‘Peter Hujar’s Day,’ ‘Train Dreams,’ and ‘Sorry, Baby’ lead Spirit Award nominations

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Ira Sachs' “Peter Hujar’s Day,” which recreates an interview with the 1970s photographer, led the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations with five nods, including best feature, director, as well as lead and supporting performances for Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall. The organization announced nominees for the 41st edition of the show Wednesday.

Several films followed with four nominations, including best feature and best director, like Clint Bentley’s lyrical Denis Johnson adaptation “Train Dreams,” and Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby,” about life after an assault. First features receiving four nods were “Blue Sun Palace,” “One of Them Days” and “Lurker.”

James Sweeney’s dark comedy “Twinless" and “The Plague,” which like “Train Dreams” also stars Joel Edgerton, were also nominated for best feature.

Edgerton was among the 10 best acting nominees, for “Train Dreams,” alongside the likes of Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Dylan O’Brien (“Twinless”), Keke Palmer (“One of Them Days”), Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) and Whishaw, who was also nominated for the Netflix series “Black Doves.” 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”), Jane Levy (“A Little Prayer”), Archie Madekwe (“Lurker”), Kali Reis (“Rebuilding”), Jacob Tremblay (“Sovereign”) and Haipeng Xu (“Blue Sun Palace”).

The Robert Altman Award, for one film’s directing, ensemble and casting, went to the Stephen King adaptation “The Long Walk,” with Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson.

Among the international film nominees were “Sirāt,”“The Secret Agent” and “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.” Documentaries recognized include “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow,” “The Perfect Neighbor," “The Tale of Silyan” and “Endless Cookie.”

The Spirit Awards also honor television shows, where “Adolescence,” “Forever” and “Mr Loverman” led with four nominations each. The organization said its nominees hailed from 18 different countries, with 41% identifying as women.

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

The 41st edition of the Spirit Awards will be leaving its longtime home near the Santa Monica Pier for the Hollywood Palladium. The show, which serves as a fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs, will be held on Feb. 15, nearly a month before the Oscars.