Nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring excellence and originality in independent cinema, were announced this morning. The winners will be announced March 5, 2010 in Los Angeles. Here's the press release: 25th Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations Announced.

Cary Joji Fukunaga's Sin Nombre received three nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. If you haven't seen this film, check it out -- it's pretty damn awesome.

Big props to our friend Karin Chien, who received a Producer Award nomination for her work with The Exploding Girl and Santa Mesa. The Piaget Producers Award 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.

Congratulations also goes to So Yong Kim's feature Treeless Mountain, which was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Cinematographer Anne Misawa also received a nomination.

Last but not least, the South Korean film Mother, directed by Bong Joon-Ho, received a nomination for Best Foreign Film. I've been really looking forward to checking this one out. (It gets a U.S. release next year.)