2021 Independent Spirit Nominations: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' Leads The Pack With 'Minari' Close Behind

The 2021 Independent Spirit Awards nominations have been announced. Along with honoring the best that independent cinema has to offer, this year's Indie Spirit Awards have also introduced a television category, with several awards being handed out for the small screen.

On the feature film side of things, Never Rarely Sometimes Always came out on top with seven total nominations across all categories. Coming up right behind it is the American family drama Minari with six nominations, followed by Nomadland and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, each scoring five nominations overall. See the full list of 2021 Independent Spirit Awards nominations below.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always making a big show after debuting at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival is exactly the kind of thing you like to see from this independent cinema awards show. The film is a true indie with a harrowing story of a teenage girl forced to travel to New York City from Pennsylvania with her cousin in order to get an abortion. It's contemplative, incredibly well-acted, and as authentic as you can get.Minari also has an impressive presence in the Indie Spirit Award nominations this year. In addition to the film being nominated as one of the contenders for Best Feature, lead actor Steven Yeun also earned a nomination, and both Yeri Han and Yuh-jung Youn earned supporting actress nominations. Director Lee Isaac Chung is also up for the directing category.

Finally, rounding out the major nominees, we have Nomadland and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. While Nomadland hit across the spectrum with Best Feature, Best Director, Best Female Lead, Best Editing and Best Cinematography, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom earned a Best Feature nomination and four acting nominations for Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Colman Domingo, and Glynn Turman.

Also, in a strange turn, The Invisible Man was somehow nominated for Best Editing. It's not that the movie wouldn't be deserving of such a nomination for editing, but it's absolutely not an independent movie, so we're not really sure how it qualified.

Check out the full list of 2021 Independent Spirit Awards nominations below, along with the announcement video, and tune in when the awards are handed out live on Thursday, April 22 at 10:00 P.M. EST on IFC.

BEST FEATUREFirst CowMa Rainey's Black BottomMinariNever Rarely Sometimes AlwaysNomadlandBEST FIRST FEATURE I Carry You With MeThe Forty-Year-Old VersionMiss JuneteenthNine DaysSound of MetalBEST DIRECTORLee Isaac Chung – Minari

Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Kelly Reichardt – First Cow

Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

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 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 SUPPORTING FEMALE 

Alexis Chikaeze – Miss Juneteenth

Yeri Han – Minari

Valerie Mahaffe – French Exit

Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Yuh-jung Youn – Minari

BEST SCREENPLAYLee Isaac Chung – MinariEmerald Fennell – Promising Young WomanEliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Mike Makowsky – Bad Education

Alice Wu – The Half Of ItBEST FIRST SCREENPLAY  

Kitty Green – The Assistant

Noah Hutton – Lapsis

Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth

Andy Siara – Palm Springs

James Sweeney – Straight Up

BEST DOCUMENTARY CollectiveCrip CampDick Johnson is DeadThe Mole AgentTimeBEST EDITINGThe Invisible ManNever Rarely Sometimes AlwaysResidueI Carry You With MeNomadlandBEST CINEMATOGRAPHYShe Dies TomorrowBullThe AssistantNever Rarely Sometimes AlwaysNomadlandBEST INTERNATIONAL FILM Bacurau (Brazil)The Disciple (India)Night of the Kings (Ivory Coast)Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)ROBERT ALTMAN AWARDOne Night in Miami (Regina King)JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD  

Best feature made for under $500,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)

The Killing of Two LoversLa Leyenda NegraLingua FrancaResidueSaint FrancesPRODUCERS AWARDKara Durrett

Lucas Joaquin

Gerry Kim

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD 

Recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

David Midell – Director of The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain

Ekwa Msangi – Director of Farewell Amor

Annie Silverstein – Director of BullTRUER THAN FICTION AWARD 

Presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

Cecilia Aldarondo – Director of Landfall

Elegance Bratton – Director of Pier KidsElizabeth Lo – Director of Stray

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIESAtlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost ChildrenCity So RealImmigration NationLove FraudWe're HereBEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIESI May Destroy YouLittle AmericaSmall AxeA TeacherUnorthodoxBEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIESElle 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 NEW SCRIPTED SERIESConphidance – 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 SERIESI May Destroy You