I quibble over Hall and Levy being deemed supporting. I haven't seen Lurker yet, but I've heard the same could be applied to Madekwe. On the other hand, I'm ecstatic about Haipeng Xu's supporting turn getting some well-deserved love.

Best Breakthrough Performance

• Liz Larsen, THE BALTIMORONS
• Misha Osherovich, SHE'S THE HE
• Kayo Martin, THE PLAGUE
• SZA, ONE OF THEM DAYS
• Tabatha Zimiga, EAST OF THE WALL

Going toe-to-toe with Keke Palmer must be one hell of an experience for a first-time actor like SZA. Just for that, her nomination here feels just, even if her profile in the music world makes her seem like an outsized presence amid these more legitimate unknowns.

Best Screenplay 

• Michael Angelo Covino & Kyle Marvin, SPLITSVILLE
• Angus MacLachlan, A LITTLE PRAYER
• James Sweeney, TWINLESS
• Christian Swegal, SOVEREIGN
• Eva Victor, SORRY, BABY 

All of these films are very screenplay-forward, for better and for worse, depending on how you engage with cinema. Out of these five, I'm especially fond of A Little Prayer's small-scale ambitions and Twinless' twisted tale of grief, deceit, and the porous barrier that can stand between friendship, desire and obsession within a homosocial milieu. Furthermore, it's better to see Sweeney recognized here than in an acting category, as Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have decided to run him as supporting and O'Brien as lead.

C'mon, people, a film can have more than one protagonist!

Best First Screenplay 

• Andrew DeYoung, FRIENDSHIP
• Elena Oxman, OUTERLANDS
• Alex Russell, LURKER
• Syreeta Singleton, ONE OF THEM DAYS
• Constance Tsang, BLUE SUN PALACE

One of the best parts of the Spirit Awards is discovering films I'd never heard of. This year, there aren't many that qualify, but Outerlands is one such case. I'm somewhat surprised to see Tsang score here, as Blue Sun Palace feels like much more of a directorial than a writing achievement.

Best Documentary Feature

• COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT, Ryan White
• ENDLESS COOKIE, Peter Scriver & Seth Scriver
• MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I – LAST AIR IN MOSCOW, Julia Loktev
• THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR, Geeta Gandbhir
• THE TALE OF SILYAN, Tamara Kotevska

Shed a tear for Albert Serra's formidable Afternoons of Solitude, which might've topped the Cahiers du Cinema end-of-year list but hasn't managed to make any sort of dent in the awards season. But again, awards aren't everything. For films like these, they're mostly a spotlight. And all this attention Loktev's latest has been receiving is a very bright one, pointed directly at a five-hour part one of a bigger, even bigger, project.

Best International Film

• ALL THAT'S LEFT OF YOU, Cherien Dabis
• ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL, Rungano Nyoni
• A POET, Simón Mesa Soto
• THE SECRET AGENT, Kleber Mendonça Filho
• SIRAT, Oliver Laxe

Finally, one awards organization remembered that Rungano Nyoni's On Becoming a Guinea Fowl came out in 2025. It's hard to blame voters for forgetting when even the film's American distributor, A24, hasn't included it in their FYC page. But speaking of awards pushes, The Secret Agent and Sirat are Neon's representatives here, despite Sentimental Value and It Was Just an Accident having been more heavily campaigned so far. Is there still a chance for No Other Choice if it can't even score here? Anyway, everyone please watch and cry over All That's Left of You, and cringe your way into an early grave while paying witness to the barbed wonders of A Poet.

 

Best Cinematography

• Alex Ashe, PETER HUJAR'S DAY
• Norm Li, BLUE SUN PALACE
• David J. Thompson, WARFARE
• Adolpho Veloso, TRAIN DREAMS
• Nicole Hirsch Whitaker, DUST BUNNY

Curious that The Testament of Ann Lee's much-publicized and admittedly gorgeous 70mm lensing couldn't catch a break here. Instead, we have inspired nominations for the likes of Peter Hujar's Day and Blue Sun Palace. As the season continues to unfurl, I keep thinking Train Dreams might be a bigger player than some might have realized early on. The cinematography is a logical place to honor it at more mainstream awards. Though I imagine what will have it succeed there is the images' prettiness, rather than the interesting tension produced between the digital crispness of it all, combined with a subject and thematic framing that practically begs for film photography.

Best Editing

• Ben Leonberg, GOOD BOY
• Carson Lund, EEPHUS
• Fin Oates, WARFARE
• Sara Shaw, SPLISTVILLE
• Sofía Subercaseaux, THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE 

Shocked to see Good Boy at the Spirit Awards, but here we are. Through this editing nomination, they managed to honor the film's director as he did his own cutting. The same is true of Carson Lund, whom I expected to see in the writing lineup rather than in editing.

John Cassavetes Award

• THE BALTIMORONS, Jay Duplass
• BOYS GO TO JUPITER, Julian Glander
• EEPHUS, Carson Lund
• ESTA ISLA, Cristian Carretero & Lorraine Jones Molina
• FAMILIAR TOUCH, Sarah Friedland

Esta Isla is another one of those films I discovered because of the Spirit Awards, so its inclusion here is very welcome from a personal perspective. It's also lovely for Boys Go to Jupiter to get some love, as most voting bodies seem to have forgotten about that Floridian oddity in their Best Animated Feature ballots. For the record, the John Cassavetes Award honors films made under one million dollars.

 

Robert Altman Award 

• THE LONG WALK 

With the expanded budgeting limits established over the past few years, the Spirit Awards can include a movie like The Long Walk whose entire production model feels anathema to the Film Independent spirit. After all, it's a studio endeavor, adapted from a Stephen King novel with a cast full of up-and-coming actors. Nevertheless, it's nice to see the whole cast recognized, as well as the folks who cast them in the first place. It's a good recipient for this honor, even if here at TFE, we tend to prefer actress-y ensembles over this sort of sausage fest.

These next few categories, the Emerging Filmmaker prizes, aren't open to the general voting body like the rest. Still, they're worth celebrating.

Producers Award

• Emma Hannaway, AFTER THIS DEATH, MY FIRST FILM and OBEX
• Luca Intili, AFTER THIS DEATH, MADDIE'S SECRET and THE WEDDING BANQUET
• Tony Yang, BLUE SUN PALACE, LUCKY LU and ROSEMEAD 

Technically, the Producers Award isn't for any specific film, but I've listed some titles in these artists' filmographies that might have been considered when granting the honor. Interesting that two of After This Death's producers are represented.

Someone to Watch Award

• Tatti Ribeiro, VALENTINA
• Neo Sora, HAPPYEND
• Annapurna Siriam, FUCKTOYS

Congratulations to all three nominees, but I'm thrilled that Neo Sora got a mention. You might know this Japanese filmmaker as Ryuichi Sakamoto's son, whose big breakthrough was the intimate concert documentary he shot about his father. Happyend marks an exciting new phase in his career, into fiction filmmaking, making him the definition of someone to watch.

Truer Than Fiction Award 

• Tony Benna, ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT
• Rajee Samarasinghe, YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE
• Brittany Shyne, SEEDS

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to discover these films. I'm especially curious about Seeds, about which I've heard nothing but good things - extraordinary things, if I'm being real.

The TV prizes are less exciting for me, and tend to feel much weirder than the film ones. Mainly because, how are any of these in line with the independent spirit motto of the awards? These are HBO and Netflix productions and the like. Anyway, these picks aren't necessarily bad.

Best New Scripted Series

• ADOLESCENCE
• COMMON SIDE EFFECTS
• FOREVER
• MR. LOVERMAN
• NORTH OF NORTH

Very happy that Forever got some attention, even if this entire race seems like a done deal. Congratulations to the entire Adolescence team on yet another award.

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series 

• CITIZEN NATION
• HURRICANE KATRINA: RACE AGAINST TIME
• PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF
• SEEN & HEARD: THE HISTORY OF BLACK TELEVISION
• VOW OF SILENCE: THE ASSASSINATION OF ANNIE MAE 

Surely, Pee-Wee as Himself is the favorite here. I wonder if any of the other contenders can make an impression on voters. They all sound suitably fascinating.

Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series 

• Sydney Chandler, ALIEN: EARTH
• Stephen Graham, ADOLESCENCE
• 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 

How are any of these productions comparable to the smallness of independent cinema? Hell, stuff like Alien: Earth feels like the TV equivalent of a blockbuster. In any case, these are commendable nominations, with Hawke showing up here rather than in the movie front with Blue Moon. I am, however, confused about Say Nothing, an underrated Irish drama that competed last year for end-of-year awards like the Globes. How is it competing now? I guess it's got something to do with airing dates and Spirit-specific deadlines, but it's an odd addition.

Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series

• Ariyon Bakare, MR. LOVERMAN
• Babou Ceesay, ALIEN: EARTH
• Sharon D. Clarke, MR. LOVERMAN
• Taylor Dearden, THE PITT
• Erin Doherty, ADOLESCENCE
• Stephen McKinley Henderson, A MAN ON THE INSIDE
• Poorna Jagannathan, DELI BOYS
• Xosha Roquemore, FOREVER
• Jenny Slate, DYING FOR SEX
• Ben Whishaw, BLACK DOVES

Copy and paste the last category's confusion into this one, because what are A Man on the Inside and Black Doves doing here? Still, fun to see Whishaw get multiple nominations in the same year, and Stephen McKinley Henderson is so fantastic in the Netflix comedy that any complaint I could have is moot. On the whole, this is a superb selection, including Roquemore, whom readers might remember for her fluorescent beige line in Precious, sixteen long years ago.

Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series 

• Asif Ali, DELI BOYS
• Wally Baram, OVERCOMPENSATING
• Owen Cooper, ADOLESCENCE
• Michael Cooper Jr., FOREVER
• Ernest Kingsley Junior, WASHINGTON BLACK

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series

• CHIEF OF WAR

Great selections all around. Maybe the reason why the TV awards are needed is that the Film Independent juries clearly have impeccable taste and should have their say in matters of the small screen. Because heaven knows, the Emmys don't care about many of these brilliant achievements.

The 41^st Film Independent Spirit Awards will be presented on February 15. Until then, we may go over some of the nominees we haven’t yet reviewed. Stay tuned.

Comments

[par]

everett blunck could have just as easily been nominated for his hilarious turn in griffin in summer

i hope twinless takes the screenplay award - i never knew where the story was heading next [in a good way]