FiscalFusion

Ira Sachs’ “Peter Hujar’s Day,” which recreates an interview with the 1970s photographer, led the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations with five nods, including best feature and best director, as well as lead and supporting performance nominations for Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall, as the organization announced nominees for the 41st edition on Wednesday. Several films followed with four nominations — including best feature and best director — such as Clint Bentley’s lyrical Denis Johnson adaptation “Train Dreams” and Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby,” about life after an assault, while first features receiving four nods included “Blue Sun Palace,” “One of Them Days” and “Lurker.” James Sweeney’s dark comedy “Twinless” and “The Plague,” which also stars Joel Edgerton like “Train Dreams,” were nominated for best feature, and Edgerton was among the 10 best acting nominees for “Train Dreams,” alongside Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Dylan O’Brien (“Twinless”), Keke Palmer (“One of Them Days”), Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) and Whishaw, who also earned a nomination for the Netflix series “Black Doves,” as the Spirit Awards have used gender-neutral acting categories since 2022.

Supporting performance nominees included Naomi Ackie (“Sorry, Baby”), Zoey Deutch (“Nouvelle Vague”), Kirsten Dunst (“Roofman”), Nina Hoss (“Hedda”), Jane Levy (“A Little Prayer”), Archie Madekwe (“Lurker”), Kali Reis (“Rebuilding”), Jacob Tremblay (“Sovereign”) and Haipeng Xu (“Blue Sun Palace”), while the Robert Altman Award — honoring a film’s director, ensemble and casting — went to the Stephen King adaptation “The Long Walk,” featuring Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson. International film nominees included “Sirāt,” “The Secret Agent” and “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” with documentary selections such as “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow,” “The Perfect Neighbor,” “The Tale of Silyan” and “Endless Cookie,” and on the television side, “Adolescence,” “Forever” and “Mr Loverman” led with four nominations each, as the organization noted that nominees spanned 18 countries, with 41% identifying as women.

While the Spirit Awards sometimes overlap significantly with Oscar contenders — as seen with “Anora” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once” — their eligibility cap excludes films with budgets over $30 million, keeping higher-cost productions like “One Battle After Another” out of contention. The 41st Spirit Awards will depart their longtime Santa Monica Pier location for the Hollywood Palladium, with the Feb.

15 ceremony serving as a major fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs and taking place nearly a month ahead of the Oscars..