See the Nominations for Spirit Awards 2015

It's that time of year again. That glorious (or perhaps annoying — depending on how you look at it) time of year when all eyes focus on Hollywood. The last great films of the year are released, and everyone who worked on them crosses their fingers in the hopes that their hours of hard work could pay off in the form of a golden statue. Today, the nominations for the 2015 Spirit Awards, presented by Los Angeles' Film Independent, were announced. And the lucky few are nothing short of impressive.

Film Independent president Josh Welsh said of this year's nods: "As we celebrate 30 years of great independent film. This year’s nominees are an astonishingly strong group of films and filmmakers which demonstrate the uniqueness of vision we honor at this show."

And he's right. The independent filmmaking competition of 2015 features some pretty tough acts: Richard Linklater's coming of age epic, Boyhood, (filmed over 12 years), Michael Keaton's wacky Birdman, LBGTQ-friendly Love is Strange, political drama Selma and the musical thriller (yes, really) Whiplash, starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons.

Take a look at this year's full lineup of nominees for the 2015 Spirit Awards.

BEST FEATURE

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole

Boyhood

Producers: Richard Linklater, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, Cathleen Sutherland

Love is Strange

Producers: Lucas Joaquin, Lars Knudsen, Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, Jay Van Hoy

Selma

Producers: Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Oprah Winfrey

Whiplash

Producers: Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster, Michael Litvak

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle

Whiplash

Ava DuVernay

Selma

Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Richard Linklater

Boyhood

David Zellner

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

BEST SCREENPLAY

Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski

Big Eyes

J.C. Chandor

A Most Violent Year

Dan Gilroy

Nightcrawler

Jim Jarmusch

Only Lovers Left Alive

Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias

Love is Strange

BEST FIRST FEATURE

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

Producers: Justin Begnaud, Sina Sayyah

Dear White People

Director/Producer: Justin Simien

Producers: Effie T. Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Lena Waithe

Nightcrawler

Director: Dan Gilroy

Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak

Obvious Child

Director: Gillian Robespierre

Producer: Elisabeth Holm

She's Lost Control

Director/Producer: Anja Marquardt

Producers: Mollye Asher, Kiara C. Jones

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Desiree Akhavan

Appropriate Behavior

Sara Colangelo

Little Accidents

Justin Lader

The One I Love

Anja Marquardt

She's Lost Control

Justin Simien

Dear White People

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

Blue Ruin

Writer/Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Producers: Richard Peete, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani

It Felt Like Love

Writer/Director/Producer: Eliza Hittman

Producers: Shrihari Sathe, Laura Wagner

Land Ho!

Writers/Directors: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens

Producers: Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy

Man From Reno

Writer/Director: Dave Boyle

Writers: Joel Clark, Michael Lerman

Producer: Ko Mori

Test

Writer/Director/Producer: Chris Mason Johnson

Producer: Chris Martin

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Marion Cotillard

The Immigrant

Rinko Kikuchi

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

Julianne Moore

Still Alice

Jenny Slate

Obvious Child

Tilda Swinton

Only Lovers Left Alive

BEST MALE LEAD

André Benjamin

Jimi: All Is By My Side

Jake Gyllenhaal

Nightcrawler

Michael Keaton

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

John Lithgow

Love is Strange

David Oyelowo

Selma

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Patricia Arquette

Boyhood

Jessica Chastain

A Most Violent Year

Carmen Ejogo

Selma

Andrea Suarez Paz

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

Emma Stone

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Riz Ahmed

Nightcrawler

Ethan Hawke

Boyhood

Alfred Molina

Love is Strange

Edward Norton

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

J.K. Simmons

Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Darius Khondji

The Immigrant

Emmanuel Lubezki

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Sean Porter

It Felt Like Love

Lyle Vincent

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Bradford Young

Selma

BEST EDITING

Sandra Adair

Boyhood

Tom Cross

Whiplash

John Gilroy

Nightcrawler

Ron Patane

A Most Violent Year

Adam Wingard

The Guest

BEST DOCUMENTARY

20,000 Days on Earth

Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard

Producers: Dan Bowen, James Wilson

CITIZENFOUR

Director/Producer: Laura Poitras

Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky

Stray Dog

Director: Debra Granik

Producer: Anne Rosellini

The Salt of the Earth

Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders

Producer: David Rosier

Virunga

Director/Producer: Orlando von Einsiedel

Producer: Joanna Natasegara

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Force Majeure

(Sweden)

Director: Ruben Östlund

Ida

(Poland)

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Leviathan

(Russia)

Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

Mommy

(Canada)

Director: Xavier Dolan

Norte, the End of History

(Philippines)

Director: Lav Diaz

Under the Skin

(United Kingdom)

Director: Jonathan Glazer

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD WINNER

Inherent Vice

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis

Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD

Foxcatcher

Director/Producer: Bennett Miller

Producers: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik

Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman

Actors: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum

18th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD

Chad Burris

Elisabeth Holm

Chris Ohlson

21st ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

H.

Directors: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia

The Retrieval

Director: Chris Eska

20th ANNUAL LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

Approaching the Elephant

Director: Amanda Rose Wilder

Evolution of a Criminal

Director: Darius Clark Monroe

The Kill Team

Director: Dan Krauss

The Last Season

Director: Sara Dosa

Images: Getty