Actor Samuel L. Jackson will host the Independent Film project's upcoming 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards, organizers announced Tuesday.

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Jackson hosted the awards ceremonies in 1996 and 1997.

"The Spirit Awards have always been a cool, laid-back celebration and a great way of getting actors together who embrace the independent film genre," Jackson said.

"Sideways," a road trip comedy by writer-director Alexander Payne, leads the field with six Spirit Award nominations -- including Best Feature and acting nominations for Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church and Virginia Madsen, a directing nomination for Payne and a screenplay nomination for Payne and his writing partner Jim Taylor.

"Maria Full of Grace," a drama about a young woman who agrees to smuggle drugs as a way of escaping from Colombia to the United States, has five nominations. Four films -- including the biography of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey -- have four nominations each.

The IFP Independent Spirit Awards will be presented Feb. 26 in Santa Monica, Calif.