The 2016 awards will take place in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 27, 2016, and this year 44 films with budgets under $20 million have been nominated in a number of different categories. Some of the same names have returned once more, like Cary Joji Fukunaga with Beasts of No Nation, and Charlie Kaufman for Anomalisa, but this year also marks a milestone — the first time that transgender actors have been nominated for awards in both female lead and supporting female categories in the same year. Those nominees are Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor from Tangerine (a film we've talked about quite a bit here), who are nominated for Best Female Lead and Best Supporting Female, respectively. 

In addition to that milestone, Film Independent President Josh Welsh revealed an interesting statistic about the nominees in the clip below, that 32% were directed by women and 34% were directed by filmmakers of color. We've done our best here at No Film School to bring attention to the glaring lack of women and people of color in filmmaking, so it's great to see that Film Independent has made strides in recognizing a more diverse group of nominees.

You can watch the announcements of the nominees right here, and read the entire list below (or read them here):

BEST FEATURE: 

(Award given to the producer, Executive Producers not awarded)

• ANOMALISA: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman, Dino Stamatopoulos, Rosa Tran
• BEASTS OF NO NATION: Daniel Crown, Idris Elba, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker
• CAROL: Elizabeth Karlsen, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley
• SPOTLIGHT: Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Michael Sugar
• TANGERINE: Sean Baker, Karrie Cox, Marcus Cox, Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou

BEST FIRST FEATURE

(Award given to the director and producer)

• THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL: DIRECTOR: Marielle Heller, PRODUCERS: Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit
• JAMES WHITE: DIRECTOR: Josh Mond, PRODUCERS: Max Born, Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Melody Roscher, Eric Schultz
• MANOS SUCIAS: DIRECTOR: Josef Kubota Wladyka, PRODUCERS: Elena Greenlee, Márcia Nunes
• MEDITERRANEA: DIRECTOR: Jonas Carpignano, PRODUCERS: Jason Michael Berman, Chris Columbus, Jon Coplon, Christoph Daniel, Andrew Kortschak, John Lesher, Ryan Lough, Justin Nappi, Alain Peyrollaz, Gwyn Sannia, Marc Schmidheiny, Victor Shapiro, Ryan Zacarias
• SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME: DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Chloé Zhao, PRODUCERS: Mollye Asher, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Angela C. Lee, Forest Whitaker

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• CARY JOJI FUKUNAGA – Beasts of No Nation
• MICHAEL GIOULAKIS – It Follows
• ED LACHMAN – Carol
• REED MORANO – Meadowland
• JOSHUA JAMES RICHARDS – Songs My Brothers Taught Me

BEST EDITING

• RONALD BRONSTEIN, BENNY SAFDIE – Heaven Knows What
• TOM MCARDLE – Spotlight
• NATHAN NUGENT – Room
• JULIO C. PEREZ IV – It Follows
• KRISTAN SPRAGUE – Manos Sucias

BEST DIRECTOR

• SEAN BAKER - Tangerine
• CARY JOJI FUKUNAGA – Beasts of No Nation
• TODD HAYNES – Carol
• DUKE JOHNSON, CHARLIE KAUFMAN – Anomalisa
• TOM MCCARTHY - Spotlight
• DAVID ROBERT MITCHELL – It Follows

BEST SCREENPLAY

• CHARLIE KAUFMAN – Anomalisa
• DONALD MARGULIES – The End of the Tour
• TOM MCCARTHY, JOSH SINGER – Spotlight
• PHYLLIS NAGY – Carol
• S. CRAIG ZAHLER – Bone Tomahawk

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

• JESSE ANDREWS – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
• JONAS CARPIGNANO – Mediterranea
• EMMA DONOGHUE – Room
• MARIELLE HELLER – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
• JOHN MAGARY, RUSSELL HARBAUGH (story by), MYNA JOSEPH (story by) – The Mend

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

(Award given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer — Executive Producers not awarded)

• ADVANTAGEOUS: WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Jennifer Phang, WRITER/PRODUCER: Jacqueline Kim, PRODUCERS: Robert Chang, Ken Jeong, Moon Molson, Theresa Navarro
• CHRISTMAS, AGAIN: WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Charles Poekel
• HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT: DIRECTORS: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, WRITERS: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, PRODUCERS: Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear McClard
• KRISHA: WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Trey Edward Shults, PRODUCERS: Justin R. Chan, Chase Joliet, Wilson Smith
• OUT OF MY HAND: WRITER/DIRECTOR: Takeshi Fukunaga, WRITER/PRODUCER: Donari Braxton, PRODUCER: Mike Fox

BEST MALE LEAD

• CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT – James White
• ABRAHAM ATTAH – Beasts of No Nation
• BEN MENDELSOHN – Mississippi Grind
• JASON SEGEL – The End of the Tour
• KOUDOUS SEIHON - Mediterranea

BEST FEMALE LEAD

• CATE BLANCHETT – Carol
• BRIE LARSON – Room
• ROONEY MARA – Carol
• BEL POWLEY – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
• KITANA KIKI RODRIGUEZ – Tangerine

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

• KEVIN CORRIGAN – Results
• PAUL DANO – Love & Mercy
• IDRIS ELBA – Beasts of No Nation
• RICHARD JENKINS – Bone Tomahawk
• MICHAEL SHANNON – 99 Homes

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

• ROBIN BARTLETT – H.
• MARIN IRELAND – Glass Chin
• JENNIFER JASON LEIGH – Anomalisa
• CYNTHIA NIXON - James White
• MYA TAYLOR – Tangerine

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

• EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (Colombia): DIRECTOR: Ciro Guerra
• GIRLHOOD (France): DIRECTOR: Céline Sciamma
• MUSTANG (France, Turkey): DIRECTOR: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
• A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE (Sweden): DIRECTOR: Roy Andersson
• SON OF SAUL (Hungary): DIRECTOR: László Nemes

BEST DOCUMENTARY

(Award given to the director and producer)

• (T)ERROR: DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe, PRODUCER: Christopher St. John
• BEST OF ENEMIES: DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
• HEART OF A DOG: DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Laurie Anderson, PRODUCER: Dan Janvey
• THE LOOK OF SILENCE: DIRECTOR: Joshua Oppenheimer, PRODUCER: Signe Byrge Sørensen
• MERU: DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, PRODUCER: Shannon Ethridge
• THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER: DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Chad Gracia, PRODUCERS: Ram Devineni, Mike Lerner

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Winner)

(Award given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)

• SPOTLIGHT: DIRECTOR: Tom McCarthy, CASTING DIRECTORS: Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee, ENSEMBLE CAST: Billy Crudup, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamey Sheridan, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci

Piaget Producers Award

• DARREN DEAN
• MEL ESLYN
• REBECCA GREEN & LAURA D. SMITH

Truer Than Fiction Award

• MOHAMMED ALI NAQVI & HEMAL TRIVEDI directors of AMONG THE BELIEVERS
• ELIZABETH CHAI VASARHELYI director of INCORRUPTIBLE
• ELIZABETH GIAMATTI & ALEX SICHEL directors of A WOMAN LIKE ME

Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award

• ROBERT MACHOIAN & RODRIGO OJEDA-BECK directors of GOD BLESS THE CHILD
• FELIX THOMPSON director of KING JACK
• CHLOÉ ZHAO director of SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME

Source: Film Independent Spirit Awards