Here are the Winners of the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards!
Phew! Honestly, we’re not used to staying up this late to wrap our awards season (although to be fair, we have been this drunk). But if nothing else, 2020/21 has certainly been a year of firsts. Including our first—and hopefully last—pandemic-era Film Independent Spirit Awards. And while we miss our big cacophonous beach tent, it’s hard to imagine having any more fun than we did tonight with host Melissa Villaseñor and this wholly unforgettable 2021 Spirit Awards.
So congrats again to all of this year’s nominees and winners—including those of our inaugural TV/streaming categories. And whether you watched this year’s show on IFC, streamed it on AMC+ or joined us for our first-ever Virtual Show experience, we can’t say it enough: THANK YOU. Your support—not to mention your streams, likes and shares—enables and empowers Film Independent to do the great work it does all year long to support visual storytelling.
Read on to see who took home this year’s Spirit Awards hardware…
BEST FEATURE – Nomandland (PRODUCERS: Mollye Asher, Dan Javey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao)
BEST DIRECTOR – Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
BEST FEMALE LEAD – Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
BEST MALE LEAD – Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE – Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
BEST SUPPORTING MALE – Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
BEST SCREENPLAY – Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
BEST EDITING – Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – Crip Camp (DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham PRODUCER: Sara Bolder)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – Joshua James Richards, Nomadland
BEST FIRST FEATURE – Sound of Metal (DIRECTOR: Darius Marder PRODUCERS: Bill Benz, Kathy Benz, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche)
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY – Andy Siara, Palm Springs
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Residue (WRITER/DIRECTOR: Merawi Gerima)
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – One Night in Miami… (DIRECTOR: Regina King CASTING DIRECTOR: Kimberly R. Hardin ENSEMBLE CAST: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.)
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM – Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina DIRECTOR Jasmila Žbanić)
PRODUCERS AWARD – Gerry Kim
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – Ekwa Msangi, Farewell Amor
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – Elegance Bratton, Pier Kids
BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES – I May Destroy You (CREATOR: Michaela Coel EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Phil Clarke, Michaela Coel, Roberto Troni)
BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES – Immigration Nation (EXEC PRODUCERS: Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Brandon Hill, Christian Thompson CO-EXEC PRODUCERS: Andrey Alistratov, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg, Lauren Haber)
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE (SCRIPTED) – Shira Haas, Unorthodox
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE (SCRIPTED) – Amit Rahav, Unorthodox
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST (SCRIPTED) – I May Destroy You (ENSEMBLE CAST: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia, Stephen Wight)
Relive or catch up with our favorite #SpiritAwards moments on our YouTube channel and stay tuned to the blog for additional Spirit Awards recaps and exclusive content throughout the next week.
Only Members vote for the winners of the Spirit Awards—so join now and decide who’ll be on this list in 2022. Make your voice heard!
The Film Independent Spirit Awards are sponsored by Premier Sponsors Genesis Motor North America and IFC. Bulleit Frontier Whiskey is the Official Spirit. FIJI Water is the Official Water. Looped is the Official Host of the Virtual Spirit Awards. Getty Images is the Official Photographer. We are also honored to be partnering with the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) SeeHer, the leading global movement for gender equality in media, advertising, marketing and entertainment and AMC Networks to further celebrate and act as a catalyst for accurate and meaningful representation in storytelling.