Independent Spirit nominations announced

Never Rarely Sometimes Always Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

8Eliza Hittman's Never Rarely Sometimes Always has received the most nominations for this year's Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations with seven, including best film and director, and female lead.

Just behind on six nominations is Minari, with Nomadland, First Cow and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom also heavily nominated.

It was a strong year for female directors, with Eliza Hittman, Chloe Zhao, Emerald Fennell and Kelly Reichardt all nominated in that category. The awards will be handed out on Thursday April 22, three days before the Oscars.

The full set of film nominations is below:

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 Forty-Year-Old Version
• Miss Juneteenth
• Nine Days
• Sound Of Metal

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, Promising Young Woman

Best Male Lead

• Riz Ahmed, Sound Of Metal
• Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Adarsh Gourav, The White Tiger
• Rob Morgan, Bull
• Steven Yeun, Minari

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

• Colman Domingo, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Orion Lee, First Cow
• Paul Raci, Sound Of Metal
• Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Benedict Wong, Nine Days

Best Screenplay

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

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

• Andy Canny, The Invisible Man
• Scott Cummings, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
• Merawi Gerima, Residue
• Enat Sidi, Carry You With Me
• Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

John Cassavetes Award (for a film made for less than $500,000)

• The Killing Of Two Lovers
• La Leyenda Negra
• Lingua Franca
• Residue
• Saint Frances

Robert Altman Award (ensemble cast and crew)

• One Night In Miami

Best Documentary

• Collective
• Crip Camp
• Dick Johnson Is Dead
• The Mole Agent
• Time

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, director of The Killing Of Kenneth Chamberlain
• Ekwa Msangi, director of Farewell Amor
• Annie Silverstein, director of Bull

Truer Than Fiction Award

• Cecilia Aldarondo, director of Landfall
• Elegance Bratton, director of Pier Kids
• Elizabeth Lo, director of Stray