36th Independent Spirit Awards

The 36th Independent Spirit Awards, presented by Film Independent, will honor the films of 2020. It also expanded categories to honoring television shows for the first time, creating five new ones: Best New Scripted Series, Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance, and Best Ensemble Cast.[1] Though it was initially intended for the ceremony to air on April 24, 2021,[2][3] later, it was changed to April 22, 2021.[4]

36th Independent Spirit Awards
Awarded for	Best in independent film
Date	April 22, 2021
Site	Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Television coverage
Channel	IFC

The nominations were announced on January 26, 2021, by Laverne Cox, Barry Jenkins, and Olivia Wilde.[5][6]

Winners and nominees

Film

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

Films with multiple nominations

Films that received multiple nominations

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

Television

Best New Scripted Series	Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
I May Destroy You Little America Small Axe A Teacher Unorthodox	Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children City So Real Immigration Nation Love Fraud We're Here
Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series	Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Adam Ali – Little America as Zain Nicco Annan – P-Valley as Uncle Clifford Conphidance – Little America as Iwegbuna Amit Rahav – Unorthodox as Yakov "Yanky" Shapiro Harold Torres – ZeroZeroZero as Manuel Contreras	Elle Fanning – The Great as Catherine the Great Shira Haas – Unorthodox as Esther "Esty" Shapiro 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
I May Destroy You – Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia and Stephen Wight

Shows with multiple nominations

Shows that received multiple nominations

Nominations	Series
3	Little America Unorthodox

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award

• The Killing of Two Lovers
• La Leyenda Negra
• Lingua Franca
• Residue
• Saint Frances

Robert Altman Award

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

• One Night in Miami – Regina King, Kimberly R. 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

• David Midell
• Ekwa Msangi
• 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
• Elizabeth Lo

References

1. 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards Expand to Honor Television|IndieWire
2. Spirit Awards TV Categories Added for 2021 Ceremony - /Film
3. Independent Spirit Awards Adds 5 New TV Categories for 2021 Ceremony - The Wrap
4. 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.
5. SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2021) | Presenters Olivia Wilde, Barry Jenkins, & Laverne Cox|FilmIndependent on YouTube
6. 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.

External links

• Official website