Jason Reitman's warm and quirky film Juno, which stars rising Canadian stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera, is among the top nominees for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Juno, which was one of the buzz-worthy films at the Toronto International Film Festival and also won the top prize at the Rome Film Festival, netted four nominations, including a best director nod for Montreal-born Reitman, an acting nod for Page and another in the best first screenplay category for debut writer Diablo Cody.

Jason Reitman, left, speaks as Ellen Page looks on during a press conference for the quirky comedy-drama Juno during the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Juno has been nominated for four Film Independent Spirit Awards.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

The movie, starring Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen who must find parents for her unborn child, also faces stiff competition in the best feature category.

Other best feature contenders include two other top nominees, French drama The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — which also received four nods — and the Bob Dylan-inspired ensemble film I'm Not There, which won nominations in four categories and will also receive the Robert Altman Award (a new honour paying tribute to the ensemble cast, director and casting director in single film).

Rounding out the best feature nominees are A Mighty Heart and Paranoid Park.

Reitman's rivals for best director include Todd Haynes (I'm Not There), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages).

Actress Tamara Podemski, recognized in the best supporting female category for her performance in Four Sheets to the Wind, is also among the Canadian contenders, along with documentarian Jennifer Baichwal for her film Manufactured Landscapes.

Selected nominees include:

• Screenplay: Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Tarmara Jenkins, The Savages; Fred Parnes and Andrew Wagner, Starting Out in the Evening; Adrienne Shelly, Waitress; Mike White, Year of the Dog.
• Female lead: Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart; Sienna Miller, Interview; Ellen Page, Juno; Parker Posey, Broken English; Tang Wei, Lust, Caution.
• Male lead: Pedro Castaneda, August Evening; Don Cheadle, Talk to Me; Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages; Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening; Tony Leung, Lust, Caution.
• Documentary: Crazy Love; Lake of Fire; Manufactured Landscapes; The Monastery; The Prisoner or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair.
• Foreign film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; The Band's Visit; Lady Chatterley; Once; Persepolis.

Handed out each year by the Los Angeles-based group Film Independent, the awards pay tribute to low-budget and arthouse filmmakers working outside of the traditional major studio structure or those creating works for smaller, specialty divisions.

The awards have in the past few years been one of several prominent barometers for the Academy Awards, with films such as Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Sideways and Monster taking trophies before going on to Oscar glory.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are typically presented the day before the Academy Awards telecast at a casual, but still star-studded beachside ceremony in Santa Monica, Calif.