2025 Indie Spirit Awards: Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’ Lands Top 3 Awards
by Alex Billington
February 23, 2025
Source: Film Independent
The Independent Spirit Awards are an annual award given in the name of independent film, featuring all of the indie films which deserve honor and recognition – celebrating their 40th year. The 2025 winners of the Spirit Awards were announced Saturday evening, in their usual spot in Santa Monica near the beach – one week before the Oscars. The big winner this year is the already celebrated Anora, taking Best Film & Best Director & Best Lead Performance. Sean Baker also recently won the DGA Award for Best Director as well. The other nominations from 2024 included many outstanding indie films many cinephiles have been raving about for years, deserving of some extra time in the spotlight – including Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, I Saw the TV Glow, Cuckoo, Thelma, The Brutalist, Ghostlight, and Didi (which also won a few awards). As usual, a few surprises: I’ve never heard of Big Boys (a coming-of-age film from 2023) and I’m amazed that the mostly forgotten Janet Planet and La Cocina somehow had nominations. But I’m still very happy to see Anora winning. All of these films are worth watching whenever you find the time. Full list of winners below.
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 and winners from the 40th Independent Spirit Awards. Winners from each category are designated in BOLD.
BEST FEATURE
Anora [IMDb]
I Saw the TV Glow [IMDb]
Nickel Boys [IMDb]
Sing Sing [IMDb]
The Substance [IMDb]
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Didi [IMDb]
In the Summers [IMDb]
Janet Planet [IMDb]
The Piano Lesson [IMDb]
Problemista [IMDb]
BEST DIRECTOR
Ali Abbasi – The Apprentice [IMDb]
Sean Baker – Anora [IMDb]
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist [IMDb]
Alonso Ruizpalacios – La Cocina [IMDb]
Jane Schoenbrun – I Saw the TV Glow [IMDb]
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Amy Adams – Nightbitch [IMDb]
Ryan Destiny – The Fire Inside [IMDb]
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing [IMDb]
Keith Kupferer – Ghostlight [IMDb]
Mikey Madison – Anora [IMDb]
Demi Moore – The Substance [IMDb]
Hunter Schafer – Cuckoo [IMDb]
Justice Smith – I Saw the TV Glow [IMDb]
June Squibb – Thelma [IMDb]
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice [IMDb]
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Yura Borisov – Anora [IMDb]
Joan Chen – Didi [IMDb]
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain [IMDb]
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson [IMDb]
Jack Haven – I Saw the TV Glow [IMDb]
Carol Kane – Between the Temples [IMDb]
Karren Karagulian – Anora [IMDb]
Kani Kusruti – Girls Will Be Girls [IMDb]
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing [IMDb]
Adam Pearson – A Different Man [IMDb]
Best Breakthrough Performance
Isaac Krasner – Big Boys [IMDb]
Katy O’Brian – Love Lies Bleeding [IMDb]
Mason Alexander Park – National Anthem [IMDb]
René Pérez Joglar – In the Summers [IMDb]
Maisy Stella – My Old Ass [IMDb]
BEST SCREENPLAY
Scott Beck & Bryan Woods – Heretic [IMDb]
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain [IMDb]
Megan Park – My Old Ass [IMDb]
Aaron Schimberg – A Different Man [IMDb]
Jane Schoenbrun – I Saw the TV Glow [IMDb]
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Joanna Arnow – The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed [IMDb]
Annie Baker – Janet Planet [IMDb]
India Donaldson – Good One [IMDb]
Julio Torres – Problemista [IMDb]
Sean Wang – Didi [IMDb]
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dinh Duy Hung – Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell [IMDb]
Jomo Fray – Nickel Boys [IMDb]
Maria von Hausswolff – Janet Planet [IMDb]
Juan Pablo Ramírez – La Cocina [IMDb]
Rina Yang – The Fire Inside [IMDb]
BEST EDITING
Laura Colwell & Vanara Taing – Jazzy [IMDb]
Olivier Bugge Coutté & Olivia Neergaard-Holm – The Apprentice [IMDb]
Anne McCabe – Nightbitch [IMDb]
Arielle Zakowski – Didi [IMDb]
Hansjörg Weißbrich – September 5 [IMDb]
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Gaucho Gaucho [IMDb]
Hummingbirds [IMDb]
No Other Land [IMDb]
Patrice: The Movie [IMDb]
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat [IMDb]
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
All We Imagine as Light (France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg) [IMDb]
Black Dog (China) [IMDb]
Flow (Latvia, France, Belgium) [IMDb]
Green Border (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium) [IMDb]
Hard Truths (United Kingdom) [IMDb]
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Best feature made for less than $1,000,000.
Big Boys – Corey Sherman [IMDb]
Ghostlight – Kelly O’Sullivan [IMDb]
Girls Will Be Girls – Shuchi Talati [IMDb]
Jazzy – Morrisa Maltz [IMDb]
The People’s Joker – Vera Drew [IMDb]
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
His Three Daughters – Azazel Jacobs [IMDb]
Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Sarah Friedland – Writer / Director of Familiar Touch [IMDb]
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Rachel Elizabeth Seed for A Photographic Memory [IMDb]
And that’s that! This is the first year I’ve voted in the Indie Spirit Awards – finally making my picks during the awards season. Huzzah! For last year’s list of nominees & winners, which included Past Lives nabbing Best Film & Best Director – click here. This year’s set of nominees for the Indie Spirits include an impressive and diverse selection of some of the best indie films and talented filmmakers out there – every last one of these films is worth a watch. The Indie Spirits are always a breath of fresh air in the awards season, with so many great films getting some extra attention. I actually think Anora might end up winning at the Oscars as well, so it might be another crossover year for an indie film taking home the top prize at all of the awards ceremonies. Which is fine by me! Anora deserves it! In the Best Director category, I would’ve much rather seen Good One’s India Donaldson and Nickel Boys’ RaMell Ross rather than the other nominees Ali Abbasi and Alonso Ruizpalacios. I’m not sure how that happened. Nonetheless, I hope these awards will encourage you to take the time to watch just one more indie film from this selection that you might not have seen yet. There’s always more to discover and enjoy. Always some superb films in these nominations to catch up with.
For more: SpiritAwards.com. A big indie congratulations to all of 2025’s winners & nominees!
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Article by:Source: Alex Billington
