AceShowbiz -

Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers, has officially announced at a press conference held yesterday, November 28 the nominees of its 2007 Spirit Awards, formerly known as the Independent Spirit Awards.

Gaining the most nominations are "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Half Nelson" as each landed five nods, notably the top honor of Best Feature together with "American Gun", "The Dead Girl", and "Pan's Labyrinth."

Not only competing for the coveted title, the two flicks are also against each other for Best Director and Best First Screenplay categories. Apart from this, "Sunshine", an acclaimed production of Fox Searchlight Pictures, scored two nominations in Best Supporting Male slot for Alan Arkin and Paul Dano while "Nelson" earned lead-acting nods for Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps.

Besides Arkin and Dano, other supporting-actor nominees are new James Bond Daniel Craig for his role in "Infamous", Raymond J. Barry for "Steel City," and Channing Tatum for "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints."

Accompanying Gosling in Best Male Lead category are Aaron Eckhart through his portrayal in "Thank You for Smoking", Edward Norton for "The Painted Veil", Ahmad Razvi for "Man Push Cart", and Forest Whitaker for "American Gun."

The ceremony will be held on February 24, a day before the Academy Awards, and aired live on Independent Film Channel with Don Cheadle and Felicity Huffman serving as the hosts. For complete list of the nominees, do look inside Film Independent's official site at https://filmindependent.org/spiritawards/nominees/nominees.php.