Independent Spirit Awards celebrate indie movies and TV in Los Angeles

By Canadian Press on February 14, 2026.

Ethan Hawke,Rose Byrne and Keke Palmer are just a few of the actors up for prizes at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. Comedian and “Saturday Night Live” veteran Ego Nwodim is hosting the celebration of independent film and television, which will be livestreamed on YouTube starting at 5 p.m. ET.

Top nominees going into the 41st edition of the show include Ira Sachs’ “Peter Hujar’s Day,” which recreates an interview with the 1970s photographer, played by Ben Whishaw; Clint Bentley’s lyrical Denis Johnson adaptation “Train Dreams,” with Joel Edgerton; and Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby,” about life after an assault.

The show, which serves as a fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs, is being held at the Hollywood Palladium for the first time, as its longtime beachside perch in Santa Monica undergoes renovations.

The awards sometimes overlap significantly with major Oscar contenders and winners, as it did with “Anora,” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and sometimes not. Organizers limit eligibility to productions with budgets less than $30 million, meaning more expensive films like “One Battle After Another” are not in the running.

Byrne is one of the few actors nominated for both a Spirit Award and an Oscar, for her performance as a mother on the edge in Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” In the lead performance category, she’s up against the likes of Edgerton (“Train Dreams”), Dylan O’Brien (“Twinless”), Palmer (“One of Them Days”), Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) and Whishaw. The organization switched to gender-neutral acting categories in 2022.

Supporting performance nominees include Naomi Ackie (“Sorry, Baby”), Zoey Deutch (“Nouvelle Vague”), Kirsten Dunst (“Roofman”), Nina Hoss (“Hedda”) and Archie Madekwe (“Lurker”).

Films nominated in the international category include “Sirāt,”“The Secret Agent” and “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.” “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow” and “The Perfect Neighbor” are also up for the documentary prize.

Hawke, who is nominated for an Oscar for “Blue Moon,” is up for a Spirit Award for his leading performance in the television series “The Lowdown,” where other nominees include Seth Rogen for “The Studio,” Stephen Graham for “Adolescence” and Noah Wyle for “The Pitt.”

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press