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Independent Spirit Awards 2021 | Congratulations to Our Clients Who Worked on This Year's Winning and Nominated Projects
April 22, 2021
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by Antonio Ferme, Variety

The 36th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, which recognizes the best work in the independent space, held a virtual awards show on April 22, with “Nomadland” taking home the most honors of the night with four statues. Television was also celebrated for the first time at the ceremony, with “I May Destroy You” and “Unorthodox” taking home top honors.

Hosted by “Saturday Night Live” cast member Melissa Villaseñor, the fully immersive virtual ceremony featured presenters such as Adam Sandler, Renee Zellweger, Daveed Diggs, Julia Garner, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Murphy and Lulu Wang. All nominated films had budgets under $22.5 million.

Check out the full list of winners below.

BEST FEATURE
“Nomadland”
“First Cow”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)
Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”)
Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)
Julia Garner (“The Assistant”)
Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Ekwa Msangi “( Farewell Amor”)
David Midell (“The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”)
Annie Silverstein (“Bull”)

BEST MALE LEAD
Riz Ahmed (“The Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Rob Morgan (“Bull”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)
Adarsh Gourav (“The White Tiger”)

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Gerry Kim
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin

BEST DIRECTOR
Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
Eliza Hittman (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)
Kelly Reichardt (“First Cow”)

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
“Immigration Nation”
“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children”
“City So Real”
“Love Fraud”
“We’re Here”

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
“Residue”
“The Killing of Two Lovers”
“La Leyenda Negra”
“Lingua Franca”
“Saint Frances”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Joshua James Richards (“Nomadland”)
Jay Keitel (“She Dies Tomorrow”)
Shabier Kirchner (“Bull”)
Michael Latham (“The Assistant”)
Hélène Louvart (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
“Quo Vadis, Aida?”
“Bacurau”
“The Disciple”
“Night of the Kings”
“Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”

BEST EDITING
“Nomadland”
“I Carry You With Me”
“The Invisible Man”
“Residue”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
“I May Destroy You”     (Director of Photography: Adam Gillham)

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Amit Rahav (“Unorthodox”)
Conphidance (“Little America”)
Adam Ali (“Little America”)
Nicco Annan (“P-Valley”)
Harold Torre (“Zero, Zero, Zero”)

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”)

Elle Fanning (“The Great”)
Abby McEnany (“Work in Progress”)
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (“Never Have I Ever”)
Jordan Kristine Seamón (“We Are Who We Are”)

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
“I May Destroy You”     (Director of Photography: Adam Gillham)
“Little America”
“Small Axe”
“A Teacher”
“Unorthodox”

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
“One Night in Miami”     (Executive Producer: Paul Davis)

BEST SCREENPLAY
“Promising Young Woman”
“Bad Education”
“Minari”
“The Half of It”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Crip Camp”
“Collective”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Time”
“The Mole Agent”

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”)
Colman Domingo (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Orion Lee (“First Cow”)
Glynn Turman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Benedict Wong (“Nine Days”)

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”)
Cecilia Aldarondo (“Landfall”)

BEST FIRST FEATURE
“The Sound of Metal”
“I Carry You With Me”
“The 40-Year-Old Version”     (Director of Photography: Eric Branco)
“Miss Juneteenth”
“Nine Days”

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY 
Andy Siara (“Palm Springs”)
Kitty Green (“The Assistant”)
Noah Hutton (“Lapsis”)
Channing Godfrey Peoples (“Miss Juneteenth”)
James Sweeney (“Straight Up”)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Yuh-jung Youn (“Minari”)
Alexis Chikaeze (“Miss Juneteenth”)
Yeri Han (“Minari”)
Valerie Mahaffey (“French Exit”)
Talia Ryder (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)

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