2015 Awards -- Independent Spirit Award Nominees

The biggest Indy awards of the year have announced their nominees, and many films that are burning into the Oscar race have found a home year. Particularly the critics darlings Spotlight, Carol, and Anomalisa. Also a strong showing for Netflix's Beasts of No Nation.

BEST FEATURE
Anomalisa
Beasts of No Nation
Carol
Spotlight
Tangerine

BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker - "Tangerine"
Cary Joji Fukunaga - "Beasts of No Nation"
Todd Haynes - "Carol"
Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson - "Anomalisa"
Tom McCarthy - "Spotlight"
David Robert Mitchell - "It Follows"

BEST MALE LEAD
Christopher Abbott - "James White"
Abraham Attah - "Beasts of No Nation"
Ben Mendelsohn - "Mississippi Grind"
Jason Segel - "The End of the Tour"
Koudous Seihon - "Mediterranea"

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett - "Carol"
Brie Larson - "Room"
Rooney Mara - "Carol"
Bel Powley - "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez - "Tangerine"

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Kevin Corrigan - "Results"
Paul Dano - "Love & Mercy"
Idris Elba - "Beasts of No Nation"
Richard Jenkins - "Bone Tamahawk"
Michael Shannon - "99 Homes"

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Robin Bartlett - "H."
Marin Ireland - "Glass Chin"
Jennifer Jason Leigh - "Anomalisa"
Cynthia Nixon - "James White"
Mya Taylor - "Tangerine"

BEST SCREENPLAY
Anomalisa
Bone Tamahawk
Carol
The End of the Tour
Spotlight

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Beasts of No Nation
Carol
It Follows
Meadowland
Songs My Brothers Taught Me

BEST EDITING
Heaven Knows What
It Follows
Manos Sucias
Room
Spotlight

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
Girlhood (France)
Mustang (France, Turkey)
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden)
Son of Saul (Hungary)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
(T)error
Best of Enemies
Heart of a Dog
The Look of Silence
Meru
The Russian Woodpecker

BEST FIRST FEATURE
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
James White
Manos Sucias
Mediterranea
Songs My Brothers Taught Me

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Mediterranea
The Mend
Room

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (feature under $500K)
Advantageous
Christmas, Again
Heaven Knows What
Krisha
Out Of My Hand

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (given to 1 film's director, casting director & ensemble)
SPOTLIGHT

KIEHL'S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck - "God Bless the Child"
Felix Thompson - "King Jack"
Chloe Zhao - "Songs My Brothers Taught Me"

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Darren Dean
Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green & Laura D. Smith

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Alex Sichel & Elizabeth Giamatti - "A Woman Like Me"
Hemal Trivedi & Mohammed Ali Naqvi - "Among the Believers"
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi - "Incorruptible"