The Independent Spirit Awards are an annual award given in the name of independent film, featuring plenty of those little indies which deserve the honor and recognition that they won’t necessarily be receiving at the Oscars. The nominees for the 25th Anniversary of the Indie Spirit Awards have been announced today (via indieWIRE) and can be seen below. The Last Station and Precious lead the nominations this year, each with five total. There are plenty of other surprises to be found (like Gentleman Broncos), though, so read on for the list. The winners will be announced on Friday, March 5th, 2010 next year following the Oscars.

You’ll notice an [IMDb] link next to each film. This is so you can discover great new films, because there is guaranteed to be at least one film you’ve never heard of in here. Read on for a complete list of nominees!

BEST FEATURE
500 Days Of Summer [IMDb]
Amreeka [IMDb]
Precious [IMDb]
Sin Nombre [IMDb]
The Last Station [IMDb]

BEST FIRST FEATURE
A Single Man [IMDb]
Crazy Heart [IMDb]
Easier With Practice [IMDb]
Paranormal Activity [IMDb]
The Messenger [IMDb]

BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – A Serious Man [IMDb]
Lee Daniels – Precious [IMDb]
Cary Fukunaga – Sin Nombre [IMDb]
James Gray – Two Lovers [IMDb]
Michael Hoffman – The Last Station [IMDb]

BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart [IMDb]
Colin Firth – A Single Man [IMDb]
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 500 Days Of Summer [IMDb]
Souléymane Sy Savané – Goodbye Solo [IMDb]
Adam Scott – The Vicious Kind [IMDb]

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello – Downloading Nancy [IMDb]
Helen Mirren – The Last Station [IMDb]
Gwentyth Paltrow – Two Lovers [IMDb]
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious [IMDb]
Nisreen Faour – Amreeka [IMDb]

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clement – Gentleman Broncos [IMDb]
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger [IMDb]
Christian McKay – Me and Orson Welles [IMDb]
Raymond McKinnon – That Evening Sun [IMDb]
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station [IMDb]

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun – Cold Souls [IMDb]
Mo’Nique – Precious [IMDb]
Samantha Morton – The Messenger [IMDb]
Natalie Press – Fifty Dead Men Walking [IMDb]
Mia Wasikowska – That Evening Sun [IMDb]

BEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – The Messenger [IMDb]
Michael Hoffman – The Last Station [IMDb]
Lee Toland Krieger – The Vicious Kind [IMDb]
Greg Mottola – Adventureland [IMDb]
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – 500 Days Of Summer [IMDb]

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes – Cold Souls [IMDb]
Scott Cooper – Crazy Heart [IMDb]
Cherien Dabis – Amreeka [IMDb]
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious [IMDb]
Tom Ford & David Scearce – A Single Man [IMDb]

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – A Serious Man [IMDb]
Adriano Goldman – Sin Nombre [IMDb]
Anne Misawa – Treeless Mountain [IMDb]
Andrij Parekh – Cold Souls [IMDb]
Peter Zeitlinger – Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans [IMDb]

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Anvil! The Story of Anvil [IMDb]
Food, Inc. [IMDb]
More Than a Game [IMDb]
October Country [IMDb]
Which Way Home [IMDb]

BEST FOREIGN FILM
A Prophet (France) [IMDb]
An Education (UK/France) [IMDb]
Everlasting Moments (Sweden) [IMDb]
Mother (South Korea) [IMDb]
The Maid (Chile) [IMDb]

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Best feature made for less than $500,000.
Big Fan [IMDb]
Humpday [IMDb]
The New Year Parade [IMDb]
Treeless Mountain [IMDb]
Zero Bridge [IMDb]

For last year’s list of nominees and winners, which included The Wrestler, Milk, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and The Visitor, just click right here. A very big indie congratulations to all of this year’s nominees so far!

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