# Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director

The Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award is one of the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards and honors feature film directorial debuts. Named after Bingham Ray since 2013, the breakthrough director award was first given in 1991 as the Open Palm Award, with Jennie Livingston being the first recipient of the award, for her work in Paris Is Burning. From 1991 to 1996 only the winner was announced, since 1997, a set of 5 to 6 nominees is presented annually.

## Winners and nominees
### 1990s

| Year | Director(s) | Film |
| 1991 | Jennie Livingston | Paris Is Burning |
| 1992 | Tom Kalin | Swoon |
| 1993 | Leslie Harris | Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. |
| 1994 | Rose Troche | Go Fish |
| 1995 | Rebecca Miller | Angela |
| 1996 | Lisa Krueger | Manny & Lo |
| 1997 | Macky Alston | Family Name |
| 1997 | Morgan J. Freeman | Hurricane Streets |
| 1997 | John O'Hagan | Wonderland |
| 1997 | Ira Sachs | The Delta |
| 1997 | Alex Sichel | All Over Me |
| 1998 | Darren Aronofsky | Pi |
| 1998 | Lisa Cholodenko | High Art |
| 1998 | Chris Eyre | Smoke Signals |
| 1998 | Vincent Gallo | Buffalo '66 |
| 1998 | Harmony Korine | Gummo |
| 1999 | David Riker | The City |
| 1999 | Tim Kirkman | Dear Jesse |
| 1999 | Eric Mendelsohn | Judy Berlin |
| 1999 | Mark Polish and Michael Polish | Twin Falls Idaho |
| 1999 | Frank Whaley | Joe the King |

### 2000s

| Year | Director(s) | Film |
| 2000 | Karyn Kusama | Girlfight |
| 2000 | Bruno de Almeida | On the Run |
| 2000 | Myles Connell | The Opportunists |
| 2000 | Tom Gilroy | Spring Forward |
| 2000 | Kenneth Lonergan | You Can Count on Me |
| 2001 | Henry Bean | The Believer |
| 2001 | John Cameron Mitchell | Hedwig and the Angry Inch |
| 2001 | Michael Cuesta | L.I.E. |
| 2001 | Daniel Minahan | Series 7: The Contenders |
| 2001 | Randy Redroad | The Doe Boy |
| 2001 | David Wain | Wet Hot American Summer |
| 2002 | Eric Eason | Manito |
| 2002 | Bertha Bay-Sa Pan | Face |
| 2002 | Ethan Hawke | Chelsea Walls |
| 2002 | Moisés Kaufman | The Laramie Project |
| 2002 | Peter Mattei | Love in the Time of Money |
| 2002 | Fisher Stevens | Just a Kiss |
| 2003 | Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini | American Splendor |
| 2003 | Alfredo De Villa | Washington Heights |
| 2003 | Peter Hedges | Pieces of April |
| 2003 | Dylan Kidd | Roger Dodger |
| 2003 | Tom McCarthy | The Station Agent |
| 2003 | Peter Sollett | Raising Victor Vargas |
| 2004 | Joshua Marston | Maria Full of Grace |
| 2004 | Rodney Evans | Brother to Brother |
| 2004 | Debra Granik | Down to the Bone |
| 2004 | Nicole Kassell | The Woodsman |
| 2004 | Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik | On the Outs |
| 2005 | Bennett Miller | Capote |
| 2005 | Miranda July | Me and You and Everyone We Know |
| 2005 | Phil Morrison | Junebug |
| 2005 | Andrew Wagner | The Talent Given Us |
| 2005 | Alice Wu | Saving Face |
| 2006 | Ryan Fleck | Half Nelson |
| 2006 | Ramin Bahrani | Man Push Cart |
| 2006 | Laurie Collyer | Sherrybaby |
| 2006 | So Yong Kim | In Between Days |
| 2006 | James Marsh | The King |
| 2007 | Craig Zobel | Great World of Sound |
| 2007 | Lee Isaac Chung | Munyurangabo |
| 2007 | Stephane Gauger | Owl and the Sparrow |
| 2007 | Julia Loktev | Day Night Day Night |
| 2007 | David Von Ancken | Seraphim Falls |
| 2008 | Lance Hammer | Ballast |
| 2008 | Antonio Campos | Afterschool |
| 2008 | Dennis Dortch | A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy |
| 2008 | Barry Jenkins | Medicine for Melancholy |
| 2008 | Alex Rivera | Sleep Dealer |
| 2009 | Robert D. Siegel | Big Fan |
| 2009 | Cruz Angeles | Don't Let Me Drown |
| 2009 | Frazer Bradshaw | Everything Strange and New |
| 2009 | Noah Buschel | The Missing Person |
| 2009 | Derick Martini | Lymelife |

### 2010s

| Year | Director(s) | Film | Ref. |
| 2010 | Kevin Asch | Holy Rollers | |
| 2010 | Lena Dunham | Tiny Furniture | |
| 2010 | Glenn Ficarra and John Requa | I Love You Phillip Morris | |
| 2010 | Tanya Hamilton | Night Catches Us | |
| 2010 | John Wells | The Company Men | |
| 2011 | Dee Rees | Pariah | |
| 2011 | Mike Cahill | Another Earth | |
| 2011 | Sean Durkin | Martha Marcy May Marlene | |
| 2011 | Vera Farmiga | Higher Ground | |
| 2011 | Evan Glodell | Bellflower | |
| 2012 | Benh Zeitlin | Beasts of the Southern Wild | [24] [25] |
| 2012 | Zal Batmanglij | Sound of My Voice | [24] [25] |
| 2012 | Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky | Francine | [24] [25] |
| 2012 | Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin | Now, Forager | [24] [25] |
| 2012 | Antonio Méndez Esparza | Aquí y allá | [24] [25] |
| 2013 | Ryan Coogler | Fruitvale Station | |
| 2013 | Adam Leon | Gimme the Loot | |
| 2013 | Alexandre Moors | Blue Caprice | |
| 2013 | Stacie Passon | Concussion | |
| 2013 | Amy Seimetz | Sun Don't Shine | |
| 2014 | Ana Lily Amirpour | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | |
| 2014 | James Ward Byrkit | Coherence | |
| 2014 | Dan Gilroy | Nightcrawler | |
| 2014 | Eliza Hittman | It Felt Like Love | |
| 2014 | Justin Simien | Dear White People | |
| 2015 | Jonas Carpignano | Mediterranea | |
| 2015 | Desiree Akhavan | Appropriate Behavior | |
| 2015 | Marielle Heller | The Diary of a Teenage Girl | |
| 2015 | John Magary | The Mend | |
| 2015 | Josh Mond | James White | |
| 2016 | Trey Edward Shults | Krisha | |
| 2016 | Robert Eggers | The Witch | |
| 2016 | Anna Rose Holmer | The Fits | |
| 2016 | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert | Swiss Army Man | |
| 2016 | Richard Tanne | Southside with You | |
| 2017 | Jordan Peele | Get Out | |
| 2017 | Maggie Betts | Novitiate | |
| 2017 | Greta Gerwig | Lady Bird | |
| 2017 | Kogonada | Columbus | |
| 2017 | Joshua Z Weinstein | Menashe | |
| 2018 | Bo Burnham | Eighth Grade | |
| 2018 | Ari Aster | Hereditary | |
| 2018 | Jennifer Fox | The Tale | |
| 2018 | Crystal Moselle | Skate Kitchen | |
| 2018 | Boots Riley | Sorry to Bother You | |
| 2019 | Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre | The Mustang | |
| 2019 | Kent Jones | Diane | |
| 2019 | Joe Talbot | The Last Black Man in San Francisco | |
| 2019 | Olivia Wilde | Booksmart | |
| 2019 | Phillip Youmans | Burning Cane | |

### 2020s

| Year | Director(s) | Film |
| 2020 | Andrew Patterson | The Vast of Night |
| 2020 | Radha Blank | The Forty-Year-Old Version |
| 2020 | Channing Godfrey Peoples | Miss Juneteenth |
| 2020 | Carlo Mirabella-Davis | Swallow |
| 2020 | Alex Thompson | Saint Frances |
| 2021 | Maggie Gyllenhaal | The Lost Daughter |
| 2021 | Shatara Michelle Ford | Test Pattern |
| 2021 | Rebecca Hall | Passing |
| 2021 | Edson Oda | Nine Days |
| 2021 | Emma Seligman | Shiva Baby |
| 2022 | Charlotte Wells | Aftersun |
| 2022 | Elegance Bratton | The Inspection |
| 2022 | Beth de Araújo | Soft & Quiet |
| 2022 | Owen Kline | Funny Pages |
| 2022 | Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović | Murina |
| 2022 | Jane Schoenbrun | We're All Going to the World's Fair |
| 2023 | A. V. Rockwell | A Thousand and One |
| 2023 | Michelle Garza Cervera | Huesera: The Bone Woman |
| 2023 | Raven Jackson | All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt |
| 2023 | Georgia Oakley | Blue Jean |
| 2023 | Celine Song | Past Lives |
| 2024 | Vera Drew | The People's Joker |
| 2024 | India Donaldson | Good One |
| 2024 | Mahdi Fleifel | To a Land Unknown |
| 2024 | Alessandra Lacorazza | In the Summers |
| 2024 | Shuchi Talati | Girls Will Be Girls |