The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2020, were presented by Film Independent on April 22, 2021. Though it was initially intended for the ceremony to air on April 24, 2021, it was later changed to April 22, 2021. The nominations were announced on January 26, 2021 by Laverne Cox, Barry Jenkins, and Olivia Wilde. The ceremony was televised in the United States on IFC and streamed exclusively by AMC+. Melissa Villaseñor hosted the ceremony.

This year, the Film Independent expanded categories in order to honor television series for the first time, debuting five new categories: Best New Scripted Series, Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series, Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series.

Best Feature	Best Director
Nomadland First Cow Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Minari Never Rarely Sometimes Always	Chloé Zhao – Nomadland Lee Isaac Chung – Minari Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Best Male Lead	Best Female Lead
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal as Ruben Stone Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Levee Green (posthumous) Adarsh Gourav – The White Tiger as Balram Halwai Rob Morgan – Bull as Abe Steven Yeun – Minari as Jacob Yi	Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman as Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas Nicole Beharie – Miss Juneteenth as Turquoise Jones Viola Davis – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Ma Rainey Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Autumn Callahan Julia Garner – The Assistant as Jane Frances McDormand – Nomadland as Fern
Best Supporting Male	Best Supporting Female
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal as Joe Colman Domingo – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Cutler Orion Lee – First Cow as King-Lu Glynn Turman – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Toledo Benedict Wong – Nine Days as Kyo	Youn Yuh-jung – Minari as Soon-ja Alexis Chikaeze – Miss Juneteenth as Kai Jones Yeri Han – Minari as Monica Yi Valerie Mahaffey – French Exit as Madame Reynaud Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Skylar
Best Screenplay	Best First Screenplay
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman Lee Isaac Chung – Minari Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Mike Makowsky – Bad Education Alice Wu – The Half of It	Andy Siara – Palm Springs Kitty Green – The Assistant Noah Hutton – Lapsis Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth James Sweeney – Straight Up
Best First Feature	Best Documentary Feature
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal Radha Blank – The Forty-Year-Old Version Heidi Ewing – I Carry You with Me Edson Oda – Nine Days Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth	Crip Camp Collective Dick Johnson Is Dead The Mole Agent Time
Best Cinematography	Best Editing
Joshua James Richards – Nomadland Jay Keitel – She Dies Tomorrow Shabier Kirchner – Bull Michael Latham – The Assistant Hélène Louvart – Never Rarely Sometimes Always	Chloé Zhao – Nomadland Andy Canny – The Invisible Man Scott Cummings – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Merawi Gerima – Residue Enat Sidi – I Carry You with Me
Best International Film
Quo Vadis, Aida? ( Bosnia and Herzegovina) Bacurau ( Brazil) The Disciple ( India) Night of the Kings ( Ivory Coast) Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time ( Hungary)

Best New Scripted Series	Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
I May Destroy You (BBC One / HBO) Little America (Apple TV+) Small Axe (Prime Video) A Teacher (FX on Hulu) Unorthodox (Netflix)	Immigration Nation (Netflix) Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children (HBO) City So Real (National Geographic) Love Fraud (Showtime) We're Here (HBO)
Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series	Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Amit Rahav – Unorthodox as Yakov "Yanky" Shapiro (Netflix) Adam Ali – Little America as Zain (Apple TV+) Nicco Annan – P-Valley as Uncle Clifford (Starz) Conphidance – Little America as Iwegbuna (Apple TV+) Harold Torres – ZeroZeroZero as Manuel Contreras (Prime Video)	Shira Haas – Unorthodox as Esther "Esty" Shapiro (Netflix) Elle Fanning – The Great as Catherine the Great (Hulu) Abby McEnany – Work in Progress as Abby (Showtime) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan – Never Have I Ever as Devi Vishwakumar (Netflix) Jordan Kristine Seamón – We Are Who We Are as Caitlin Poythress / Harper (HBO)
Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You – Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia, and Stephen Wight

(The award is given to the best feature made for under $500,000; recipients are the writer, director, and producer)

Residue

• The Killing of Two Lovers
• La Leyenda Negra
• Lingua Franca
• Saint Frances

(The award is given to its film director, casting director, and ensemble cast)

• One Night in Miami... – Regina King, Kimberly R. Hardin, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr.

The award honors emerging producers, who despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to create quality independent films. The winner receives a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant courtesy of Spirit Award Premier Sponsors Genesis Motor North America.

• Gerry Kim
  • Kara Durrett
  • Lucas Joaquin

The award honors a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The winner receives a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant courtesy of Spirit Award Premier Sponsors Genesis Motor North America.

• Ekwa Msangi – Farewell Amor
  • David Midell – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
  • Annie Silverstein – Bull

The award honors to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The winner receives a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant courtesy of Spirit Award Premier Sponsors Genesis Motor North America.

• Elegance Bratton – Pier Kids
  • Cecilia Aldarondo – Landfall
  • Elizabeth Lo – Stray

• 93rd Academy Awards
• 78th Golden Globe Awards
• 74th British Academy Film Awards
• 41st Golden Raspberry Awards
• 27th Screen Actors Guild Awards
• 26th Critics' Choice Awards

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