The 41st Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2025, were presented by Film Independent on February 15, 2026. The ceremony was held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by American actress and comedian Ego Nwodim. It 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 3, 2025. Peter Hujar's Day led the film nominations with five. For television, Adolescence, Forever, and Mr Loverman received the most nominations with four each.
The grant recipients of the Emerging Filmmakers Awards were announced on January 10, 2026.
In May 2025, Film Independent announced that the ceremony venue would move from the Santa Monica Pier to the Hollywood Palladium. This move came as Santa Monica, the former longtime home of the Film Independent Spirit Awards, underwent renovations.
The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.
The award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.
The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.
Unlike previous ceremonies (including the 40th ceremony where Best International Film winner Flow became the first animated feature to win a Film Independent Spirit Award in any category), three animated projects were nominated for major categories this year (Endless Cookie for Best Documentary Feature, Common Side Effects for Best New Scripted Series, and Boys Go to Jupiter for the John Cassavetes Award).