The nominees for this year’s Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning, and it looks like Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is getting a lot of early recognition, which may help the Oscar buzz for this film build even more. These are all independently financed feature films, produced for under $20 million (including post production), which makes it even more interesting just to see which films meet that requirement. Pretty much all of these films received only a limited theatrical run, although some of the movies haven’t actually been released yet. Angelina Jolie is a name you certainly wouldn’t expect to see on the list, and yet there she is, nominated for her amazing performance in A Mighty Heart. It’s also awesome to see that Steve Zahn got recognized for his role in Rescue Dawn as well. Any other surprises on this list of nominees?

Best Feature
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I’m Not There
Juno
A Mighty Heart
Paranoid Park

Best First Feature
2 Days in Paris
Great World of Sound
The Lookout
Rocket Science
Vanaja

Best Director
Todd Haynes (I’m Not There)
Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)
Jason Reitman (Juno)
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park)

Best Screenplay
Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening)
Adrienne Shelly (Waitress)
Mike White (Year of the Dog)

Best First Screenplay
Jeffrey Blitz (Rocket Science)
Zoe Cassavetes (Broken English)
Diablo Cody (Juno)
Kelly Masterson (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead)
John Orloff (A Mighty Heart)

Best Male Lead
Pedro Castaneda (August Evening)
Don Cheadle (Talk To Me)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages)
Frank Langella (Starting Out in the Evening)
Tony Leung (Lust, Caution)

Best Female Lead
Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart)
Sienna Miller (Interview)
Ellen Page (Juno)
Parker Posey (Broken English)
Tang Wei (Lust, Caution)

Best Supporting Male
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Talk To Me)
Marcus Carl Franklin (I’m Not There)
Kene Holliday (Great World of Sound)
Irrfan Khan (The Namesake)
Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn)

Best Supporting Female
Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There)
Anna Kendrick (Rocket Science)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Margot at the Wedding)
Tamara Podemski (Four Sheets to the Wind)
Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead)

Best Cinematography
Mott Hupfel (The Savages)
Janusz Kaminski (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Milton Kam (Vanaja)
Mihai Malaimare, Jr. (Youth Without Youth)
Rodrigo Prieto (Lust, Caution)

Best Documentary
Crazy Love
Lake of Fire
Manufactured Landscapes
The Monastery
The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

Best Foreign Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania)
The Band’s Visit (Israel)
Lady Chatterley (France)
Once (Ireland)
Persepolis (France)