Independent Spirit Award Nominations

The nominations for the 30th Annual Independent Spirit Awards were announced on Tuesday November 25th. Films eligible for the Indie Spirits must be American films, made with budgets under $20 million.

"Birdman" was the top scorer with 6 nominations. "Boyhood", "Nightcrawler", and "Selma" picked up 5. Curiously, all four current frontrunners in the acting races are nominated at this year's Indie Spirits. Last year, all four Spirit acting winners repeated at the Oscars.

The Reese Witherspoon led "Wild" seems to be the biggest shoutout of the day. I'm sure they were hoping for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay notices with this group given the smaller group of competitors, but they even missed a Best Actress bid for their star. This is just the first of many precursor nominations to come, so the "Wild" team doesn't need to be too worried yet.

Complete list below.

Best Picture
"Birdman"
"Boyhood"
"Love is Strange"
"Selma"
"Whiplash"

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, "Whiplash"
Ava DuVernay, "Selma"
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Birdman"
Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
David Zellner, "Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter"

Best Actor
Andre Benjamin, "Jimi: All is By My Side"
Jake Gyllenhaal, "Nightcrawler"
Michael Keaton, "Birdman"
John Lithgow, "Love is Strange"
David Oyelowo, "Selma"

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, "The Immigrant"
Rinko Kikuchi, "Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter"
Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
Jenny Slate, "Obvious Child"
Tilda Swinton, "Only Lovers Left Alive"

Best Supporting Actor
Riz Ahmed, "Nightcrawler"
Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
Alfred Molina, "Love is Strange"
Edward Norton, "Birdman"
J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
Jessica Chastain, "A Most Violent Year"
Carmen Ejogo, "Selma"
Andrea Suarez Paz, "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors"
Emma Stone, "Birdman"

Best Screenplay
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, "Big Eyes"
J.C. Chandor, "A Most Violent Year"
Dan Gilroy, "Nightcrawler"
Jim Jarmusch, "Only Lovers Left Alive"
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias, "Love is Strange"

Best Cinematography
Darius Khondji, "The Immigrant"
Emmanuel Lubezki, "Birdman"
Sean Porter, "It Felt Like Love"
Lyle Vincent, "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"
Bradford Young, "Selma"

Best Editing
Sandra Adair, "Boyhood"
Tom Cross, "Whiplash"
John Gilroy, "Nightcrawler"
Ron Patane, "A Most Violent Year"
Adam Wingard, "The Guest"

Best Documentary
"20,000 Days on Earth"
"CitizenFour"
"Stray Dog"
"The Salt of the Earth"
"Virunga"

Best International Picture
"Force Majeure" (Sweden)
"Ida" (Poland)
"Leviathan" (Russia)
"Mommy" (Canada)
"Norte, the End of History" (Philippines)
"Under the Skin" (United Kingdom)

Best First Feature
"A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"
"Dear White People"
"Nightcrawler"
"Obvious Child"
"She's Lost Control"

Best First Screenplay
Desiree Akhavan, "Appropriate Behavior"
Sara Colangelo, "Little Accidents"
Justin Lader, "The One I Love"
Anja Marquardt, "She's Lost Control"
Justin Simien, "Dear White People"

John Cassavetes Award (best feature made for under $500,000)
"Blue Ruin"
"It Felt Like Love"
"Land Ho!"
"Man From Reno"
"Test"

Piaget Producers Award
Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson

Someone to Watch Award
Ana Lily Amirpour, "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"
Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia, "H."
Chris Eska, "The Retrieval"

Truer Than Fiction Award
Amanda Rose Wilder, "Approaching the Elephant"
Darius Clark Monroe, "Evolution of a Criminal"
Dan Krauss, "The Kill Team"
Sara Dosa, "The Last Season"