#FIRSTLOOK: 2021 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards take place Thursday, April 22, 2021 and nominations were announced today. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS takes the lead with a total seven nominations, with MINARI, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM and NOMADLAND tying in second with six nods apiece. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, the Feature directorial debut of Oscar winner Regina King will be awarded the Robert Altman Award this year.

Interestingly, we see Chadwick Boseman, whom posthumously has been a frontrunner in the Support Actor category this Awards Season, is in the Lead Actor category here for his work in MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM.

The Spirit Awards’ commitment and diversity can be felt this year across several categories and in the Director race we have two Asian-American Filmmakers nominated in Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and Chloe Zhao (Nomadland). Three out of five nominees in the category are female.

The Cast of HBO‘s I MAY DESTROY YOU starring, written, directed, produced by Michaela Coel also will be honoured for Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series.

Nominees are as follows:

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”
Chloe 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
Coleman Domingo, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Orion Lee, “First Cow”
Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”
Glynn Turmann, “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”

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”
Elizabeth Lo, “Stray”

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 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 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

Complete Nominee List and more here.

(Photo credit: Film Independent)