36th Independent Spirit Awards

36th Independent Spirit Awards
36th Independent Spirit Awards
Awarded for	Best in independent film and television
Date	April 22, 2021
Site	Santa Monica Pier; (Santa Monica, California)
Hosted by	Melissa Villaseñor
Highlights
Best Feature	Nomadland
Most awards	Nomadland (4)
Most nominations	Never Rarely Sometimes Always (7)
Television coverage
Channel	IFC
	← 35th; Independent Spirit Awards; 37th →;

The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2020, were presented by Film Independent on April 22, 2021.^[1]^[2] Though it was initially intended for the ceremony to air on April 24, 2021, it was later changed to April 22, 2021.^[3]^[4]^[5] The ceremony was televised in the United States by IFC and was hosted by Melissa Villaseñor.^[6] The nominations were announced on January 26, 2021 by Laverne Cox, Barry Jenkins, and Olivia Wilde.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Expansion

The Film Independent expanded categories in order to honor television series for the first time, creating five new ones: Best New Scripted Series, Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series, Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series, and Best Ensemble Cast in a Scripted Series.^[10]^[3]

Winners and nominees

Film

Best Feature	Best Director
Nomadland First Cow Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Minari Never Rarely Sometimes Always	Chloé Zhao – Nomadland Lee Isaac Chung – Minari Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
*Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal* as Ruben Stone** Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Levee Green (posthumous) Adarsh Gourav – The White Tiger as Balram Halwai Rob Morgan – Bull as Abe Steven Yeun – Minari as Jacob Yi	*Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman* as Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas** Nicole Beharie – Miss Juneteenth as Turquoise Jones Viola Davis – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Ma Rainey Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Autumn Callahan Julia Garner – The Assistant as Jane Frances McDormand – Nomadland as Fern
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
*Paul Raci – Sound of Metal* as Joe** Colman Domingo – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Cutler Orion Lee – First Cow as King-Lu Glynn Turman – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Toledo Benedict Wong – Nine Days as Kyo	*Youn Yuh-jung – Minari* as Soon-ja** Alexis Chikaeze – Miss Juneteenth as Kai Jones Han Ye-ri – Minari as Monica Yi Valerie Mahaffey – French Exit as Madame Reynaud Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Skylar
Best Screenplay	Best First Screenplay
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman Lee Isaac Chung – Minari Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Mike Makowsky – Bad Education Alice Wu – The Half of It	Andy Siara – Palm Springs Kitty Green – The Assistant Noah Hutton – Lapsis Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth James Sweeney – Straight Up
Best First Feature	Best Documentary Feature
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal Radha Blank – The 40-Year-Old Version Heidi Ewing – I Carry You With Me Edson Oda – Nine Days Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth	Crip Camp Collective Dick Johnson Is Dead The Mole Agent Time
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
Joshua James Richards – Nomadland Jay Keitel – She Dies Tomorrow Shabier Kirchner – Bull Michael Latham – The Assistant Hélène Louvart – Never Rarely Sometimes Always	Chloé Zhao – Nomadland Andy Canny – The Invisible Man Scott Cummings – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Merawi Gerima – Residue Enat Sidi – I Carry You With Me
Best International Film
Quo Vadis, Aida? ( Bosnia and Herzegovina) Bacurau ( Brazil) The Disciple ( India) Night of the Kings ( Ivory Coast) Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time ( Hungary)

Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
7	Never Rarely Sometimes Always
6	Minari
5	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
5	Nomadland
4	Miss Juneteenth
3	The Assistant
	First Cow
	Promising Young Woman
	Sound of Metal
2	Bull
	I Carry You With Me
	Nine Days

Films that won multiple awards
Wins	Film
4	Nomadland
3	Sound of Metal
2	Promising Young Woman

Television

Best New Scripted Series	Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
I May Destroy You Little America Small Axe A Teacher Unorthodox	Immigration Nation Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children City So Real Love Fraud We're Here
Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series	Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series
*Amit Rahav – Unorthodox* as Yakov "Yanky" Shapiro** Adam Ali – Little America as Zain Nicco Annan – P-Valley as Uncle Clifford Conphidance – Little America as Iwegbuna Harold Torres – ZeroZeroZero as Manuel Contreras	*Shira Haas – Unorthodox* as Esther "Esty" Shapiro** Elle Fanning – The Great as Catherine the Great Abby McEnany – Work in Progress as Abby Maitreyi Ramakrishnan – Never Have I Ever as Devi Vishwakumar Jordan Kristine Seamón – We Are Who We Are as Caitlin Poythress / Harper
Best Ensemble Cast in a Scripted Series
I May Destroy You – Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia, and Stephen Wight

Series with multiple nominations and awards

Series that received multiple nominations
Nominations	Series
3	Little America
3	Unorthodox
2	I May Destroy You

Series that won multiple awards
Wins	Series
2	Unorthodox
2	I May Destroy You

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award

Residue

Robert Altman Award

(The award is given to its film director, casting director, and ensemble cast)

One Night in Miami... – Regina King, Kimberly Hardin, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr.

Producers Award

Honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.

Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim

Someone to Watch Award

David Midell
Ekwa Msangi - Farewell Amour
Annie Silverstein

Truer than Fiction Award

Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Cecilia Aldarondo
Elegance Bratton - Pier Kids
Elizabeth Lo

References

^ Sharf, Zach (April 23, 2021). "Spirit Awards 2021 Winners List: 'Nomadland,' 'I May Destroy You,' Riz Ahmed, Carey Mulligan Win Big". IndieWire. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
^ Ferme, Antonio (April 22, 2021). "Independent Spirit Awards 2021: Full Winners List". Variety. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Bui, Hoai-Tran (September 30, 2020). "Independent Spirit Awards Adds TV Categories to 2021 Ceremony". /Film. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
^ Welk, Brian (September 29, 2020). "Independent Spirit Awards Adds 5 New TV Categories for 2021 Ceremony". TheWrap. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 21, 2021). "Independent Spirit Awards Breaks Tradition During Pandemic, Will Take Place Thursday Before Oscars". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
^ Verhoeven, Beatrice (February 8, 2021). "'SNL' Star Melissa Villasenor to Host 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards". TheWrap. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
^ Anderson, Erik (January 21, 2021). "Spirit Awards move date; Barry Jenkins, Laverne Cox, Olivia Wilde to announce nominations". AwardsWatch. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
^ "SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2021) | Presenters Olivia Wilde, Barry Jenkins & Laverne Cox". YouTube. January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
^ Lewis, Hilary (January 26, 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always', 'Minari', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'Nomadland' Top Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
^ Hill, Libby (September 29, 2020). "2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards Expand to Honor Television". IndieWire. Retrieved September 29, 2020.

External links

Official website

[1] Sharf, Zach (April 23, 2021). "Spirit Awards 2021 Winners List: 'Nomadland,' 'I May Destroy You,' Riz Ahmed, Carey Mulligan Win Big". IndieWire. Retrieved April 24, 2021.

[2] Ferme, Antonio (April 22, 2021). "Independent Spirit Awards 2021: Full Winners List". Variety. Retrieved April 24, 2021.

[SlashFilm-3] Bui, Hoai-Tran (September 30, 2020). "Independent Spirit Awards Adds TV Categories to 2021 Ceremony". /Film. Retrieved September 30, 2020.

[4] Welk, Brian (September 29, 2020). "Independent Spirit Awards Adds 5 New TV Categories for 2021 Ceremony". TheWrap. Retrieved September 29, 2020.

[5] D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 21, 2021). "Independent Spirit Awards Breaks Tradition During Pandemic, Will Take Place Thursday Before Oscars". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[6] Verhoeven, Beatrice (February 8, 2021). "'SNL' Star Melissa Villasenor to Host 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards". TheWrap. Retrieved February 8, 2021.

[7] Anderson, Erik (January 21, 2021). "Spirit Awards move date; Barry Jenkins, Laverne Cox, Olivia Wilde to announce nominations". AwardsWatch. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[8] "SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2021) | Presenters Olivia Wilde, Barry Jenkins & Laverne Cox". YouTube. January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.

[9] Lewis, Hilary (January 26, 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always', 'Minari', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'Nomadland' Top Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 26, 2021.

[10] Hill, Libby (September 29, 2020). "2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards Expand to Honor Television". IndieWire. Retrieved September 29, 2020.

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v t e Independent Spirit Awards
Current categories	Best Film Best Male Lead Best Female Lead Best Supporting Male Best Supporting Female Best Director Best Cinematography Best Editing Best Documentary Feature Best First Feature Best International Film Best Screenplay Best First Screenplay John Cassavetes Award Robert Altman Award
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