IFC Films led the FilmIndependent 2007 Spirit Award nominations with nine nods including three for AmericanGun.

Fox Searchlight earned sevennominations, five of them for Little Miss Sunshine including feature, director for Jonathan Dayton andValerie Faris, and supporting male nods for Alan Arkin and Paul Dano.

First Look Studios made anemphatic statement about its revitalised ambitions, earning six nods with threeapiece going to A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints and The Dead Girl.

THINKFilm's Half Nelson took five nominations including feature, director forRyan Fleck, and actor for Ryan Gosling.

Guillermo Del Toro's Pan'sLabyrinth is a Spanish-languagefeature but found itself in play for feature alongside American Gun, TheDead Girl, Half Nelson, and LittleMiss Sunshine.

Foreign language nomineesare Romania's 12:08 East Of Bucharest, The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros Auraeus Solito from The Philippines, Argentina's Chronicle Of AnEscape,French-Algerian-Moroccan-Belgian co-production Days Of Glory, and Germany's The Lives Of Others.

UK films The Queen,Venus, Notes On A Scandal and TheHistory Boys all failed to make thecut.
The spirit of Robert Altman lingeredover the event as the late director was nominated in the director category for APrairie Home Companion, alongsideJonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine, Ryan Fleck for Half Nelson, Karen Moncrieff for The Dead Girl, and Steven Soderbergh for Bubble.

Gosling will contest malelead with Aaron Eckhart for Thank You For Smoking, Ed Norton for The Painted Veil, Ahmad Razvi for Man Push Cart, and Forrest Whitaker for American Gun.

Toby Jones did not receive anomination for playing Truman Capote in Infamous, however Daniel Craig is among supporting actornominees for playing Perry Smith in the film, and goes head-to-head with Arkinand Dano for Little Miss Sunshine,Raymond J Barry for Steel City,and Channing Tatum for A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints.

The female lead categorycomprises Shareeka Epps for Half Nelson with Catherine O'Hara for For Your Consideration, Elizabeth Reaser for Sweetland, Michelle Williams for Land Of Plenty, and Robin Wright Penn for Sorry, Haters. Maggie Gyllenhaal was a notable exception for herrole in Sherrybaby.

Neil Berger earned ascreenplay nod for The Illusionist andwill contest the category with Nicole Holofcener for Friends With Money, Ron Nyswaner for The Painted Veil, Jason Reitman for Thank You For Smoking, and Jeff Stanzler for Sorry, Haters.

Nominees for the JohnCassavetes Awardfor best feature made for under $500,000 are Chalk,Four Eyed Monsters, Old Joy, Quinceanera and Twelve And Holding.

Documentary nominees are ALion In The House, My Country, My Country, The Road To Guantanamo, The TrialsOf Darryl Hunt, and You're GonnaMiss Me.

Nominees for the 13th annualIFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award for "a talented filmmaker of singular visionwho has not yet received appropriate recognition" are So Yong Kim for InBetween Days, Julia Loktev for DayNight Day Night, and Richard Wong forColma: The Musical. The awardincludes a $50,000 unrestricted grant funded by IFC and Acura.

Nominees for the 11th annualAxium Truer Than Fiction Award for "an emerging director of non-fictionfeatures who has not yet received significant attention" are Adele Horn for TheTailenders, Eric Daniel Metzgar for TheChances Of The World Changing, andAJ Schnack for Kurt Cobain About A Son. The award includes a $50,000 unrestricted grant funded by AxiumInternational.

The 10th annual AxiumProducers Award will be contested by Julie Lynn for Nine Lives and 10 Items Or Less, Alex Orlovsky and Jamie Patricof for Half Nelsonand Point & Shoot and Howard Gertler and Tim Perell for Shortbus and Pizza. The award includes a $50,000 unrestricted grant, funded by AxiumInternational.

A Special Distinction Awardwill go to David Lynch and Laura Dern for their collaborative work. All awardswill be presented at the Spirit Awards ceremony on Feb 24, 2007.

"We are proud to spotlightthis year's eclectic mix of filmmakers and artists who are unafraid to takerisks," Film Independent executive director Dawn Hudson said. "The foundationof independent film has always been to push the envelope both in subject matterand film-making, and this year is no exception."

Hudson announced theinaugural Spirit Awards Short Film Contest in partnership with IFC Media Lab,in which entrants are invited to submit a film up to 90 seconds long on thetheme "What does independence mean to you'" Entrants can upload their films toifc.com/medialab and the winning film will air live during the awards ceremony.

2007 INDEPENDENT SPIRITAWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST FEATURE (Awardgiven to the Producer)
American Gun (Ted Kroeber)
The Dead Girl (Tom Rosenberg, Henry Winterstern, Gary Lucchesi,Richard Wright, Eric Karten, Kevin Turen)
Half Nelson (Jamie Patricof, Alex Orlovsky, Lynette Howell, AnnaBoden, Rosanne Korenberg)
Little Miss Sunshine (Marc Turtletaub, David T Friendly, Peter Saraf,Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa)
Pan's Labyrinth (Bertha Navarro, Alfonso Cuaron, Frida Torresblanco,Alvaro Augustin, Guillermo Del Toro)

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Altman A Prairie Home Companion
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris LittleMiss Sunshine
Ryan Fleck Half Nelson
Karen Moncrieff The Dead Girl
Steven Soderbergh Bubble

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Awardgiven to the director and producer)
Day Night Day Night (Dir: JuliaLoktev; prds: Julia Loktev, Melanie Judd, Jessica Levin)
Man Push Cart (Dir: Ramin Bahrani; prds: Ramin Bahrani, PradipGhosh, Bedford T Bentley III)
The Motel (Dir: Michael Kang; prds: Matthew Greenfield, MiguelArteta, Gina Kwon, Karin Chien
Sweet Land (Dir: Ali Selim; prds: Alan Cumming, James Bigham,Ali Selim)
Wristcutters: A Love Story (Dir: Goran Dukic; prds: Adam Sherman, Chris Coen,Tatiana Kelly, Mikal P Lazarev)

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer,director, and producer)
Chalk (Dir: Mike Akel; prds: Mike Akel, Angela Alvarez,Graham Davidson, Chris Mass; wrt: Chris Mass and Mike Akel)
Four Eyed Monsters (Wrt-dir-prd: Arin Crumley and Susan Buice)
Old Joy (Dir: Kelly Reichardt; prds: Lars Knudsen, Jay VanHoy, Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp; wrt: Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt
Quinceanera (Wrt-dir-prd: Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland;pdr: Anne Clements)
Twelve And Holding (Dir: Michael Cuesta; Prds: Leslie Urdang, MichaelCuesta, Brian Bell, Jenny Schweitzer; wtr: Anthony S Cipriano)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Neil Burger The Illusionist
Nicole Holofcener Friends With Money
Ron Nyswaner The Painted Veil
Jason Reitman Thank You For Smoking
Jeff Stanzler Sorry, Haters

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt Little Miss Sunshine
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Half Nelson
Goran Dukic Wristcutters: A LoveStory
Dito Montiel A Guide To RecognizingYour Saints
Gabrielle Zevin Conversations WithOther Women

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Shareeka Epps Half Nelson
Catherine O'Hara For YourConsideration
Elizabeth Reaser Sweet Land
Michelle Williams Land Of Plenty
Robin Wright Penn Sorry, Haters

BEST MALE LEAD
Aaron Eckhart Thank You For Smoking
Ryan Gosling Half Nelson
Edward Norton The Painted Veil
Ahmad Razvi Man Push Cart
Forest Whitaker American Gun

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Melonie Diaz A Guide To RecognizingYour Saints
Marcia Gay Harden AmericanGun
Mary Beth Hurt The DeadGirl
Frances McDormand FriendsWith Money
Amber Tamblyn StephanieDaley

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Alan Arkin Little Miss Sunshine
Raymond J Barry Steel City
Daniel Craig Infamous
Paul Dano Little Miss Sunshine
Channing Tatum A Guide To RecognizingYour Saints

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arin Crumley Four Eyed Monsters
Anthony Dod Mantle BrothersOf The Head
Guillermo Navarro Pan'sLabyrinth
Aaron Platt Wild Tigers IHave Known
Michael Simmonds Man PushCart

BEST DOCUMENTARY(Award given to the director)
A Lion In The House Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
My Country, My Country Laura Poitras
The Road To Guantanamo Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross
The Trials Of Darryl Hunt Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern
You're Gonna Miss Me Keven McAlester

BEST FOREIGN FILM(Award given to the director)
12:08 East Of Bucharest Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania)
The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros Auraeus Solito (The Philippines)
Chronicle Of An Escape Israel Adrian Caetano (Argentina)
Days Of Glory Rachid Bouchareb (France-Algeria-Morocco-Belgium)
The Lives Of Others Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (Germany)