37th Independent Spirit Awards

[1] The nominations were announced on December 14, 2021 by actresses Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall, and Naomi Watts.

[6][7][8] 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+.

[9] Married couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman hosted the ceremony.

[11] The Lost Daughter Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter Simon Rex – Red Rocket as Mikey Saber Taylour Paige – Zola as Aziah "Zola" King Troy Kotsur – CODA as Frank Rossi Ruth Negga – Passing as Clare Bellew Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter Michael Sarnoski and Vanessa Block – Pig 7 Days Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Eduard Grau – Passing Joi McMillon – Zola Drive My Car ( Japan) Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu) Black and Missing (HBO) Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game as Seong Gi-hun (Netflix) Thuso Mbedu – The Underground Railroad as Cora Randall (Prime Video) Reservation Dogs – Paulina Alexis, Funny Bone, Lane Factor, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, Sarah Podemski, and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (The award is given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer) Shiva Baby (The award is given to one film's director, casting director, and ensemble cast) The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films.

The award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.