One of the defining characteristics of Film Independent’s mission is to champion diversity in film. You couldn’t find a better example of that aim than the Best Feature category for the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced this morning. Among the nominees in that category are a stop-motion animated film, an Oscar frontrunner and a film about transgender sex workers shot on an iPhone.

Either Anomalisa, Beasts of No Nation, Carol, Spotlight, or Tangerine will go home with the Spirit Award for Best Feature after the Awards Show on the beach in Santa Monica on February 27. Actors John Boyega and Elizabeth Olsen presented the nominations this morning at a press conference at the W Hotel in Hollywood.

“This year’s nominees are a testament to the strength, vitality and diversity of independent, artist-driven filmmaking,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “It’s an astonishingly strong group of films and performances this year and we look forward to celebrating them all at the Spirit Awards.”

Carol, Todd Haynes’ 1950s-set romance starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara leads all films with six nominations, including nods for both Blanchett and Mara. Beasts of No Nation, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s gripping tale of West African child soldiers, and Spotlight, Tom McCarthy’s drama following the reporters who exposed the abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, are right behind with five nominations each. Spotlight will receive the Robert Altman award, which honors outstanding achievement by an ensemble cast.

Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s stop-motion love story, earned four nominations, as did Tangerine, Sean Baker’s iPhone-lensed Sundance entry that follows two transgender sex workers on a wild adventure through the streets of L.A. You can find all of nominations listed below and learn even more about the nominees at spiritawards.com.

Only Film Independent Members vote to determine the winners. If you want to be a part of honoring the best of the best in independent film for 2015, join today. For questions about attending the Film Independent Spirit Awards, please contact Jennifer Murby at jmurby@filmindependent.org.

Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Tom Sveen / Film Independent Blogger

BEST FEATURE
Anomalisa Producers: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman, Dino Stamatopoulos, Rosa Tran
Beasts of No Nation Producers: Daniel Crown, Idris Elba, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker
Carol Producers: Elizabeth Karlsen, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley
Spotlight Producers: Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Michael Sugar
Tangerine Producers: Sean Baker, Karrie Cox, Marcus Cox, Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou 

BEST FIRST FEATURE
The Diary of a Teenage Girl Director: Marielle Heller; Producers: Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit
James White Director: Josh Mond; Producers: Max Born, Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Melody Roscher, Eric Schultz
Manos Sucias Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka; Producers: Elena Greenlee, Márcia Nunes
Mediterranea Director: Jonas Carpignano; Producers: Jason Michael Berman, Chris Columbus, Jon Coplon, Christoph Daniel, Andrew Kortschak, John Lesher, Ryan Lough, Justin Nappi, Alain Peyrollaz, Gwyn Sannia, Marc Schmidheiny, Victor Shapiro, Ryan Zacarias
Songs My Brothers Taught Me; Director/Producer: Chloé Zhao, Producers: Mollye Asher, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Angela C. Lee, Forest Whitaker

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Best feature made for under $500,000)
Advantageous Writer/Director/Producer: Jennifer Phang; Writer/Producer: Jacqueline Kim; Producers: Robert Chang, Ken Jeong, Moon Molson, Theresa Navarro
Christmas, Again Writer/Director/Producer: Charles Poekel
Heaven Knows What Directors: Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie; Writers: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie; Producers: Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear McClard
Krisha Writer/Director/Producer: Trey Edward Shults; Producers: Justin R. Chan, Chase Joliet, Wilson Smith
Out of My Hand Writer/Director: Takeshi Fukunaga; Writer/Producer: Donari Braxton; Producer: Mike Fox

BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker Tangerine
Cary Joji Fukunaga Beasts of No Nation
Todd Haynes Carol
Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman Anomalisa
Tom McCarthy Spotlight
David Robert Mitchell It Follows 

BEST SCREENPLAY
Charlie Kaufman Anomalisa
Donald Margulies The End of the Tour
Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer Spotlight
Phyllis Nagy Carol
Craig Zahler Bone Tomahawk 

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Jesse Andrews Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jonas Carpignano Mediterranea
Emma Donoghue Room
Marielle Heller The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Magary; Story by Russell Harbaugh and Myna Joseph The Mend 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cary Joji Fukunaga Beasts of No Nation
Michael Gioulakis It Follows
Ed Lachman Carol
Reed Morano Meadowland
Joshua James Richards Songs My Brothers Taught Me 

BEST EDITING
Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie Heaven Knows What
Tom McArdle Spotlight
Nathan Nugent Room
Julio C. Perez IV It Follows
Kristan Sprague Manos Sucias 

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett Carol
Brie Larson Room
Rooney Mara Carol
Bel Powley The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez Tangerine 

BEST MALE LEAD
Christopher Abbott James White
Abraham Attah Beasts of No Nation
Ben Mendelsohn Mississippi Grind
Jason Segel The End of the Tour
Koudous Seihon Mediterranea 

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Robin Bartlett H.
Marin Ireland Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon James White
Mya Taylor Tangerine 

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Kevin Corrigan Results
Paul Dano Love & Mercy
Idris Elba Beasts of No Nation
Richard Jenkins Bone Tomahawk
Michael Shannon 99 Homes 

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Spotlight
Director: Tom McCarthy
Casting Directors: Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee
Ensemble Cast: Billy Crudup, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamey Sheridan, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci 

BEST DOCUMENTARY
(T)ERROR Directors/Producers: Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe; Producer: Christopher St. John
Best of Enemies Directors/Producers: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville
Heart of a Dog Director/Producer: Laurie Anderson; Producer: Dan Janvey
The Look of Silence Director: Joshua Oppenheimer; Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen
Meru Directors/Producers: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; Producer: Shannon Ethridge
The Russian Woodpecker Director/Producer: Chad Gracia; Producers: Ram Devineni, Mike Lerner

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia) Director: Ciro Guerra
Girlhood (France) Director: Céline Sciamma
Mustang (France, Turkey) Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden) Director: Roy Andersson
Son of Saul (Hungary) Director: László Nemes 

19th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Darren Dean
Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith 

22nd ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
God Bless the Child Directors: Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck
King Jack Director: Felix Thompson
Songs My Brothers Taught Me Director: Chloé Zhao

21st TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Among the Believers Directors: Mohammed Ali Naqvi and Hemal Trivedi
Incorruptible Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
A Woman Like Me Directors: Elizabeth Giamatti and Alex Sichel