The 36th edition of the Film Independent Spirit Awards is set to air on Thursday 22 April.
Historically, the annual awards ceremony has taken place as a daytime event that preceeds the Academy Awards. However, this year the awards will be announced in a full evening show dedicated to the innovation of the exciting films that have graced our screens over the past year.
A new development of the ceremony has been introduced for 2021, as it will not only celebrate feature films, but will give awards to a range of TV shows and mini-series.
The Independent Spirit Awards has often overlapped their winners with that of the prestigious Academy Awards, such as the joint success of British director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave in 2013 that won both the Spirit Award and the Academy Award for Best Picture. In this year’s nominations list there are some clear popular choices, such as Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman appearing in many categories. With such a high number of female-directed films in the nominations, the Spirit Awards are celebrating the incredible work of women, in stark contrast to the lack of female nominations at award ceremonies in previous years. Check out the full list of nominees below.
BEST FEATURE (Producer)
FIRST COW
Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Todd Black, Denzel Washington, Dany Wolf
MINARI
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Sara Murphy, Adele Romanski
NOMADLAND
Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Director/Producer)
I CARRY YOU WITH ME
Heidi Ewing / Edher Campos, Mynette Louie, Gabriela Maire
THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
Radha Blank / Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jordan Fudge, Rishi Rajani, Jennifer Semler, Lena Waithe
MISS JUNETEENTH
Channing Godfrey Peoples / Toby Halbrooks, Tim Headington, Jeanie Igoe, James M. Johnston, Theresa Steele Page, Neil Creque Williams
NINE DAYS
Edson Oda / Jason Michael Berman, Mette-Marie Kongsved, Matthew Lindner, Laura Tunstall, Datari Turner
SOUND OF METAL
Darius Marder / Bill Benz, Kathy Benz, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche
BEST DIRECTOR
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
BEST 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
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Kitty Green, The Assistant
Noah Hutton, Lapsis
Channing Godfrey Peoples, Miss Juneteenth
Andy Siara, Palm Springs
James Sweeney, Straight Up
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Best feature under $500,000, Director/Writer/Producer/)
THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS
Robert Machoian / Scott Christopherson, Clayne Crawford
LA LEYENDA NEGRA
Patricia Vidal Delgado / Alicia Herder, Marcel Perez
LINGUA FRANCA
Isabel Sandova / Darlene Catly Malimas, Jhett Tolentino, Carlo Velayo
RESIDUE
Merawi Gerima
SAINT FRANCES
Alex Thompson / Kelly O’Sullivan / James Choi, Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Eddie Linker, Raphael Nash, Roger Welp
BEST MALE LEAD
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Adarsh Gourav, The White Tiger
Rob Morgan, Bull
Steven Yeun, Minari
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Nicole Beharie, Miss Juneteenth
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Julia Garner, The Assistant
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Colman Domingo, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Orion Lee, First Cow
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Benedict Wong, Nine Days
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Alexis Chikaeze, Miss Juneteenth
Yeri Han, Minari
Valerie Mahaffey, French Exit
Talia Ryder, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Yuh-jung Youn, Minari
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jay Keitel, She Dies Tomorrow
Shabier Kirchner, Bull
Michael Latham, The Assistant
Hélène Louvart, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Joshua James Richards, Nomadland
BEST EDITING
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 (Director)
BACURAU (Brazil)
Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho
THE DISCIPLE (India)
Chaitanya Tamahane
NIGHT OF THE KINGS (Ivory Coast)
Philippe Lacôte
PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME (Hungary)
Lili Horvát
QUO VADIS, AIDA? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Jasmila Žbanić
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Director/Producer)
COLLECTIVE
Alexander Nanau / Hanka Kastelicová, Bernard Michaux, Bianca Oana
CRIP CAMP
Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham / Sara Bolder
DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD
Kirsten Johnson / Katy Chevigny, Marilyn Ness
THE MOLE AGENT
Maite Alberdi / Marcela Santibáñez
TIME
Garrett Bradley / Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Director/Casting/Ensemble)
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Regina King / Kimberly R. Hardin / Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
PRODUCERS AWARD (Emerging Producers)
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim
Kara Durrett
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
DAVID MIDELL – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
EKWA MSANGI – Farewell Amor
ANNIE SILVERSTEIN – Bull
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
CECILIA ALDARONDO – Landfall
ELEGANCE BRATTON – Pier Kids
ELIZABETH LO – Stray
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Creator / Executive Producer / Co-Executive Producer)
ATLANTA’S MISSING AND MURDERED: THE LOST CHILDREN
Jeff Dupre, Joshua Bennett, Sam Pollard, Maro Chermayeff, John Legend, Mike Jackson, Ty Stiklorius
CITY SO REAL
Zak Piper, Steve James / Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Alex Kotlowitz, Gordon Quinn, Betsy Steinberg, Jolene Pinder
IMMIGRATION NATION
Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Brandon Hill, Christian Thompson / Andrey Alistratov, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg, Lauren Haber
LOVE FRAUD
Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing, Amy Goodman Kass, Vinnie Malhotra, Jihan Robinson, Michael Bloom, Maria Zuckerman
WE’RE HERE
Stephen Warren, Johnnie Ingram / Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Peter LoGreco / Erin Haglund, Sabrina Mar
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Creator / Executive Producer / Co-Executive Producer)
I MAY DESTROY YOU
Michaela Coel / Phil Clarke, Roberto Troni
LITTLE AMERICA
Lee Eisenberg, Joshuah Bearman, Joshua Davis, Arthur Spector, Alan Yang, Siân Heder, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon
SMALL AXE
Tracey Scoffield, David Tanner, Steve McQueen
A TEACHER
Hannah Fidell / Michael Costigan, Kate Mara, Louise Shore, Jason Bateman, Danny Brocklehurst / Daniel Pipski
UNORTHODOX
Anna Winger / Alexa Karolinski / Henning Kamm
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A SCRIPTED SERIES
Elle Fanning, The Great
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Abby McEnany, Work in Progress
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Never Have I Ever
Jordan Kristine Seamón, We Are Who We Are
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Adam Ali, Little America
Nicco Annan, P-Valley
Conphidance, Little America
Amit Rahav, Unorthodox
Harold Torres, ZeroZeroZero
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
I MAY DESTROY YOU Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia, Stephen Wight
The Film Independent Spirit Awards will be broadcast Thursday 22 April.
Words by Katie Evans
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