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36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)
Independent Spirit Awards logo

Spirit Awards 2021 Winners & Nominees

The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021) took place on April 22, 2021. Nomadland won Best Feature and 3 more awards. Every winner and nominee in all 13 categories is below.

All 13 categories Most wins
categories
13
nominations
66
films nominated
33
winners
13
Held on
Best Feature
Nomadland
Headline winners

Spirit Awards 2021: The Winners

Nomadland won Best Feature against 4 other nominees. Chloé Zhao (Best Director), Riz Ahmed (Best Male Lead) and Carey Mulligan (Best Female Lead) took the main individual prizes.

Nomadland (2020) movie poster Best Feature

Best Feature

Nomadland

2020 · Drama · Echo Score 80 · $39.5M worldwide

4 wins from 5 nominations at the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)

  • Best Director
  • Best Cinematography
  • Best Editing

After losing everything during the economic crisis, Fern embarks on a journey through the American West. She embraces a nomadic lifestyle, living and traveling in a van and encountering a community of modern-day nomads along the way. The film explores themes of loss, resilience, and finding connection in an ever-changing landscape.

About Nomadland
Scoreboard

Spirit Awards 2021: Which Films Won the Most

Nomadland won 4 awards from 5 nominations. 7 films won at least once, while Never Rarely Sometimes Always went home empty-handed from 7 nominations. Green is wins, blue is nominations.

  1. Nomadland (2020) movie poster
    Nomadland 4 / 5
    2020 · Drama · 4 wins from 5 nominations
  2. Sound of Metal (2020) movie poster
    Sound of Metal 3 / 3
    2020 · Drama, Music · 3 wins from 3 nominations
  3. Promising Young Woman (2020) movie poster
    Promising Young Woman 2 / 3
    2020 · Drama, Thriller · 2 wins from 3 nominations
  4. Miss Juneteenth (2020) movie poster
    Miss Juneteenth 1 / 4
    2020 · Drama · 1 win from 4 nominations
  5. The Assistant (2020) movie poster
    The Assistant 1 / 3
    2020 · Drama · 1 win from 3 nominations
  6. Quo Vadis, Aida? (2021) movie poster
    Quo Vadis, Aida? 1 / 1
    2021 · Drama, History · 1 win from 1 nomination
  7. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020) movie poster
    Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution 1 / 1
    2020 · Documentary · 1 win from 1 nomination
  8. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) movie poster
    Never Rarely Sometimes Always 0 / 7
    2020 · Drama · 0 wins from 7 nominations
  9. Minari (2020) movie poster
    Minari 0 / 6
    2020 · Drama · 0 wins from 6 nominations
  10. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) movie poster
    Ma Rainey's Black Bottom 0 / 5
    2020 · Drama, Music · 0 wins from 5 nominations
Full results

All 13 Spirit Awards 2021 Categories: Winners & Nominees

13 categories and 66 nominations. The winner of each comes first, on a green row. Search for a film or a person, show only the winners, or jump straight to a category.

13 categories · 66 nominations

Jump to a category
Movie marathon

The Spirit Awards 2021 Best Feature Marathon

All 5 Best Feature nominees at the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021), back to back: 8 hours 59 minutes.

Total running time 8h 59m 8 hours 59 minutes All 5 films
Longest
First Cow 2h 2m
Shortest
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom 1h 34m
By genre

The Genres Behind the Spirit Awards 2021 Winners

Drama led with 58 nominations across 26 films and won 12. A film with several genres counts for each one.

  1. Drama 12 wins · 58 nominations · 21%
  2. Comedy 2 wins · 10 nominations · 20%
  3. Music 3 wins · 9 nominations · 33%
  4. Thriller 2 wins · 9 nominations · 22%
  5. Crime 2 wins · 5 nominations · 40%
  6. Documentary 1 win · 4 nominations · 25%
  7. Fantasy 0 wins · 4 nominations · 0%
  8. Romance 0 wins · 4 nominations · 0%
  9. Mystery 0 wins · 4 nominations · 0%
  10. Sci-Fi 0 wins · 3 nominations · 0%
2021 season

How the Rest of the 2021 Awards Season Voted

The other 14 ceremonies of 2021, with the winner of each top prize. Nomadland also won the top prize at 5 of them.

All 2021 awards
Earlier years

Previous Spirit Awards Ceremonies

The 6 ceremonies before this one, with the winner of each top prize. The Spirit Awards page has every year back to 1986.

Every Spirit Awards ceremony

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FAQ

Spirit Awards 2021: Questions & Answers

The top prize, the film that won the most, the most-nominated film, the individual winners and the date of the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021), answered from the results on this page.

Who won Best Feature at the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)?

Nomadland (2020) won Best Feature. The other nominees were First Cow, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Minari and Never Rarely Sometimes Always.

About Nomadland

Which film won the most awards at the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)?

Nomadland (2020) won the most: 4 awards from 5 nominations. Sound of Metal was next with 3 wins.

Which film had the most nominations at the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)?

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) led with 7 nominations and won none of them.

Who won the acting and directing awards at the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)?

Best Director: Chloé Zhao for Nomadland. Best Male Lead: Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal. Best Female Lead: Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman. Best Supporting Male: Paul Raci for Sound of Metal. Best Supporting Female: Alexis Chikaeze for Miss Juneteenth.

When was the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021)?

The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards (2021) took place on April 22, 2021. The database has 13 categories and 66 nominations for it.