The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2020, were presented by Film Independent on April 22, 2021. Though it was initially intended for the ceremony to air on April 24, 2021, it was later changed to April 22, 2021. The nominations were announced on January 26, 2021 by Laverne Cox, Barry Jenkins, and Olivia Wilde. The ceremony was televised in the United States on IFC and streamed exclusively by AMC+. Melissa Villaseñor hosted the ceremony.
Expansion
This year, the Film Independent expanded categories in order to honor television series for the first time, debuting five new categories: Best New Scripted Series, Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series, Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series.
Winners and nominees
Film
{ | class=wikitable style="width=100%" |- ! style="width=50%" | Best Feature ! style="width=50%" | Best Director |- | valign="top" | Nomadland First Cow Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Minari Never Rarely Sometimes Always | valign="top" | Chloé Zhao – Nomadland Lee Isaac Chung – Minari Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Kelly Reichardt – First Cow |- ! style="width=50%" | Best Male Lead ! style="width=50%" | Best Female Lead |- | valign="top" | 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 | valign="top" | 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 |- ! style="width=50%" | Best Supporting Male ! style="width=50%" | Best Supporting Female |- | valign="top" | 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 | valign="top" | 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 |- ! style="width=50%" | Best Screenplay ! style="width=50%" | Best First Screenplay |- | valign="top" | 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 | valign="top" | Andy Siara – Palm Springs Kitty Green – The Assistant Noah Hutton – Lapsis Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth James Sweeney – Straight Up |- ! style="width=50%" | Best First Feature ! style="width=50%" | Best Documentary Feature |- | valign="top" | 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 | valign="top" | Crip Camp Collective Dick Johnson Is Dead The Mole Agent Time |- ! style="width=50%" | Best Cinematography ! style="width=50%" | Best Editing |- | valign="top" | Joshua James Richards – Nomadland Jay Keitel – She Dies Tomorrow Shabier Kirchner – Bull Michael Latham – The Assistant Hélène Louvart – Never Rarely Sometimes Always | valign="top" | Chloé Zhao – Nomadland Andy Canny – The Invisible Man Scott Cummings – Never Rarely Sometimes Always Merawi Gerima – Residue Enat Sidi – I Carry You with Me |- ! colspan="2" style="width=50%" | Best International Film |- | colspan="2" valign="top" | Quo Vadis, Aida? () Bacurau () The Disciple () Night of the Kings () Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time () |}