40th Independent Spirit Awards

The 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2024, were presented by Film Independent on February 22, 2025. The ceremony was held at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, and was hosted by American actress and comedian Aidy Bryant for the second consecutive year; Bryant's hosting stint the previous year was widely praised and made headlines. For the third consecutive year, the ceremony was streamed live on the YouTube channels of both IMDb and Film Independent, and across Film Independent's social media platforms.
The nominations were announced live via YouTube on December 4, 2024. Anora and I Saw the TV Glow led the film nominations with five each, followed by Dìdi with four. Shōgun received the most television nominations with five, followed by Baby Reindeer and English Teacher with four each.
During the ceremony, longtime Film Independent president Josh Welsh was remembered by acting president Brenda Robinson, who delivered a speech about the "visionary" who died on December 31, 2024, after a five-year battle with colon cancer at age 62. Later in the show, during his acceptance speech for Best Feature, Anora filmmaker Sean Baker also paid tribute to Welsh and his contributions to independent cinema, calling him "a true champion of independent voices and a wonderful, kind human being".
The grant recipients of the Emerging Filmmakers Awards were announced on January 4, 2025.

Winners and nominees

Film

Films with multiple nominations and awards

Nominations	Film
5	Anora
5	I Saw the TV Glow
4	Dìdi
3	The Apprentice
3	Janet Planet
3	Sing Sing
2	Big Boys
2	A Different Man
2	The Fire Inside
2	Girls Will Be Girls
2	Ghostlight
2	In the Summers
2	Jazzy
2	La cocina
2	My Old Ass
2	Nickel Boys
2	Nightbitch
2	The [Piano Lesson (2024 film)\|The Piano Lesson]
2	Problemista
2	A Real Pain
2	The Substance

Awards	Film
3	Anora
2	Dìdi
2	A Real Pain

Television

Best New Scripted Series	Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Shōgun – Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks ; Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, and Michaela Clavell ; Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, and Jamie Vega Wheeler * Baby Reindeer – Richard Gadd ; Wim De Greef, Petra Fried, Matt Jarvis, and Ed Macdonald**** * Diarra from Detroit – Diarra Kilpatrick ; Kenya Barris, Miles Orion Feldsott, and Darren Goldberg ; Ester Lou and Mark Ganek * English Teacher – Brian Jordan Alvarez ; Paul Simms, Jonathan Krisel, and Dave King ; Kathryn Dean, Jake Bender, and Zach Dunn * Fantasmas – Julio Torres ; Emma Stone, Dave McCary, Olivia Gerke, Alex Bach, and Daniel Powell ; Ali Herting	Hollywood Black – Shayla Harris, Dave Sirulnick, Stacey Reiss, Jon Kamen, Justin Simien, Kyle Laursen, Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jeffrey Schwarz, Amy Goodman Kass, Michael Wright, and Jill Burkhart ; David C. Brown and Laurens Grant * Erased: WW2's Heroes of Color – Idris Elba, Johanna Woolford Gibbon, Jamilla Dumbuya, Jos Cushing, Khaled Gad, Matt Robins, Chris Muckle, Sean David Johnson, and Simon Raikes ; Annabel Hobley * Photographer – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Pagan Harleman, and Betsy Forhan ; Anna Barnes and Brent Kunkle * Ren Faire – Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Eli Bush, Dani Bernfeld, Lance Oppenheim, David Gauvey Herbert, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez ; Abigail Rowe, Christian Vasquez, and Max Allman * Social Studies – Lauren Greenfield ; Wallis Annenberg, Regina K. Scully, Andrea van Beuren, Frank Evers, and Caryn Capotosto
Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series	Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series
*Richard Gadd – Baby Reindeer* as Donny Dunn** * Brian Jordan Alvarez – English Teacher as Evan Marquez * Lily Gladstone – Under the Bridge as Cam Bentland * Kathryn Hahn – Agatha All Along as Agatha Harkness * Cristin Milioti – The Penguin as Sofia Falcone * Julianne Moore – Mary & George as Mary Villiers * Hiroyuki Sanada – Shōgun as Lord Yoshii Toranaga * Anna Sawai – Shōgun as Toda Mariko * Andrew Scott – Ripley as Tom Ripley * Julio Torres – Fantasmas as himself	*Nava Mau – Baby Reindeer* as Teri** * Tadanobu Asano – Shōgun as Kashigi Yabushige * Enrico Colantoni – English Teacher as Grant Moretti * Betty Gilpin – Three Women as Lina * Chloe Guidry – Under the Bridge as Josephine Bell * Moeka Hoshi – Shōgun as Usami Fuji * Stephanie Koenig – English Teacher as Gwen Sanders * Patti LuPone – Agatha All Along as Lilia Calderu * Ruth Negga – Presumed Innocent as Barbara Sabich * Brian Tee – Expats as Clarke Woo
Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series	Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
*Jessica Gunning – Baby Reindeer* as Martha Scott** * Diarra Kilpatrick – Diarra from Detroit as Diarra Brickland * Joe Locke – Agatha All Along as Billy Maximoff and Tommy Maximoff * Megan Stott – Penelope as Penelope * Hoa Xuande – The Sympathizer as The Captain	How to Die Alone – Melissa DuPrey, Jaylee Hamidi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Arkie Kandola, Elle Lorraine, Michelle McLeod, Chris "CP" Powell, Conrad Ricamora, Natasha Rothwell, and Jocko Sims

Series with multiple nominations and awards

Nominations	Series
5	Shōgun
4	Baby Reindeer
4	English Teacher
3	Agatha All Along
2	Diarra from Detroit
2	Fantasmas
2	Under the Bridge

Awards	Series
3	Baby Reindeer

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award">Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award">John Cassavetes Award

Girls Will Be Girls – Shuchi Talati ; Richa Chadha and Claire Chassagne
* Big Boys – Corey Sherman ; Allison Tate
* Ghostlight – Kelly O'Sullivan ; Alex Thompson ; Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Chelsea Krant, Eddie Linker, and Alex Wilson
* Jazzy – Morrisa Maltz ; Lainey Shangreaux ; Andrew Hajek and Vanara Taing ; Miranda Bailey, Tommy Heitkamp, John Way, Natalie Whalen, and Elliott Whitton
* The People's Joker – Vera Drew ; Bri LeRose ; Joey Lyons

Robert Altman Award">Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award">Robert Altman Award

'His Three Daughters'' – Director: Azazel Jacobs; Casting Director: Nicole Arbusto; Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., and Jay O. Sanders'''

Emerging Filmmakers Awards

Producers Award

The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.

Sarah Winshall
* Alex Coco
* Zoë Worth

[Someone to Watch Award]

The award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

Sarah Friedland – Familiar Touch
* Nicholas Colia – Griffin in Summer
* Phạm Thiên Ân – ''Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell''

Truer than Fiction Award

The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

Rachel Elizabeth Seed – A Photographic Memory
* Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie – Sugarcane
* Carla Gutiérrez – ''Frida''

Milestones

The Best International Film winner Flow became the first animated feature to win a Film Independent Spirit Award for any category.