American Honey and Moonlight lead US Indie Spirit Awards
American Honey and Moonlight have emerged with the most nominations for the 2017 Independent Spirit awards.
Both films are up for best feature and best director in what are the industry's most important independent awards.
Andrea Arnold's critically-acclaimed road trip movie American Honey picked up six nominations, as did Barry Jenkin's Oscar-tipped black youth drama Moonlight.
Moonlight follows the story of a young black man growing up in a dangerous neighbourhood of Miami.
The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and stars House Of cards actor Mahershala Ali.
The film sees its lead role shared between three characters and did not receive nominations for either best actor or best actress.
Instead, it will receive the ceremony's Robert Altman Prize for best ensemble.
Family drama Manchester By The Sea, also tipped for the Oscars, got five nods including best feature and best male lead for Casey Affleck.
Natalie Portman's Jaqueline Kennedy biopic followed with four nominations, including best actress for the Black Swan star and best director for Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain.
Independent Spirit is open to films made for less than $20m (£16m) and are handed out one day before the Academy Awards.
Former best feature winners Spotlight, Birdman and 12 Years a Slave all went on to win the best picture Oscar.
The biggest unnamed winner of the evening was A24, the New York indie distributor, with 19 nominations. It owns the rights to both Moonlight and American Honey.
The Spirit Awards are selected by small committees made up of critics, directors and producers.
Some festival favourites commonly regarded as independent, such as La La Land and Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals weren't eligible due to their high budgets.
Scottish director David Mackenzie's phenomenon Hell Or High Water is up for two awards, including best screenplay and best editing.
Hell Or High Water was the highest grossing independent film of 2016, with a current gross of $27m (£21m).
The Spirit Awards will be distributed in a ceremony on 25 February, 2017.
