British actors, writers and directors have been listed among the nominees for the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards – a major US ceremony honouring lower budget American productions, in the run-up to the Oscars.

Carey Mulligan will be in the running for the Best Female Lead prize for her role in Promising Young Woman, whose British director Emerald Fennell is up for both the directing and screenwriting awards.

Riz Ahmed’s performance as a drummer losing his hearing in Sound of Metal has earned him a nomination in the Best Male Lead category, where he’s up against the late Chadwick Bozeman, for his final role as a jazz trumpeter in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

In years where lower budget films have gone down well with both critics and audiences, the Spirits can overlap with the Oscars and in this most unpredictable of years – with most of the bigger films being held back because of the coronavirus crisis cinema closures – many of the films in contention for the Academy Awards will be among the smaller films, made outside the studio system.

For the first year, the organisers of the Independent Spirit Awards are honouring TV as well as film. One award already announced is Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, which has been named the best ensemble cast in a new scripted series. It’s also up for Best New Scripted Series, alongside Sir Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series, which includes Mangrove and Lovers Rock, both films that were part of the official Cannes selection last year.

The full nominations list below gives an indication of what kind of productions are regarded as “independent TV” – but it’s not down to budget or network, because the producers include Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV and the BBC.