“Never Rarely” Earns Most 2021 Spirit Awards Nominations

BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN

The nominations for the 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards have been announced, with Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” leading the pack with 7 mentions, including nods in the Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Female Lead categories.

Following “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” are “Minari”, which earned 6 nominations, and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Nomadland”, which each earned 5 nominations. All three of those films were included in the Best Feature category alongside “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow”.

Netflix is the most nominated studio, with 16 nominations, followed by Focus Features (10) and A24 (9).

To be eligible for the Spirit Awards, a film must be produced for less than $22.5 million. Because of the budgetary constraints, notable awards season films like “The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Mank” did not qualify. In recent years, the Spirit Awards have been a major predictor of Oscar success. Films like “Moonlight” earned the Best Feature prize before going on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place Thursday, April 22. The ceremony will broadcast live on IFC at 10:00 p.m. ET while simultaneously streaming on AMC+. There’s no word yet if the ceremony will take place on Santa Monica Beach like in past years or if it will be a completely virtual or hybrid event.

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES:
Best Feature
“First Cow”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland”

Best Director
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Eliza Hittman,” Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Kelly Reichardt, “First Cow”
Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”

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

Best Female Lead
Nicole Beharie, “Miss Juneteenth”
Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Julia Garner, “The Assistant”
Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Carey Mulligan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

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

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

Best Supporting Male
Coleman Domingo, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Orion Lee, “First Cow”
Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”
Glynn Turmann, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Benedict Wong, “Nine Days”

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

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

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

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

Robert Altman Award
“One Night in Miami”

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

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

Piaget Producers Award
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim

Someone to Watch Award
David Midell, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Ekwa Msangi, “Farewell Amor”
Annie Silverstein, “Bull”

Truer Than Fiction Award
Cecilia Aldarondo, “Landfall”
Elegance Bratton, “Pier Kids”
Elizabeth Lo, “Stray”

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

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

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

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

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