Peter Hujar's Day

Source: Sundance Film Festival

‘Peter Hujar’s Day’

Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day leads the 2026 Independent Spirit Award nominations with five nods, including for best feature, director and performance for Ben Whishaw.

The 1970s biopic about the titular photographer premiered at Sundance, 2025, and also secured nods for Rebecca Hall in the supporting performance category and for Alex Ashe’s cinematography. 

Next up with four nominations are Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace; Alex Russell’s Lurker; Lawrence Lamont’s One Of Them Days; Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby and Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on February 15 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.

Eligible films must have been produced for less than $30m, or $1m for those competing for the John Cassavetes award.

Film categories

Best feature

  • Peter Hujar’s Day
  • The Plague
  • Sorry, Baby
  • Train Dreams
  • Twinless

Best first feature

  • Blue Sun Palace
  • Dust Bunny
  • East Of Wall
  • Lurker
  • One Of Them Days

John Cassavetes Award

  • The Baltimorons
  • Boys Go To Jupiter
  • Eephus
  • Esta Isla (This Island)
  • Familiar Touch

Best director

  • Clint Bentley, Train Dreams
  • 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

  • Splitsville
  • A Little Prayer
  • Twinless
  • Sovereign
  • Sorry, Baby

Best first screenplay

  • Friendship
  • Outerlands
  • Lurker
  • One Of Them Days
  • Blue Sun Palace

Best lead performance

  • Everett Blunck, The Plague
  • Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
  • 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
  • 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
  • Misha Osherovich, She’s The He
  • Kayo Martin, The Plague
  • SZA, One Of Them Days
  • Tabatha Zimiga, East Of Wall

Best cinematography

  • Peter Hujar’s Day
  • Blue Sun Palace
  • Warfare
  • Train Dreams
  • Dust Bunny

Best editing

  • Good Boy
  • Eephus
  • Warfare
  • Splitsville
  • The Testament of Ann Lee
  • Robert Altman Award
  • The Long Walk

Best documentary

  • Come See Me In The Good Light
  • Endless Cookie
  • My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air In Moscow
  • The Perfect Neighbor
  • The Tale Of Silyan

Best international film

  • All That’s Left Of You
  • On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
  • A Poet
  • The Secret Agent
  • Sirāt

Producers award

  • Emma Hannaway
  • Luca Intili
  • Tony Yang

Someone to watch award

  • Tatti Ribeiro, director of Valentina
  • Neo Sora, director of Happyend
  • Annapurna Sriram, director of Fucktoys

Truer Than Fiction Award

  • Tony Benna, director of André Is An Idiot
  • Rajee Samarasinghe, director of Your Touch Makes Others Invisible
  • Brittany Shyne, director of Seeds

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