Last year it was all Sunshine all the time when Little Miss Sunshine took home the majority of the Independent Spirit Awards, given out yearly by Film Independent. This year, the nominations are dominated by Juno, the teen pregnancy dramedy opening December 14, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and to a lesser degree I'm Not There.

Some of the nominations have me squealing with delight: Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated for Best Supporting Male for his outstanding performance in Talk to Me, Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris nominated for Best First Feature, and the Irish musical Once nominated for Best Foreign Film. Yet then there's the heartbreaking nomination of Waitress for Best Screenplay, which (if it wins) would have been given to Adrienne Shelly had she not tragically died last year.

For the full list of nominees — and there are some greats on there — read more

BEST FEATURE
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I'm Not There
Juno
A Mighty Heart
Paranoid Park

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 FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
2 Days in Paris
Director: Julie Delpy
Producers: Julie Delpy, Christophe Mazodier, Thierry Potok

Great World of Sound
Director: Craig Zobel
Producers: Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green, Richard Wright, Craig Zobel

The Lookout
Director: Scott Frank
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Laurence Mark, Walter Parkes

Rocket Science
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Sean Welch

Vanaja
Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Producer: Latha R. Domalapalli

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
August Evening
Owl and the Sparrow
The Pool
Quiet City
Shotgun Stories

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

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 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 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 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)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast)
I'm Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood