The 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out last night in a virtual ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Melissa Villaseñor. The awards recognize the work of actors and creators in film and TV productions made outside the major studio system—and this year, two book-to-screen adaptations were among the recipients.
The film Nomadland, based on the Kirkus-starred 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, was the biggest winner of the night with four awards: best feature, best director and best editing for Chloé Zhao, and best cinematography for Joshua James Richards. Frances McDormand had also been nominated for best female lead, but Promising Young Woman’s Carey Mulligan took home that trophy.
The Nomadland book and movie both tell stories of houseless people who travel for seasonal employment. The film, which won two Golden Globes in February, is also up for six Academy Awards; it’s the favorite to win best picture at the Oscar ceremony on April 25.
The Emmy Award–winning Netflix miniseries Unorthodox—inspired by Deborah Feldman’s 2012 nonfiction book, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots—won two awards: best female performance in a new scripted series for Shira Haas, and best male performance in a new scripted series for Amit Rahav. In the show, which premiered in March of last year, Haas plays Esty Shapiro, who suddenly leaves her Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, to start a new life in Germany; Rahav plays Esty’s husband, Yanky, who attempts to bring her back.
The film First Cow had been up for three awards—best feature, best director for Kelly Reichardt, and best supporting male for Orion Lee—but won none. It’s a loose adaptation of Jonathan Raymond’s 2004 novel, The Half-Life.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
