The Independent Spirit Awards have announced their nominations, with "Birdman" obtaining the most of any film. 

The awards, which are handed out by Film Independent, are known for celebrating the best in independent film. In recent years the organization has also become a crucial Oscar precursor award as many of the recent films have both won the Oscar and the Indie spirit award. More importantly the ceremony is held a day before the Oscars, and as a result, many prognosticators make sure to keep track of the winners. 

This year, like most years, the organization offered up some big surprises and also clarified a lot of the Oscar race. 

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Oscar favorite "Birdman" led the nominations as it scored a Best Feature nomination, Best Director and Best Cinematography nomination. Enma Stone was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and Michael Keaton scored a Best Actor award. Edward Norton rounded out the nominees with a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his turn in the film. 

"Birdman" will compete against Indie favorite "Boyhood," "Love is Strange," "Selma" and "Whiplash."

Meanwhile Inarritu will compete against Damien Chazelle for "Whiplash," Ava Duvernay for "Selma" and Richard Linklater for "Boyhood." The category also feature surprise nominee David Zellner for "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter."

"Birdman" was surprising left out of the Screenplay competition. The nominees in this category went to "Big Eyes," "A Most Violent Year," "Nightcrawler," "Love is Strange" and "Only Lovers Left Alive."

In the Best Actor category Keaton will compete alongside David Oyelowo for "Selma", John Lithgow for "Love is Strange," Jake Gyllenhaal for "Nightcrawler" and surprise nominee "Jimi: All I by my Side."

The Best Actress category saw a number of surprises. As predicted Julianne Moore scored a nomination for "Still Alice." However Reese Witherspoon went missing for her work in "Wild." Instead the category saw Marion Cotillard nominated for "The Immigrant," Rinko Kikuchi for "Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter," Jenny Slate for "Obvious Child" and Tilda Swinton for "Only Lovers Left Alive."

In the Supporting Actress race Stone will compete against Oscar buzz-y performances from Jessica Chastain for "A Most Violent Year," Carmen Ejogo for "Selma" and Patricia Arquette for "Boyhood." The big surprise was from Latin star Andrea Suarez Paz for her work in "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors."  

Finally Norton will compete in the Supporting Actor category against J.K. Simmons for "Whiplash," Riz Ahmed for "Nightcrawler," Alfred Molina for "Love is Strange" and Ethan Hawke for "Boyhood." 

The foreign film race had six nominees and were represented by a number of countries. The nominees were "Force Majeure," "Ida" "Mommy," "Leviathan," "Under the Skin" and "Norte, the End of History."

The list may have surprised but many films went missing or were completely ignored. Oscar front runners "The Imitation Game" and "The Theory of Everything" did not qualify because they are not American made. 

However, one of the biggest surprises in the nominees was that "The Grand Budapest Hotel" received no nominations. "Foxcatcher" went missing even, though it scored a special distinction award. "Inherent Vice" won the Robert Altman award for director, casting director and ensemble cast.

From the looks of the Indie spirit awards, it seems this year will not be exact to the Academy. Many front runners such as "Gone Girl," "Unbroken," "American Sniper" and "Interstellar" also did not qualify because they are not Indie films.  

The nominations were announced by Latino actors Diego Luna and Rosario Dawson and will handed out on Feb. 21, 2015.

Full List of Nominees

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle
Whiplash
Ava DuVernay
Selma
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater
Boyhood
David Zellner
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

BEST SCREENPLAY
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
Big Eyes
J.C. Chandor
A Most Violent Year
Dan Gilroy
Nightcrawler
Jim Jarmusch
Only Lovers Left Alive
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias
Love is Strange

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Producers: Justin Begnaud, Sina Sayyah
Dear White People
Director/Producer: Justin Simien
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Lena Waithe
Nightcrawler
Director: Dan Gilroy
Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak
Obvious Child
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Producer: Elisabeth Holm
She's Lost Control
Director/Producer: Anja Marquardt
Producers: Mollye Asher, Kiara C. Jones

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Desiree Akhavan
Appropriate Behavior
Sara Colangelo
Little Accidents
Justin Lader
The One I Love
Anja Marquardt
She's Lost Control
Justin Simien
Dear White People

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD - Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.
Blue Ruin
Writer/Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Producers: Richard Peete, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
It Felt Like Love
Writer/Director/Producer: Eliza Hittman
Producers: Shrihari Sathe, Laura Wagner
Land Ho!
Writers/Directors: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Producers: Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy
Man From Reno
Writer/Director: Dave Boyle
Writers: Joel Clark, Michael Lerman
Producer: Ko Mori
Test
Writer/Director/Producer: Chris Mason Johnson
Producer: Chris Martin

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard
The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore
Still Alice
Jenny Slate
Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton
Only Lovers Left Alive

BEST MALE LEAD
André Benjamin
Jimi: All Is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal
Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
John Lithgow
Love is Strange
David Oyelowo
Selma

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette
Boyhood
CIO, CTO & Developer Resources
Jessica Chastain
A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo
Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Emma Stone
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed
Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke
Boyhood
Alfred Molina
Love is Strange
Edward Norton
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
J.K. Simmons
Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji
The Immigrant
Emmanuel Lubezki
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Sean Porter
It Felt Like Love
Lyle Vincent
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Bradford Young
Selma

BEST EDITING
Sandra Adair
Boyhood
Tom Cross
Whiplash
John Gilroy
Nightcrawler
Ron Patane
A Most Violent Year
Adam Wingard
The Guest

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
20,000 Days on Earth
Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
Producers: Dan Bowen, James Wilson
CITIZENFOUR
Director/Producer: Laura Poitras
Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
Stray Dog
Director: Debra Granik
Producer: Anne Rosellini
The Salt of the Earth
Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders
Producer: David Rosier
Virunga
Director/Producer: Orlando von Einsiedel
Producer: Joanna Natasegara

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Force Majeure
(Sweden)
Director: Ruben Östlund
Ida
(Poland)
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan
(Russia)
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Mommy
(Canada)
Director: Xavier Dolan
Norte, the End of History
(Philippines)
Director: Lav Diaz
Under the Skin
(United Kingdom)
Director: Jonathan Glazer

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD - (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis
Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD
Foxcatcher
Director/Producer: Bennett Miller
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik
Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Actors: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum

18th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD - The 18th annual Producers Award, sponsored by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.
Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson

21st ANNUAL KIEHL'S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD - The 21st annual Someone to Watch Award, sponsored by Kiehl's Since 1851, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl's Since 1851.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
H.
Directors: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia
The Retrieval
Director: Chris Eska

20th ANNUAL LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD - The 20th annual Truer Than Fiction Award, sponsored by LensCrafters is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by LensCrafters.
Approaching the Elephant
Director: Amanda Rose Wilder
Evolution of a Criminal
Director: Darius Clark Monroe
The Kill Team
Director: Dan Krauss
The Last Season
Director: Sara Dosa