---
title: "2026 Spirit Awards: 23 Noms and 5 Wins for GreenSlate Client Projects"
description: GreenSlate client projects won 5 awards at the 2026 Spirit Awards, including A24's If I Had Legs I'd Kick You and Sorry, Baby. See the complete winners list.
---

[Blog ](https://greenslate.com/blog)

# [2026 Spirit Awards: 23 Noms and 5 Wins for GreenSlate Client Projects](https://greenslate.com/blog/2026-spirit-awards)

 Written by [GreenSlate](https://greenslate.com/blog/author/greenslate) | Feb 17, 2026 6:00:00 PM

GreenSlate was a proud production payroll partner for more than twenty of this year's Spirit Awards nominees, and we are thrilled to congratulate everyone who helped bring these stories to screen. 

The full list of winners and nominees for the Spirit Awards are below, with GreenSlate client projects represented by a green heart. 💚

## 🏆Best Feature Winner: *Train Dreams*

Producers: Michael Heimler, Will Janowitz, Marissa McMahon, Ashley Schlaifer, Teddy Schwarzman

### Nominees

*Peter Hujar’s Day*  
Producers: Jonah Disend, Jordan Drake

*The Plague*  
Producers: Derek Dauchy, Joel Edgerton, Roy Lee, Lucy McKendrick, Steven Schneider, Lizzie Shapiro

*💚Sorry, Baby*  
Producers: Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski

*Twinless*  
Producers: David Permut, James Sweeney

## 🏆Best First Feature Winner:* 💚 Lurker*

Director: Alex Russell  
Producers: Galen Core, Archie Madekwe, Marc Marrie, Charlie McDowell, Francesco Melzi D’Eril, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky, Olmo Schnabel, Jack Selby

### Nominees

*Blue Sun Palace*  
Director: Constance Tsang  
Producers: Sally Sujin Oh, Eli Raskin, Tony Yang

*Dust Bunny*  
Director/Producer: Bryan Fuller  
Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee

*💚East of Wall*  
Director/Producer: Kate Beecroft  
Producers: Shannon Moss, Melanie Ramsayer, Lila Yacoub

*One of Them Days*  
Director: Lawrence Lamont  
Producers: Deniese Davis, Poppy Hanks, James Lopez, Issa Rae, Sara Rastogi

## 🏆John Cassavetes Award Winner: *Esta Isla (This Island)*

Directors/Writers/Producers: Cristian Carretero, Lorraine Jones Molina  
Writer: Kisha Tikina Burgos

Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000.

### Nominees

*The Baltimorons*  
Director/Writer/Producer: Jay Duplass  
Writer/Producer: Michael Strassner  
Producers: David Bonnett Jr., Drew Langer

*Boys Go to Jupiter*  
Director/Writer: Julian Glander

*Eephus*  
Director/Writer/Producer: Carson Lund  
Writer/Producer: Michael Basta  
Writer: Nate Fisher  
Producers: David Entin, Tyler Taormina

*Familiar Touch*

Director/Writer/Producer: Sarah Friedland  
Producers: Alexandra Byer, Matthew Thurm

## 🏆Best Director Winner: Clint Bentley, *Train Dreams*

### Nominees

💚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 Winner: 💚Eva Victor, *Sorry, Baby*

### Nominees

Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, *Splitsville*

💚Angus MacLachlan, *A Little Prayer*

James Sweeney, *Twinless*

💚Christian Swegal, *Sovereign*

## 🏆Best First Screenplay Winner: 💚Alex Russell, *Lurker*

### Nominees

Andrew DeYoung, *Friendship*

Elena Oxman, *Outerlands*

Syreeta Singleton,* One of Them Days*

Constance Tsang, *Blue Sun Palace*

## 🏆Best Lead Performance Winner: 💚Rose Byrne, *If I Had Legs I’d Kick You*

### Nominees

Everett Blunck, *The Plague*

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 Winner: 💚Naomi Ackie, *Sorry, Baby*

### Nominees

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 Winner: Kayo Martin, *The Plague *

### Nominees

Liz Larsen, *The Baltimorons*

Misha Osherovich, *She’s the He*

SZA, *One of Them Days*

💚Tabatha Zimiga, *East of Wall*

## 🏆Best Cinematography Winner: Adolpho Veloso, *Train Dreams*

### Nominees

Alex Ashe, *Peter Hujar’s Day*

Norm Li, *Blue Sun Palace*

David J. Thompson, *Warfare*

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker, *Dust Bunny*

## 🏆Best Editing Winner: Sofía Subercaseaux, *The Testament of Ann Lee*

### Nominees

Ben Leonberg, *Good Boy*

Carson Lund, *Eephus*

Fin Oates, *Warfare*

Sara Shaw, *Splitsville*

## 🏆Robert Altman Award Winner: *The Long Walk *

Director: Francis Lawrence  
Casting Director: Rich Delia  
Ensemble Cast: Judy Greer, Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Garrett Wareing

## 🏆Best Documentary Winner: *The Perfect Neighbor*

Director/Producer: Geeta Gandbhir  
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne

### Nominees

*Come See Me in the Good Light*  
Director/Producer: Ryan White  
Producers: Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen

*Endless Cookie*  
Director: Peter Scriver  
Director/Producer: Seth Scriver  
Producers: Dan Bekerman, Alex Ordanis, Jason Ryle, Chris Yurkovich

*My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow*  
Director/Producer: Julia Loktev

*The Tale of Silyan*  
Director/Producer: Tamara Kotevska  
Producers: Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski

## 🏆Best International Film Winner: *The Secret Agent*

Brazil  
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

### Nominees

*All That’s Left of You*  
Palestine, Jordan, Germany, Cyprus  
Director: Cherien Dabis

*On Becoming a Guinea Fowl*  
Zambia, UK, Ireland  
Director: Rungano Nyoni

*A Poet*  
Colombia  
Director: Simón Mesa Soto

*Sirāt*  
Spain  
Director: Oliver Laxe

## 🏆Producers Award Winner: Tony Yang

The Producers Award, now in its 29th year, honors an emerging producer who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrates the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films. This award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

### Nominees

Emma Hannaway

Luca Intili

## 🏆Someone to Watch Award Winner: Tatti Ribeiro, director of *Valentina  *

The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 32nd year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. This award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

### Nominees

Neo Sora, director of *Happyend*

Annapurna Sriram, director of *Fucktoys*

## 🏆Truer Than Fiction Award Winner: Rajee Samarasinghe, director of *Your Touch Makes Others Invisible*

The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 31st year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. This award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

### Nominees

💚Tony Benna, director of *André is an Idiot*

Brittany Shyne, director of* Seeds*

## 🏆Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series Winner: *Pee-wee as Himself*

Executive Producers: Matt Wolf, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Paul Reubens, Candace Tomarken, Kyle Martin, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez

### Nominees

*Citizen Nation*  
Creator: Bret Sigler  
Executive Producers: Christopher Buck, Kyra Darnton

*Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time*  
Executive Producers: Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Ryan Coogler, Myles Estey, Ted Skillman, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Peter Nicks, Kalia King, Carolyn Payne, Sean David Johnson  
Co-Executive Producer: Kelli Buchanan

*💚Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television*

Executive Producers: Issa Rae, Montrel McKay, John Maggio, Rachel Dretzin, John Ealer, Jonathan Berry, Dave Becky, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez  
Co-Executive Producers: Esther Dere, Zachary Herrmann

*💚Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae*  
Executive Producers: Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow, Amy Kaufman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker  
Co-Executive Producer: Mark Becker

## 🏆Best New Scripted Series Winner: *Adolescence*

Creators/Executive Producers: Jack Thorne, Stephen Graham  
Executive Producers: Philip Barantini, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Nina Wolarsky, Hannah Walters, Mark Herbert, Emily Feller  
Co-Executive Producers: Carina Sposato, Niall Shamma, Peter Balm

### Nominees

*Common Side Effects*  
Creators/Executive Producers: Joe Bennett, Steve Hely  
Executive Producers: Mike Judge, Greg Daniels, Dustin Davis, James Merrill, Sean Buckelew, Benjy Brooke, Kelly Crews, Suzanna Makkos  
Co-Executive Producer: Dave King

*Forever*  
Creator/Executive Producer: Mara Brock Akil  
Executive Producers: Regina King, Susie Fitzgerald, Shana C. Waterman, Reina King, Anthony Hemingway, Judy Blume, Erika Harrison, Sara E. White  
Co-Executive Producer: Jerron Horton

*Mr Loverman*  
Executive Producers: Lennie James, Hong Khaou, Jo McClellan, Faye Ward, Hannah Farrell, Hannah Price

*North of North*  
Creators/Executive Producers: Stacey Aglok MacDonald, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril  
Executive Producers: Garry Campbell, Anya Adams, Susan Coyne, Miranda de Pencier  
Co-Executive Producers: Teresa M. Ho, Michael Goldbach, Kathryn Borel Jr., JP Larocque

## 🏆Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series Winner: Stephen Graham, *Adolescence*

### Nominees

Sydney Chandler, *Alien: Earth*

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 Winner: Erin Doherty, *Adolescence*

### Nominees

Ariyon Bakare, *Mr Loverman*

Babou Ceesay, *Alien: Earth*

Sharon D. Clarke, *Mr Loverman*

Taylor Dearden, *The Pitt*

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 Winner: Owen Cooper, *Adolescence*

### Nominees

Asif Ali, *Deli Boys*

Wally Baram, *Overcompensating*

Michael Cooper Jr., *Forever*

Ernest Kingsley Junior, *Washington Black*

## 🏆Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series Winner: *Chief of War*

Ensemble Cast: Charlie Brumbly, Luciane Buchanan, Cliff Curtis, Brandon Finn, Moses Goods, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Benjamin Hoetjes, Siua Ikale’o, Keala Kahuanui-Paleka, Mainei Kinimaka, Kaina Makua, Jason Momoa, Temuera Morrison, Te Kohe Tuhaka, James Udom

## The 2026 Spirit Awards in Los Angeles

The 41st Independent Spirit Awards took place on February 15, 2026 at the Hollywood Palladium. The show was streamed live on YouTube and Film Independent’s social channels.

## Stay Updated on Film Awards Season with GreenSlate 

Check back here for the latest updates on the 2026 awards season as [GreenSlate client projects](https://greenslate.com/client-projects) continue to make headlines. 

Ready to create your own award-winning feature? From prep to post, we’ve got [production payroll ](https://greenslate.com/entertainment-payroll)covered.

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