The 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be looking a little different. IndieWire can announce that the 41st edition of the annual awards ceremony will be held at the Hollywood Palladium. The Spirit Awards usually take place on the Santa Monica beach in a big tent; however, as IndieWire reported earlier this year, a location change was imminent to accommodate infrastructure for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will take place in Los Angeles.
Deadline cited at the time that the cycling portion of the Olympic Games could be stationed at the beach where the Spirit Awards are usually held. The ceremony will be held at other venues before planning a return to that Santa Monica beach location once the 2028 Olympics have passed. As the recent press release states, the move to the historic Hollywood Palladium is due to Santa Monica “undergoing some exciting renovations.”
It is unclear if the Hollywood Palladium will be the new home for the Spirit Awards until 2029 or not. The Palladium opened in 1940 on the original Paramount lot. The 2026 Spirit Awards will take place on Sunday, February 15, 2026.
“Following the celebration of 40 years of the Spirit Awards earlier this year, we are excited to have the opportunity to reimagine the Spirit Awards experience during a moment of tremendous growth and transformation for our organization,” Brenda Robinson, Film Independent Acting President, said in a press statement. “We are proud to continue to be a beacon for the bold and resilient independent storytelling community and to honor excellence in storytelling in all its forms.”Â
Shawn Davis, Executive Producer of the Film Independent Spirit Awards, added, “We’re thrilled to bring the Spirit Awards to the historic Hollywood Palladium. This move represents our continued evolution while staying true to our roots of celebrating fearless independent voices of film and television.” Â
The 2025 Spirit Awards, which were hosted by Aidy Bryant for the second consecutive year, had major wins for future Oscar Best Picture winner “Anora.” The feature was already the most-nominated film at the Spirits with six nods; “Anora” went on to win Best Feature, Best Director for Sean Baker, and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison. Writer/director Baker said during his acceptance speech that Film Independent has been his “greatest supporter” throughout his career.
The full 2025 Spirit Awards winners list is here.
