The nominees have been announced for this year’s Independent Spirit Awards, which celebrates the best films of the year that were made for under $20 million. In order to be eligible, the movies have to be at least 70 minutes long, and must have played for at least one week at a commercial movie theatre or one of the 6 major film festivals.

Leading the nominees this year are Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River, Lance Hammer’s Ballast and Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married, each with 6 nominations. Check out the selections for Best Picture and Best Director below, and the rest of the categories are after the jump. Are there any personal favourites that you are happy to see get recognized? Personally I’m all about The Wrestler, but there are plenty of flicks on here that I haven’t had a chance to see yet.

BEST FEATURE
Rachel Getting Married
The Wrestler
Wendy and Lucy
Ballast
Frozen River

BEST DIRECTOR
Tom McCarthy, The Visitor
Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop
Lance Hammer, Ballast

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Afterschool (Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond)
Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, Justin Barber)
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel)
Sleep Dealer (Alex Rivera, Anthony Bregman)
Sangre De Mi Sangre (Christopher Zalla, Per Melita, Benjamin Odell)

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Prince of Broadway
Take Out
The Signal
Turn the River
In Search of a Midnight Kiss

BEST SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Sugar
Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman, Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla, Sangre De Mi Sangre

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Lance Hammer, Ballast
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Jonathan Levine, The Wackness
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Summer Bishil, Towelhead
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Tarra Riggs, Ballast
Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy

BEST MALE LEAD
Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Sean Penn, Milk
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez, The Take
Misty Upham, Frozen River
Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
James Franco, Milk
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott, Frozen River
JimMyron Ross, Ballast
Haaz Sleiman, The Visitor

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler
Lol Crawley, Ballast
James Laxton, Medicine for Melancholy
Harris Savides, Milk
Michael Simmonds, Chop Shop

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Order of Myths
Up the Yangtze
Encounters at the End of the World
The Betrayal
Man on Wire

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Class
Gomorra
Secret of the Grain
Hunger
Silent Light

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Synecdoche, New York

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Heather Rae (Frozen River)
Jason Orans (Goodbye Solo, Year of the Fish)
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy (Treeless Mountain, I’ll Come Running)

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Lynn Shelton (My Effortless Brilliance)
Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues)
Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy)

LACOSTE TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Darius Marder (Loot)
Sacha Gervasi (Anvil! The Story of Anvil)
Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths)