# Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography is one of the annual awards given out by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It was first given in 1985, with Japanese cinematographer Toyomichi Kurita being the first recipient of the award for his work in Trouble in Mind.

## Winners and nominees
### 1980s

| Year | Film | Recipient(s) |
| 1985 | Trouble in Mind | Toyomichi Kurita |
| 1985 | After Hours | Michael Ballhaus |
| 1985 | Blood Simple | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| 1985 | Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart | Michael Chin |
| 1986 | Platoon | Robert Richardson |
| 1986 | Blue Velvet | Frederick Elmes |
| 1986 | Down by Law | Robby Müller |
| 1986 | Salvador | Robert Richardson |
| 1986 | True Stories | Edward Lachman |
| 1987 | Matewan | Haskell Wexler |
| 1987 | Barfly | Robby Müller |
| 1987 | The Dead | Fred Murphy |
| 1987 | Slam Dance | Amir Mokri |
| 1987 | Tough Guys Don't Dance | John Bailey |
| 1988 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Sven Nykvist |
| 1988 | The Moderns | Toyomichi Kurita |
| 1988 | Patti Rocks | Gregory M. Cummins |
| 1988 | Stand and Deliver | Tom Richmond |
| 1988 | Talk Radio | Robert Richardson |
| 1989 | Drugstore Cowboy | Robert Yeoman |
| 1989 | Earth Girls Are Easy | Oliver Stapleton |
| 1989 | Mystery Train | Robby Müller |
| 1989 | Powwow Highway | Toyomichi Kurita |
| 1989 | Talking to Strangers | Rob Tregenza |

### 1990s

| Year | Film | Recipient(s) |
| 1990 | Wild at Heart | Frederick Elmes |
| 1990 | House Party | Peter Deming |
| 1990 | King of New York | Bojan Bazelli |
| 1990 | Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive | Amir Mokri |
| 1990 | The Plot Against Harry | Robert M. Young |
| 1991 | Kafka | Walt Lloyd |
| 1991 | Homicide | Roger Deakins |
| 1991 | My Own Private Idaho | Eric Alan Edwards and John J. Campbell |
| 1991 | Pastime | Tom Richmond |
| 1991 | Rambling Rose | Johnny E. Jensen |
| 1992 | Night on Earth | Frederick Elmes |
| 1992 | All the Vermeers in New York | Jon Jost |
| 1992 | Laws of Gravity | Jean de Segonzac |
| 1992 | Light Sleeper | Edward Lachman |
| 1992 | Swoon | Ellen Kuras |
| 1993 | Menace II Society | Lisa Rinzler |
| 1993 | American Heart | James R. Bagdonas |
| 1993 | Chain of Desire | Nancy Schreiber |
| 1993 | Equinox | Elliot Davis |
| 1993 | Ruby in Paradise | Alex Vlacos |
| 1994 | Barcelona | John Thomas |
| 1994 | The Beans of Egypt, Maine | Stevan Larner |
| 1994 | Eat Drink Man Woman | Jong Lin |
| 1994 | I Like It Like That | Alexander Gruszynski |
| 1994 | Suture | Greg Gardiner |
| 1995 | Leaving Las Vegas | Declan Quinn |
| 1995 | Little Odessa | Tom Richmond |
| 1995 | Nadja | Jim Denault |
| 1995 | The Underneath | Elliot Davis |
| 1995 | The Usual Suspects | Newton Thomas Sigel |
| 1996 | Fargo | Roger Deakins |
| 1996 | Bound | Bill Pope |
| 1996 | Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day | Rob Sweeney |
| 1996 | Dead Man | Robby Müller |
| 1996 | The Funeral | Ken Kelsch |
| 1997 | Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love | Declan Quinn |
| 1997 | The Bible and Gun Club | Alex Vendler |
| 1997 | Habit | Frank G. DeMarco |
| 1997 | Hard Eight | Robert Elswit |
| 1997 | Sunday | Michael Barrow and John Foster |
| 1998 | Velvet Goldmine | Maryse Alberti |
| 1998 | Affliction | Paul Sarossy |
| 1998 | Belly | Malik Hassan Sayeed |
| 1998 | High Art | Tami Reiker |
| 1998 | Pi | Matthew Libatique |
| 1999 | Three Seasons | Lisa Rinzler |
| 1999 | The City | Harlan Bosmajian |
| 1999 | Judy Berlin | Jeffrey Seckendorf |
| 1999 | Julien Donkey-Boy | Anthony Dod Mantle |
| 1999 | Twin Falls Idaho | M. David Mullen |

### 2000s

| Year | Film | Recipient(s) |
| 2000 | Requiem for a Dream | Matthew Libatique |
| 2000 | Before Night Falls | Xavier Pérez Grobet and Guillermo Rosas |
| 2000 | George Washington | Tim Orr |
| 2000 | Hamlet | John de Borman |
| 2000 | Shadow of the Vampire | Lou Bogue |
| 2001 | Mulholland Drive | Peter Deming |
| 2001 | The American Astronaut | W. Mott Hupfel III |
| 2001 | The Deep End | Giles Nuttgens |
| 2001 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Frank G. DeMarco |
| 2001 | Memento | Wally Pfister |
| 2002 | Far from Heaven | Edward Lachman |
| 2002 | Gerry | Harris Savides |
| 2002 | Interview with the Assassin | Richard Rutkowski |
| 2002 | Narc | Alex Nepomniaschy |
| 2002 | Personal Velocity: Three Portraits | Ellen Kuras |
| 2003 | In America | Declan Quinn |
| 2003 | Elephant | Harris Savides |
| 2003 | Northfork | M. David Mullen |
| 2003 | Shattered Glass | Mandy Walker |
| 2003 | Streets of Legend | Derek Cianfrance |
| 2004 | The Motorcycle Diaries | Éric Gautier |
| 2004 | Dandelion | Tim Orr |
| 2004 | Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story | David Greene |
| 2004 | Saints and Soldiers | Ryan Little |
| 2004 | We Don't Live Here Anymore | Maryse Alberti |
| 2005 | Good Night, and Good Luck | Robert Elswit |
| 2005 | Capote | Adam Kimmel |
| 2005 | Keane | John Foster |
| 2005 | Last Days | Harris Savides |
| 2005 | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Chris Menges |
| 2006 | Pan's Labyrinth | Guillermo Navarro |
| 2006 | Brothers of the Head | Anthony Dod Mantle |
| 2006 | Four Eyed Monsters | Arin Crumley |
| 2006 | Man Push Cart | Michael Simmonds |
| 2006 | Wild Tigers I Have Known | Aaron Platt |
| 2007 | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Janusz Kamiński |
| 2007 | Lust, Caution | Rodrigo Prieto |
| 2007 | The Savages | W. Mott Hupfel III |
| 2007 | Vanaja | Milton Kam |
| 2007 | Youth Without Youth | Mihai Mălaimare Jr. |
| 2008 | The Wrestler | Maryse Alberti |
| 2008 | Ballast | Lol Crawley |
| 2008 | Chop Shop | Michael Simmonds |
| 2008 | Medicine for Melancholy | James Laxton |
| 2008 | Milk | Harris Savides |
| 2009 | A Serious Man | Roger Deakins |
| 2009 | Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans | Peter Zeitlinger |
| 2009 | Cold Souls | Andrij Parekh |
| 2009 | Sin nombre | Adriano Goldman |
| 2009 | Treeless Mountain | Anne Misawa |

### 2010s

| Year | Film | Recipient(s) |
| 2010 | Black Swan | Matthew Libatique |
| 2010 | Never Let Me Go | Adam Kimmel |
| 2010 | Tiny Furniture | Jody Lee Lipes |
| 2010 | Winter's Bone | Michael McDonough |
| 2010 | Greenberg | Harris Savides |
| 2011 | The Artist | Guillaume Schiffman |
| 2011 | Bellflower | Joel Hodge |
| 2011 | The Off Hours | Benjamin Kasulke |
| 2011 | Midnight in Paris | Darius Khondji |
| 2011 | The Dynamiter | Jeffrey Waldron |
| 2012 | Beasts of the Southern Wild | Ben Richardson |
| 2012 | Valley of Saints | Yoni Brook |
| 2012 | Here | Lol Crawley |
| 2012 | End of Watch | Roman Vasyanov |
| 2012 | Moonrise Kingdom | Robert Yeoman |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Sean Bobbitt |
| 2013 | Spring Breakers | Benoît Debie |
| 2013 | Inside Llewyn Davis | Bruno Delbonnel |
| 2013 | All Is Lost | Frank G. DeMarco |
| 2013 | Computer Chess | Matthias Grunsky |
| 2014 | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| 2014 | The Immigrant | Darius Khondji |
| 2014 | It Felt Like Love | Sean Porter |
| 2014 | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | Lyle Vincent |
| 2014 | Selma | Bradford Young |
| 2015 | Carol | Edward Lachman |
| 2015 | Beasts of No Nation | Cary Joji Fukunaga |
| 2015 | It Follows | Mike Gioulakis |
| 2015 | Meadowland | Reed Morano |
| 2015 | Songs My Brothers Taught Me | Joshua James Richards |
| 2016 | Moonlight | James Laxton |
| 2016 | Free in Deed | Ava Berkofsky |
| 2016 | The Childhood of a Leader | Lol Crawley |
| 2016 | The Eyes of My Mother | Zach Kuperstein |
| 2016 | American Honey | Robbie Ryan |
| 2017 | Call Me by Your Name | Sayombhu Mukdeeprom |
| 2017 | The Killing of a Sacred Deer | Thimios Bakatakis |
| 2017 | Columbus | Elisha Christian |
| 2017 | Beach Rats | Hélène Louvart |
| 2017 | The Rider | Joshua James Richards |
| 2018 | Suspiria | Sayombhu Mukdeeprom |
| 2018 | Madeline's Madeline | Ashley Connor |
| 2018 | Mandy | Benjamin Loeb |
| 2018 | We the Animals | Zak Mulligan |
| 2018 | Wildlife | Diego Garcia |
| 2019 | The Lighthouse | Jarin Blaschke |
| 2019 | Hustlers | Todd Banhazl |
| 2019 | Honey Boy | Natasha Braier |
| 2019 | The Third Wife | Chananun Chotrungroj |
| 2019 | Midsommar | Pawel Pogorzelski |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Recipient(s) |
| 2020 | Nomadland | Joshua James Richards |
| 2020 | She Dies Tomorrow | Jay Keitel |
| 2020 | Bull | Shabier Kirchner |
| 2020 | The Assistant | Michael Latham |
| 2020 | Never Rarely Sometimes Always | Hélène Louvart |
| 2021 | Passing | Eduard Grau |
| 2021 | Blue Bayou | Ante Cheng and Matthew Chuang |
| 2021 | The Humans | Lol Crawley |
| 2021 | A Chiara | Tim Curtin |
| 2021 | Zola | Ari Wegner |
| 2022 | Tár | Florian Hoffmeister |
| 2022 | Murina | Hélène Louvart |
| 2022 | Aftersun | Gregory Oke |
| 2022 | Pearl | Eliot Rockett |
| 2022 | Neptune Frost | Anisia Uzeyman |
| 2023 | The Holdovers | Eigil Bryld |
| 2023 | All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt | Jomo Fray |
| 2023 | Chronicles of a Wandering Saint | Pablo Lozano |
| 2023 | Monica | Katelin Arizmendi |
| 2023 | We Grown Now | Pat Scola |
| 2024 | Nickel Boys | Jomo Fray |
| 2024 | The Fire Inside | Rina Yang |
| 2024 | Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell | Ðinh Duy Hưng |
| 2024 | Janet Planet | Maria von Hausswolff |
| 2024 | La cocina | Juan Pablo Ramírez |