'Nomadland' Wins Big At Indie Spirit Awards, 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' Snubbed Across The Board

By Kristy Puchko | Film | April 23, 2021 |

By Kristy Puchko | Film | April 23, 2021 |

Last night, the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards offered a real shocker, awarding not a single honor to its most nominated contender: Eliza Hittman’s extraordinary Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Other critically heralded films that somehow walked away with nothing include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, First Cow, Miss Juneteenth, and The Assistant.

Heading into Oscar weekend, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman fared well once again, picking up wins in major categories. While it seems more and more like the former will be a lock for Best Picture and Best Director (in what would a history-making win for Chloé Zhao), the Acting races all seem wildly up for grabs, as no frontrunner has firmly emerged in any of the four categories.

Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Feature
Nomadland
First Cow
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Female Lead
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
Nicole Beharie (Miss Juneteenth)
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Julia Garner (The Assistant)
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)

Someone to Watch Award
Ekwa Msangi ( Farewell Amor)
David Midell (The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain)
Annie Silverstein (Bull)

Best Male Lead
Riz Ahmed (The Sound of Metal)
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Rob Morgan (Bull)
Steven Yeun (Minari)
Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger)

Piaget Producers Award
Gerry Kim
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin

Best Director
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
Immigration Nation
Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
City So Real
Love Fraud
We’re Here

John Cassavetes Award
Residue
The Killing of Two Lovers
La Leyenda Negra
Lingua Franca
Saint Frances

Best Cinematography
Joshua James Richards (Nomadland)
Jay Keitel (She Dies Tomorrow)
Shabier Kirchner (Bull)
Michael Latham (The Assistant)
Hélène Louvart (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)

Best International Film
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Bacurau
The Disciple
Night of the Kings
Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Best Editing
Nomadland
I Carry You With Me
The Invisible Man
Residue
Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You
Ensemble Cast: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia
Stephen Wight

Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series
Amit Rahav (Unorthodox)
Conphidance (Little America)
Adam Ali (Little America)
Nicco Annan (P-Valley)
Harold Torre (Zero, Zero, Zero)

Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Shira Haas (Unorthodox)
Elle Fanning (The Great)
Abby McEnany (Work in Progress)
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever)
Jordan Kristine Seamón (We Are Who We Are)

Best New Scripted Series
I May Destroy You
Little America
Small Axe
A Teacher
Unorthodox

Robert Altman Award
One Night in Miami

Best Screenplay
Promising Young Woman
Bad Education
Minari
The Half of It
Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Documentary
Crip Camp
Collective
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Time
The Mole Agent

Best Supporting Male
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Colman Domingo (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Orion Lee (First Cow)
Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Benedict Wong (Nine Days)

Truer Than Fiction Award
Elegance Bratton (Pier Kids)
Cecilia Aldarondo (Landfall)
Elizabeth Lo, (Stray)

Best First Feature
The Sound of Metal
I Carry You With Me
The 40-Year-Old Version
Miss Juneteenth
Nine Days

Best First Screenplay
Andy Siara (Palm Springs)
Kitty Green (The Assistant)
Noah Hutton (Lapsis)
Channing Godfrey Peoples (Miss Juneteenth)
James Sweeney (Straight Up)

Best Supporting Female
Yuh-jung Youn (Minari)
Alexis Chikaeze (Miss Juneteenth)
Yeri Han (Minari)
Valerie Mahaffey (French Exit)
Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)

Source: Variety