Independent Spirit Award Nomination for SAINT FRANCES
The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards are just under three months away, the nominations for the 2021 ceremony have arrived, and a Chicago-made gem has nabbed a coveted nomination among the star-studded crowd. The John Cassavetes Award is given to the best feature made for under $500,000, and the Chicago-made festival darling SAINT FRANCES has landed among the five nominees.
Here is the trailer for the newly nominated SAINT FRANCES:
SAINT FRANCES finds itself alongside four outstanding features that include Sundance selection LA LEYENDA NEGRA, directed by Patricia Vidal Delgado; THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS, directed by Robert Machoian; LINGUA FRANCA, directed by Isabel Sandoval; and RESIDUE, from director Merawi Gerima.
The Cassavetes nomination highlights an incredible run for the duo of writer and lead actor Kelly O’Sullivan, and director Alex Thompson. After making its World Premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March of 2019, SAINT FRANCES earned festival wins across the globe, most recently receiving two nominations from the prestigious Gotham Awards, as well as a boost of Oscar buzz for the team. Click here to read more about the Oscar buzz for SAINT FRANCES and SCREEN’s interview with O’Sullivan and Thompson.
O’Sullivan and Thompson’s team of producers, who are also nominated with them for the Cassavetes Award, include James Choi, Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Eddie Linker, Raphael Nash, and Roger Welp.
And the Nominees Are . . .
As for the rest of the Independent Spirit Award categories, this year’s most nominated film is NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, which picked up 7 total nominations. MINARI also preformed strong with 6 nominations, while MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM and NOMADLAND each picked up 5 nominations. Netflix was the most nominated studio with 16 nominations, followed by Focus Features with 10, and A24 with 9.
As always, the budget cutoff for films to be eligible for the Spirit Awards is $22.5 million. For this reason, several high profile Netflix Oscar contenders such as THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, DA 5 BLOODS and MANK are not eligible for the 2021 ceremony.
Mark Your Calendar
The 36th Independent Spirit Awards will take place Thursday, April 22. The ceremony will be broadcast live on IFC at 10 p.m. ET. In addition to the linear broadcast, the Spirit Awards will also stream simultaneously on AMC+. Following the broadcast, the full awards ceremony will be made available on demand across AMC+ and IFC platforms starting Friday, April 23.
Take a glance at this year’s Independent Spirit Award 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
- The 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, Promising Young Woman
Best Male Lead
- Riz Ahmed, The 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
- Colman 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
About Post Author
