36th Independent Spirit Awards (2021)

Best Feature

	Nomadland
	First Cow
	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
	Minari
	Never Rarely Sometimes Always

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 Male Lead

	Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal as Ruben Stone
	Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Levee Green (posthumous)
	Adarsh Gourav - The White Tiger as Balram Halwai
	Rob Morgan - Bull as Abe
	Steven Yeun - Minari as Jacob Yi

Best Female Lead

	Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman as Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas
	Nicole Beharie - Miss Juneteenth as Turquoise Jones
	Viola Davis - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Ma Rainey
	Sidney Flanigan - Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Autumn Callahan
	Julia Garner - The Assistant as Jane
	Frances McDormand - Nomadland as Fern

Best Supporting Male

	Paul Raci - Sound of Metal as Joe
	Colman Domingo - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Cutler
	Orion Lee - First Cow as King-Lu
	Glynn Turman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Toledo
	Benedict Wong - Nine Days as Kyo

Best Supporting Female

	Youn Yuh-jung - Minari as Soon-ja
	Alexis Chikaeze - Miss Juneteenth as Kai Jones
	Yeri Han - Minari as Monica Yi
	Valerie Mahaffey - French Exit as Madame Reynaud
	Talia Ryder - Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Skylar

Best Screenplay

	Emerald Fennell - Promising Young Woman
	Lee Isaac Chung - Minari
	Eliza Hittman - Never Rarely Sometimes Always
	Mike Makowsky - Bad Education
	Alice Wu - The Half of It

Best Editing

	Chloé Zhao - Nomadland
	Andy Canny - The Invisible Man
	Scott Cummings - Never Rarely Sometimes Always
	Merawi Gerima - Residue
	Enat Sidi - I Carry You with Me

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? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
	Bacurau (Brazil)
	The Disciple (India)
	Night of the Kings (Ivory Coast)
	Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)

Best Documentary Feature

	Crip Camp
	Collective
	Dick Johnson Is Dead
	The Mole Agent
	Time

Best First Feature

	Darius Marder - Sound of Metal
	Radha Blank - The Forty-Year-Old Version
	Heidi Ewing - I Carry You with Me
	Edson Oda - Nine Days
	Channing Godfrey Peoples - Miss Juneteenth

Best First Screenplay

	Andy Siara - Palm Springs
	Kitty Green - The Assistant
	Noah Hutton - Lapsis
	Channing Godfrey Peoples - Miss Juneteenth
	James Sweeney - Straight Up