36th Independent Spirit Awards Highlights

The 36th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, recognizing the best work in the independent space, held a virtual awards show on April 22, with “Nomadland” taking home the most honors of the night with four statues. Television was also celebrated for the first time at the ceremony, with “I May Destroy You” and “Unorthodox” taking home top honors. The fully immersive virtual ceremony featured presenters Adam Sandler, Renee Zellweger, Daveed Diggs, Julia Garner, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Murphy and Lulu Wang. 36th Independent Spirit Awards Highlights

There were many fun moments during the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards which relished in how work was done in the past year included appearances from “Hamilton” and “Soul” star Daveed Digg, Cate Blanchett, Laura Dern, Michaela Coel who addressed the audience in full flowing hair and beat face; Kumail Nanjiani, who also appeared from his house and joked that quarantine has been going for “seven years,” and Adam Sandler wearing an adidas jacket and overgrown man beard.

Among the winners of the evening was Chloe Zhao for directing Nomadland, which also won the coveted best feature award. Yuh-Jung Youn was recognized for her performance in Minari, Darius Marder for best first feature for Sound of Metal, the ensemble cast of I May Destroy You, and writer and director Emerald Fennell for her Promising Young Woman screenplay. 36th Independent Spirit Awards Highlights

The 36th annual event aired, just three days before the Oscars, on IFC and AMC+. Judas and the Black Messiah director Shaka King serves as honorary chair.

Some of the highlights included: 36th Independent Spirit Awards Highlights

One Night in Miami Cast and Crew Winning the Robert Altman Award

One Night in Miami was honored with the Robert Altman Award, presented by Don Cheadle to the cast and crew, who discussed the film’s creative and social impact over a montage of clips. Regina King described her directorial debut — depicting a fictional night where Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown meet to celebrate Ali’s victory but end up discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement. Leslie Odom Jr., who portrays Cooke in the film, added that the cast fully recognized screenwriter Kemp Powers’ goal of putting forth “a private conversation publicly about Black life and our humanity.” 

I May Destroy You Winning the Ensemble Award

I May Destroy You was awarded the best ensemble trophy, recognizing the HBO limited series cast including Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia and Stephen Wight. The series also received a win for best new scripted series earlier in the show. The boundary-pushing series created, executive produced, co-directed, written by lead star Coel is based on her personal story of sexual assault. –

“I felt nothing but encouragement and support from my wonderful humble cast who brought these characters to life in a way that I never imagined possible,” Coel said as she expressed her gratitude to the castmembers. “I realize that this project had a lot of giving actors who were very giving of themselves to these character to the stories to the truth of these characters and stories,” said Opia. 

The full list of winners below.

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

Best Female Lead
Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)
Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”)
Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)
Julia Garner (“The Assistant”)
Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)

Someone to Watch Award
Ekwa Msangi “( Farewell Amor”)
David Midell (“The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”)
Annie Silverstein (“Bull”)

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”)

Piaget Producers Award
Gerry Kim
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin

Best Director
Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
Eliza Hittman (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)
Kelly Reichardt (“First Cow”)

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

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

Best Cinematography
Joshua James Richards (“Nomadland”)
Jay Keitel (“She Dies Tomorrow”)
Shabier Kirchner (“Bull”)
Michael Latham (“The Assistant”)
Hélène Louvart (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)

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

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

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

Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series
Amit Rahav (“Unorthodox”)
Conphidance (“Little America”)
Adam Ali (“Little America”)
Nicco Annan (“P-Valley”)
Harold Torre (“Zero, Zero, Zero”)

Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”)
Elle Fanning (“The Great”)
Abby McEnany (“Work in Progress”)
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (“Never Have I Ever”)
Jordan Kristine Seamón (“We Are Who We Are”)

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

Robert Altman Award
“One Night in Miami”

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

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

Best Supporting Male
Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”)
Colman Domingo (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Orion Lee (“First Cow”)
Glynn Turman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Benedict Wong (“Nine Days”)

Truer Than Fiction Award
Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”)
Cecilia Aldarondo (“Landfall”)

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

Best First Screenplay
Andy Siara (“Palm Springs”)
Kitty Green (“The Assistant”)
Noah Hutton (“Lapsis”)
Channing Godfrey Peoples (“Miss Juneteenth”)
James Sweeney (“Straight Up”)

Best Supporting Female
Yuh-jung Youn (“Minari”)
Alexis Chikaeze (“Miss Juneteenth”)
Yeri Han (“Minari”)
Valerie Mahaffey (“French Exit”)
Talia Ryder (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)