It should not come as any surprise at this point that Nomadland crushed the competition at the Independent Spirit Awards held virtually and televised Thursday night April 22. The film itself won as did director Chloe Zhao and the film’s cinematographer and its editor.
So yes, we will be seeing all of them down the road at the Oscars on Sunday night.
Another female-led film, Promising Young Woman also garnered more hardware with the best female lead trophy for Carey Mulligan and the best screenplay award for Emerald Fennell.
Let’s also applaud the men. Sound of Metal was awarded best first feature, and the film’s Riz Ahmed got best male lead and Paul Raci took the trophy for supporting male.
Aside from the fact that the Spirits are usually held in a tent on Santa Monica beach the day before the Oscars, there was something else very different about this year’s ceremony. Television shows were in the mix for the first time.
Unorthodox, the story of a young woman who escapes the restrictions of her religion, won awards for its lead actors Shira Haas and Amit Rahav.
I May Destroy You won the prize for best scripted series, against a field that included Unorthodox, A Teacher, Small Axe and Little America.
SNL’s Melissa Villaseñor hosted the ceremonies. Here’s a list of the winners:
Best Feature
“First Cow”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland” (WINNER)
Best Director
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Eliza Hittman,” Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Kelly Reichardt, “First Cow”
Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”
(WINNER)
Best First Feature
“I Carry You With Me”
“The 40 Year Old Version”
“Sound of Metal” (WINNER)
“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” (WINNER)
Best Male Lead
Riz Ahmed, “The Sound of
Metal” (WINNER)
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”
(WINNER)
Best Supporting Male
Colman Domingo, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Orion Lee, “First Cow”
Paul Raci, “Sound of
Metal” (WINNER)
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”
(WINNER)
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
“I Carry You With Me”
“The Invisible Man”
“Residue”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland” (WINNER)
Robert Altman Award
“One Night in Miami”
Best Documentary
“Collective”
“Crip Camp” (WINNER)
“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?”
(WINNER)
Piaget 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”
John Cassavetes Awards
“The Killing of Two Lovers”
“La Leyenda Negra”
“Lingua Franca”
“Residue” (WINNER)
“Saint Frances”
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 Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”
(WINNER)
“Little America”
“Small Axe”
“A Teacher”
“Unorthodox”
Best Female Performance
in a 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 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, Weruche Opia
Stephen Wight
