Carey Mulligan won Best Female Lead for her performance as Cassie in Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman.”
By Virginia Yapp
At the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Carey Mulligan’s fearless performance in Emerald Fennell’s dark and daring feminist thriller Promising Young Woman elicited no shortage of dropped jaws at the feature’s world premiere. And on Thursday night at Film Independent’s virtual Independent Spirit Awards, Mulligan was awarded Best Female Lead for her turn as Cassie, a “suspiciously unambitious” med-school dropout on a righteous quest for vengeance. (Fennell — previously known for her work on TV’s Killing Eve — was also awarded Best Screenplay for her debut feature.)
The evening’s other Sundance-supported winners included Yuh-jung Youn, who won Best Supporting Female for her performance in Minari; Andy Siara, who won Best First Screenplay for Palm Springs; Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, who won Best Documentary for Crip Camp; and Ekwa Msangi, who won the Someone to Watch Award for her drama Farewell Amor. We also want to congratulate Sundance Institute alums Chloé Zhao, Mollye Asher, and Dan Janvey, whose feature Nomadland took home five awards during the ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director; as well as Riz Ahmed, who won Best Male Lead for his performance in Sound of Metal.
Stay tuned — award season concludes this Sunday, April 29, with the 93rd annual Academy Awards. (Ahead of the big day, see which Sundance-supported projects received nominations here.)
Read on for the full list of Sundance–supported award winners from the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards.
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 SUPPORTING FEMALE
Alexis Chikaeze, Miss Juneteenth
Yeri Han, Minari
Valerie Mahaffey, French Exit
Talia Ryder, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Yuh-jung Youn, Minari
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 DOCUMENTARY
Collective
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Time
The Mole Agent
PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Kara Durrett (Save Yourselves!)
Lucas Joaquin (The Evening Hour)
Gerry Kim (I’m No Longer Here)
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
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
The Killing of Two Lovers
La Leyenda Negra
Lingua Franca
Residue
Saint Frances
BEST NEW NONSCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
City So Real
Immigration Nation
Love Fraud
We’re Here
