# 37th Independent Spirit Awards

The 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2021, were presented by Film Independent on March 6, 2022. Traditionally held the Saturday before the Academy Awards, the 2022 date marks a shift in the season, placing the Spirit Awards squarely in the corridor leading into Oscar voting. The nominations were announced on December 14, 2021, by actresses Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall, and Naomi Watts. Returning to an in-person ceremony this year, the event was televised in the United States on IFC and streamed exclusively for subscribers by AMC+. Married couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman hosted the ceremony.
The grant recipients for the Emerging Filmmakers Awards were announced on February 10, 2022.

## Winners and nominees
### Film

| Best Feature | Best Director |
| The Lost Daughter A Chiara C'mon C'mon The Novice Zola | Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter Janicza Bravo – Zola Lauren Hadaway – The Novice Mike Mills – C'mon C'mon Ninja Thyberg – Pleasure |
| Best Male Lead | Best Female Lead |
| Simon Rex – Red Rocket as Mikey Saber Clifton Collins Jr. – Jockey as Jackson Silva Frankie Faison – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain as Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. Michael Greyeyes – Wild Indian as Makwa Udo Kier – Swan Song as Pat Pitsenbarger | Taylour Paige – Zola as Aziah "Zola" King Isabelle Fuhrman – The Novice as Alex Dall Brittany S. Hall – Test Pattern as Renesha Bell Patti Harrison – Together Together as Anna Kali Reis – Catch the Fair One as Kaylee "K.O." Uppashaw |
| Best Supporting Male | Best Supporting Female |
| Troy Kotsur – CODA as Frank Rossi Colman Domingo – Zola as Abegunde "X" Olawale Meeko Gattuso – Queen of Glory as Pitt Will Patton – Sweet Thing as Adam Chaske Spencer – Wild Indian as Teddo | Ruth Negga – Passing as Clare Bellew Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter as Young Leda Caruso Amy Forsyth – The Novice as Jamie Brill Revika Reustle – Pleasure as Joy Suzanna Son – Red Rocket as Strawberry |
| Best Screenplay | Best First Screenplay |
| Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter Nikole Beckwith – Together Together Janicza Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris – Zola Mike Mills – C'mon C'mon Todd Stephens – Swan Song | Michael Sarnoski and Vanessa Block – Pig Sheldon D. Brown and Matthew Fifer – Cicada Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. – Wild Indian Shatara Michelle Ford – Test Pattern Fran Kranz – Mass |
| Best First Feature | Best Documentary Feature |
| 7 Days Holler Queen of Glory Test Pattern Wild Indian | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Ascension Flee In the Same Breath Procession |
| Best Cinematography | Best Editing |
| Eduard Grau – Passing Ante Cheng and Matthew Chuang – Blue Bayou Lol Crawley – The Humans Tim Curtin – A Chiara Ari Wegner – Zola | Joi McMillon – Zola Affonso Gonçalves – A Chiara Ali Greer – The Nowhere Inn Lauren Hadaway and Nathan Nugent – The Novice Enrico Natale – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain |
| Best International Film ||
| Drive My Car ( Japan) Compartment No. 6 ( Estonia / Finland / Germany / Russia) Parallel Mothers ( Spain) Pebbles ( India) Petite Maman ( France) Prayers for the Stolen ( Mexico) ||

#### Films with multiple nominations and awards

Films that received multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Film |
| 7 | Zola |
| 5 | The Novice |
| 4 | The Lost Daughter |
| 4 | Test Pattern |
| 4 | Wild Indian |
| 3 | A Chiara |
| 3 | C'mon C'mon |
| 2 | Jockey |
| 2 | The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain |
| 2 | Passing |
| 2 | Pig |
| 2 | Pleasure |
| 2 | Queen of Glory |
| 2 | Red Rocket |
| 2 | Shiva Baby |
| 2 | Swan Song |
| 2 | Sweet Thing |
| 2 | Together Together |
Films that won multiple awards :
| Awards | Film |
| 3 | The Lost Daughter |
| 2 | Passing |
| 2 | Shiva Baby |
| 2 | Zola |

### Television

| Best New Scripted Series | Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series |
| Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu) Blindspotting (Starz) It's a Sin (Channel 4) The Underground Railroad (Prime Video) We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4) | Black and Missing (HBO) The Choe Show (FX) The Lady and the Dale (HBO) Nuclear Family (HBO) Philly D.A. (PBS) |
| Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series | Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series |
| Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game as Seong Gi-hun (Netflix) Olly Alexander – It's a Sin as Ritchie Tozer (Channel 4) Murray Bartlett – The White Lotus as Armond (HBO) Michael Greyeyes – Rutherford Falls as Terry Thomas (Peacock) Ashley Thomas – Them: Covenant as Henry Emory (Prime Video) | Thuso Mbedu – The Underground Railroad as Cora Randall (Prime Video) Deborah Ayorinde – Them: Covenant as Livia "Lucky" Emory (Prime Video) Jasmine Cephas Jones – Blindspotting as Ashley Rose (Starz) Jana Schmieding – Rutherford Falls as Reagan Wells (Peacock) Anjana Vasan – We Are Lady Parts as Amina (Channel 4) |
| Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series ||
| Reservation Dogs – Paulina Alexis, Funny Bone, Lane Factor, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, Sarah Podemski, and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai ||

#### Series with multiple nominations and awards

Series that received multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Series |
| 2 | Blindspotting |
| 2 | It's a Sin |
| 2 | Rutherford Falls |
| 2 | Them: Covenant |
| 2 | The Underground Railroad |
| 2 | We Are Lady Parts |
Series that won multiple awards :
| Awards | Series |
| 2 | Reservation Dogs |

## Special awards
### John Cassavetes Award

(The award is given to the best feature made for under $500,000; the award is given to the writer, director, and producer)
Shiva Baby
* Cryptozoo
* Jockey
* Sweet Thing
* This Is Not a War Story

### Robert Altman Award

(The award is given to one film's director, casting director, and ensemble cast)
* Mass – Fran Kranz (director), Henry Russell Bergstein (casting director), Allison Estrin (casting director), Kagen Albright, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, and Breeda Wool

## Emerging Filmmakers Awards
### Producers Award

The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
* Lizzie Shapiro – Shiva Baby
** Brad Becker-Parton – Italian Studies
** Pin-Chun Liu – Test Pattern

### Someone to Watch Award

The award recognizes talented filmmakers of singular vision who have not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
* Alex Camilleri – Luzzu
** Gillian Wallace Horvat – I Blame Society
** Michael Sarnoski – Pig

### Truer than Fiction Award

The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
* Jessica Beshir – Faya Dayi
** Debbie Lum – Try Harder!
** Angelo Madsen Minax – North by Current