film independent spirit awards

Nomadland Wins Big at Film Independent Spirit Awards

Chloé Zhao. Photo: Getty Images for Film Independen

This year’s virtual Film Independent Spirit Awards saw awards juggernaut Nomadland garner the most trophies of the night, with four wins for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. The Sound of Metal also won for Best First Feature, and Emerald Fennell took home the Best Screenplay award for Promising Young Woman. Television was also honored at the ceremony for the first time in Spirit Awards history, with I May Destroy You finally (!) getting its deserved due, winning both Best New Scripted Series as well as Best Ensemble Cast in a Scripted Series. Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Feature
First Cow
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland

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 First Feature
I Carry You With Me
The 40-Year-Old Version
The Sound of Metal
Miss Juneteenth
Nine Days

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 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)

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 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 Screenplay
Bad Education
Minari
The Half of It
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Promising Young Woman

Best First Screenplay
Kitty Green (The Assistant)
Noah Hutton (Lapsis)
Channing Godfrey Peoples (Miss Juneteenth)
Andy Siara (Palm Springs)
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)

Best Editing
I Carry You With Me
The Invisible Man
Residue
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland

John Cassavetes Award
The Killing of Two Lovers
La Leyenda Negra
Lingua Franca
Residue
Saint Frances

Robert Altman Award
One Night in Miami

Best Documentary
Collective
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Time
The Mole Agent

Best International Film
Bacurau
The Disciple
Night of the Kings
Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
Quo Vadis, Aida?

Piaget Producers Award
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim

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)

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
City So Real
Immigration Nation
Love Fraud
We’re Here

Best New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You
Little America
Small Axe
A Teacher
Unorthodox

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 Scripted Series
Conphidance (Little America)
Adam Ali (Little America)
Nicco Annan (P-Valley)
Amit Rahav (Unorthodox)
Harold Torre (Zero, Zero, Zero)

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You

Nomadland Wins Big at Film Independent Spirit Awards