Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations

The Independent Spirit Awards (nicknamed the Indie Spirits) have risen in prominence in the last few years since their inception back in 1984 (the first ceremony took place a year later). These awards often honor a lot of the smaller films that oftentimes don't find a place in the major awards race (Globes-SAG-BAFTA-Oscar), but have been known to honor those that are destined for Oscar glory. They're a nice award because sometimes, by honoring a lesser known nominee, they spark a flame in that particular nominee's campaign. Sometimes it begins and ends with the Spirits, but sometimes, they can find themselves seated at the Oscar ceremony, awaiting their name to be called.

Either way, the Spirits announced their nominations this morning, and Oscar frontrunner 12 Years A Slave led the pack with 7 nominations, with Alexander Payne's Nebraska trailing not too far behind with 6.

Take a look at the list of major nominees (and my thoughts) below (for the full list of nominations and breakdown by studio, you can go here, where Awards Daily's Sasha Stone has done a good job of compiling everything you need to know). The Independent Spirit Award winners will be announced sometime next year during the telecast; the date has yet to be announced)