The 2021 Independent Spirit Awards were last night and proved to be a night of many historic firsts. The awards recognized television for the first time and gave long overdue praise to Michaela Coel’s stunning HBO series I May Destroy You after a long awards season of being largely overlooked.
The night also saw the continued dominance of Chloé Zhao who made history twice in one night for her film Nomadland. She became the first Asian woman to win the Spirit Award for best director as well as the first Asian director and the first woman to win best editing in the show's history. The film was also recognized as the best feature and for best cinematography.
All that leads into this weekend’s Oscars where Zhao has already made history with her nominations and looks to be a pretty sure bet to win most of the top awards.
Other notable wins were for Sound of Metal which took home the award for best first feature, best supporting male for Paul Raci, and in a bit of a surprise best male lead for Riz Ahmed over heavy favorite Chadwick Boseman.
You can see the full list of awards below and see if your favorites took home some hardware.
FILM CATEGORIES
Best Feature
Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
Best Director
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Best Screenplay
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Best First Feature
Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Director: Darius Marder
Producers: Bill Benz, Kathy Benz, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche
Best First Screenplay
Andy Siara, Palm Springs (NEON/Hulu)
John Cassavetes Award
(for best feature made under $500,000):
Residue
Writer/Director: Merawi Gerima
Best Supporting Female
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari (A24)
Best Supporting Male
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Best Female Lead
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Best Male Lead
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Robert Altman Award
One Night in Miami... (Amazon Studios)
Director: Regina King
Casting Director: Kimberly R. Hardin
Ensemble Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
Best Cinematography
Joshua James Richards, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Best Editing
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Best International Film
Quo Vadis, Aida? (Cinéart / Indie Sales)
Director: Jasmila Žbanić
Best Documentary
Crip Camp (Netflix)
Directors/Producers: Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham
Producer: Sara Bolder
TELEVISON CATEGORIES
Best New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You (HBO)
Creator/Executive Producer: Michaela Coel
Executive Producers: Phil Clarke, Roberto Troni
Best New Non-Scripted Or Documentary Series
Immigration Nation (Netflix)
Executive Producers: Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Brandon Hill, Christian Thompson
Co-Executive Producers: Andrey Alistratov, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg, Lauren Haber
Best Female Performance In A New Scripted Series
Shira Haas, Unorthodox (Netflix)
Best Male Performance In A New Scripted Series
Amit Rahav, Unorthodox (Netflix)
Best Ensemble Cast In A New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You (HBO)
Ensemble Cast: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia, Stephen Wight