Inspiring and Unforgettable Wins Define the 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards

The winners from the 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards are in. The award show took place this past Sunday, Feb. 16, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. The Film Independent Spirit Awards highlight the best independent TV series and movies. When most people think of independent films and TV shows, they picture low budget and unknown actors, but some of the winners include  “Adolescence,” “Chief of War,” and “Train Dreams.”

Spirit Awards Shine Bright

Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Ego Nwodim hosted the Film Independent Spirit Awards this year. “Train Dream” was the movie of the night to beat, winning three awards for Best Cinematography, Best Feature, and Clint Bentley won Best Director.

The TV series “Adolescence” was another big winner of the night, standing out in the television categories, and took home the award for Best New Scripted Series.

“Esta Isla (This Island)” won the John Cassavetes Award for the best movie made for under $1,000,000. Tatti Ribeiro, director of Valentina, won the Someone to Watch Awards.

2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards Winners

If you missed the Film Independent Spirit Awards this year, you can rewatch the award show on the Film Independent YouTube page. But if you don’t have almost three hours to spare for catching up, here is the complete list of winners and nominees, courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes.

Movies

Best Feature

• “Peter Hujar’s Day”
• “The Plague”
• “Sorry, Baby”
• “Train Dreams” – WINNER
• “Twinless”

Best First Feature

• “Blue Sun Palace”
• “Dust Bunny”
• “East of Wall”
• “Lurker” – WINNER
• “One of Them Days”

Best Director

• Clint Bentley, “Train Dreams” – WINNER
• Mary Bronstein, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
• Lloyd Lee Choi, “Lucky Lu”
• Ira Sachs, “Peter Hujar’s Day”
• Eva Victor, “Sorry, Baby”

Best Screenplay

• “A Little Prayer”
• “Sorry, Baby” – WINNER
• “Sovereign”
• “Splitsville”
• “Twinless”

Best First Screenplay

• “Blue Sun Palace”
• “Friendship”
• “Lurker” –WINNER
• “One of Them Days”
• “Outerlands”

Best Lead Performance

• Everett Blunck- “The Plague”
• Rose Byrne- “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” – WINNER
• Kathleen Chalfant- “Familiar Touch”
• Chang Chen- “Lucky Lu”
• Joel Edgerton- “Train Dreams”
• Dylan O’Brien- “Twinless”
• Keke Palmer- “One of Them Days”
• Théodore Pellerin- “Lurker”
• Tessa Thompson- “Hedda”
• Ben Whishaw- “Peter Hujar’s Day”

Best Supporting Performance

• Naomi Ackie- “Sorry, Baby” – WINNER
• Zoey Deutch- “Nouvelle Vague”
• Kirsten Dunst- “Roofman”
• Rebecca Hall- “Peter Hujar’s Day”
• Nina Hoss- “Hedda”
• Jane Levy- “A Little Prayer”
• Archie Madekwe- “Lurker”
• Kali Reis- “Rebuilding”
• Jacob Tremblay- “Sovereign”
• Haipeng Xu- “Blue Sun Palace”

Best Breakthrough Performance

• Liz Larsen- “The Baltimorons”
• Kayo Martin- “The Plague” – WINNER
• Misha Osherovich- “She’s the He”
• SZA- “One of Them Days”
• Tabatha Zimiga- “East of Wall”

Best Cinematography

• “Blue Sun Palace”
• “Dust Bunny”
• “Peter Hujar’s Day”
• “Train Dreams” – WINNER
• “Warfare”

Best Editing

• “Eephus”
• “Good Boy”
• “Splitsville”
• “The Testament of Ann Lee” – WINNER
• “Warfare”

Best Documentary

• “Come See Me in the Good Light”
• “Endless Cookie”
• “My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air in Moscow”
• “The Perfect Neighbor” –WINNER
• “The Tale of Silyan”

Best International Film

• “All That’s Left of You”
• “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”
• “A Poet”
• “The Secret Agent” –WINNER
• “Sirāt”

Robert Altman Award

• The cast, casting director, and director of “The Long Walk”

Someone to Watch Award

• Tatti Ribeiro – WINNER
• Neo Sora
• Annapurna Sriram

Truer Than Fiction Award

• Tony Benna
• Rajee Samarasinghe – WINNER
• Brittany Shyne

John Cassavetes Award

• “The Baltimorons”
• “Boys Go to Jupiter”
• “Eephus”
• “Esta Isla”– WINNER
• “Familiar Touch”

Producers Award

• Emma Hannaway
• Luca Intili
• Tony Yang – WINNER

Television

Best New Scripted Series

• “Adolescence” –WINNER
• “Common Side Effects”
• “Forever”
• “Mr. Loverman”
• “North of North”

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series

• “Citizen Nation”
• “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time”
• “Pee-Wee As Himself” –WINNER
• “Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television”
• “Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae”

Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series

• Sydney Chandler- “Alien: Earth”
• Stephen Graham- “Adolescence” – WINNER
• Ethan Hawke- “The Lowdown”
• Lennie James- “Mr. Loverman”
• Anna Lambe- “North of North”
• Lola Petticrew- “Say Nothing”
• Seth Rogen- “The Studio”
• Lovie Simone- “Forever”
• Michelle Williams- “Dying for Sex”
• Noah Wyle- “The Pitt”

Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series

• Ariyon Bakare- “Mr. Loverman”
• Babou Ceesay- “Alien: Earth”
• Sharon D. Clarke- “Mr. Loverman”
• Taylor Dearden- “The Pitt”
• Erin Doherty- “Adolescence” – WINNER
• Stephen McKinley Henderson- “A Man on the Inside”
• Poorna Jagannathan- “Deli Boys”
• Xosha Roquemore- “Forever”
• Jenny Slate- “Dying for Sex”
• Ben Whishaw- “Black Doves”

Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series

• Asif Ali- “Deli Boys”
• Wally Baram- “Overcompensating”
• Owen Cooper- “Adolescence” – WINNER
• Michael Cooper Jr.- “Forever”
• Ernest Kinglsey Junior- “Washington Black”

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series

• “Chief of War”

Award Season’s Grand Finale Nears

Award season is almost over, but the entertainment world still has more awards shows lined up. The next award show coming up is the BAFTA Film Awards on Feb. 22, 2026, hosted by Alan Cumming. And at the end of the month, the NAACP Image Awards air on Feb. 28, premiering live on BET.