Virtual awards ceremonies will soon (we hope) be a thing of the past, but, sadly, the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards are still firmly in the pandemic era. The traditional Saturday afternoon pre-Oscar day drinking telecast moved to a Thursday night Prime Time slot on IFC with Melissa Villaseñor admirably taking the reigns. And, perhaps forecasting a big win on Sunday, Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” took four Spirit Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Cinemtography (Joshua James Richards).
READ MORE: Melissa Villaseñor Has Already Pre-Taped Her Spirit Awards Hosting Gig [Interview]
While “Nomadland’s” wins might not have been a surprise, there were some upsets throughout the night. Most notably, Riz Ahmed took Best Lead Actor for “Sound of Metal” over expected Oscar winner “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’s” Chadwick Boseman. In the Lead Actress category, Carey Mulligan finally took the winner’s circle winning her first major honor for “Promising Young Woman.” Both of those films also had strong showings as Emerald Fennell won Best Screenplay for “Promising” while Paul Raci took Supporting Male for “Sound” which also won Best First Feature.
“Crip Camp” was an unexpected winner in the Documentary category while “Palm Springs” took Best First Screenplay. Yuh-jung Youn continued her dominance of the Supporting Actress field with another win for her incredible performance in “Minari.”
The inaugural television honors rewarded “I May Destroy You” as Best Scripted Series. “Unorthodox” finished out its long awards run with two big wins as Shira Haas and Amit Rahav won Best Female and Best Male Leads.
Overall, it was a nice spreading of the wealth where the Spirit Awards producers gave a genuine spotlight to the new television honors, Villaseñor proved she was more than capable host (her Steven Yeun parody song would have killed in person) and, for the most part, every major player found a win or two (or four).
Here’s a complete rundown of this year’s nominees and winners:
FILM CATEGORIES
BEST FEATURE
First Cow
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland [WINNER]
BEST FIRST FEATURE
I Carry You With Me
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Miss Juneteenth
Nine Days
Sound of Metal [WINNER]
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
The Killing of Two Lovers
La Leyenda Negra
Lingua Franca
Residue [WINNER]
Saint Frances
BEST DIRECTOR
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Eliza Hittman, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Kelly Reichardt, “First Cow”
Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland” [WINNER]
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” [WINNER]
James Sweeney, “Straight Up”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jay Keitel, “She Dies Tomorrow”
Shabier Kirchner, “Bull”
Michael Latham, “The Assistant”
Hélène Louvart, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Joshua James Richards, “Nomadland” [WINNER]
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” [WINNER]
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” [WINNER]
BEST MALE LEAD
Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal” [WINNER]
Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Adarsh Gourav, “The White Tiger”
Rob Morgan, “Bull”
Steven Yeun, “Minari”
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Alexis Chikaeze, “Miss Juneteenth”
Yeri Han, “Minari”
Valerie Mahaffey, “French Exit”
Talia Ryder, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Yuh-jung Youn, “Minari” [WINNER]
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Colman Domingo, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Orion Lee, “First Cow”
Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal” [WINNER]
Glynn Turman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Benedict Wong, “Nine Days”
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast)
“One Night in Miami…“
Director: Regina King
Casting Directors: Kimberly R. Hardin
Ensemble Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Collective
Crip Camp [WINNER]
Dick Johnson is Dead
The Mole Agent
Time
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) [WINNER]
PRODUCERS AWARD
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim [WINNER]
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD–.
David Midell, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Ekwa Msangi, “Farewell Amor” [WINNER]
Annie Silverstein, “Bull”
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Cecilia Aldarondo, “Landfall”
Elegance Bratton, “Pier Kids” [WINNER]
Elizabeth Lo, “Stray”
TV CATEGORIES
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
City So Real
Immigration Nation [WINNER]
Love Fraud
We’re Here
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
I May Destroy You [WINNER]
Little America
Small Axe
A Teacher
Unorthodox
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
Elle Fanning, “The Great”
Shira Haas, “Unorthodox” [WINNER]
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
Conphidance, “Little America”
Adam Ali, “Little America”
Nicco Annan, “P-Valley”
Amit Rahav, “Unorthodox” [WINNER]
Harold Torres, “Zero, Zero, Zero”
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES
I May Destroy You
Ensemble Cast: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Wruche Opia, Stephen Wight