# Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature

The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It is usually given to the director (or directors) and producer (or producers). The "first feature" designation is applied to the director not the producer(s). Therefore, producers have been nominated multiple times. It was first presented in 1986 with Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It being the first recipient of the award.
In 2000, this category was split into two separate categories: one for films with budgets over $500,000 and a new category, the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award, which was restricted to films with budgets under $500,000. In 2001, films could be eligible regardless of their budget as long as it was feature film directorial debut.

## Winners and nominees
### 1980s

| Year | Winner | Director(s) | Producer(s) |
| 1986 | She's Gotta Have It | Spike Lee | Spike Lee |
| 1986 | Belizaire the Cajun | Glen Pitre | Allan L. Durand |
| 1986 | A Great Wall | Peter Wang | Shirley Sun |
| 1986 | Hoosiers | David Anspaugh | John Daly, Carter DeHaven, Derek Gibson and Angelo Pizzo |
| 1986 | True Stories | David Byrne | Gary Kurfirst |
| 1987 | Dirty Dancing | Emile Ardolino | Linda Gottlieb |
| 1987 | Anna | Yurek Bogayevicz | Zanne Devine |
| 1987 | Hollywood Shuffle | Robert Townsend | Carl Craig |
| 1987 | Siesta | Mary Lambert | Gary Kurfirst |
| 1987 | Waiting for the Moon | Jill Godmilow | Sandra Schulberg |
| 1988 | Mystic Pizza | Donald Petrie | Mark Levinson and Scott M. Rosenfelt |
| 1988 | Border Radio | Allison Anders, Dean Lent and Kurt Voss | Marcus DeLeon |
| 1988 | The Chocolate War | Keith Gordon | Jonathan D. Krane |
| 1988 | The Prince of Pennsylvania | Ron Nyswaner | Jonathan D. Krane |
| 1988 | The Wash | Michael Toshiyuki Uno | Calvin Skaggs |
| 1989 | Heathers | Michael Lehmann | Denise Di Novi |
| 1989 | 84 Charlie Mopic | Patrick Sheane Duncan | Michael Nolan |
| 1989 | Powwow Highway | Jonathan Wacks | Jan Wieringa |
| 1989 | Sidewalk Stories | Charles Lane | Howard M. Brickner |
| 1989 | Talking to Strangers | Rob Tregenza | J.K. Eareckson |

### 1990s

| Year | Winner | Director(s) | Producer(s) |
| 1990 | Metropolitan | Whit Stillman | Whit Stillman |
| 1990 | House Party | Reginald Hudlin | Warrington Hudlin |
| 1990 | Lightning Over Braddock | Tony Buba | Tony Buba |
| 1990 | The Natural History of Parking Lots | Everett Lewis | Aziz Ghazal |
| 1990 | Twister | Michael Almereyda | Wieland Schulz-Keil [de] |
| 1991 | Straight Out of Brooklyn | Matty Rich | Matty Rich |
| 1991 | Chameleon Street | Wendell B. Harris Jr. | Wendell B. Harris Jr. |
| 1991 | Poison | Todd Haynes | Christine Vachon |
| 1991 | The Rapture | Michael Tolkin | Karen Koch, Nancy Tenenbaum and Nick Wechsler |
| 1991 | Slacker | Richard Linklater | Richard Linklater |
| 1992 | The Waterdance | Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg | Gale Anne Hurd, Marie Cantin and Guy Riedel |
| 1992 | Laws of Gravity | Nick Gomez | Bob Gosse and Larry Meistrich |
| 1992 | My New Gun | Stacy Cochran | Michael Flynn |
| 1992 | Reservoir Dogs | Quentin Tarantino | Lawrence Bender |
| 1992 | Swoon | Tom Kalin | Christine Vachon |
| 1993 | El Mariachi | Robert Rodriguez | Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo |
| 1993 | American Heart | Martin Bell | Jeff Bridges and Rosilyn Heller |
| 1993 | Combination Platter | Tony Chan | Tony Chan and Judy Moy |
| 1993 | Mac | John Turturro | Brenda Goodman and Nancy Tenenbaum |
| 1993 | Menace II Society | Allen and Albert Hughes | Darin Scott |
| 1994 | Spanking the Monkey | David O. Russell | Dean Silvers |
| 1994 | Clean, Shaven | Lodge Kerrigan | Lodge Kerrigan |
| 1994 | Clerks | Kevin Smith | Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier |
| 1994 | I Like It Like That | Darnell Martin | Lane Janger |
| 1994 | Suture | David Siegel and Scott McGehee | David Siegel, Scott McGehee, and Michele Petin |
| 1995 | The Brothers McMullen | Edward Burns | Dick Fisher |
| 1995 | Kids | Larry Clark | Cary Woods |
| 1995 | Little Odessa | James Gray | Paul Webster |
| 1995 | Picture Bride | Kayo Hatta | Diane Mei Lin Mark and Lisa Onodera |
| 1995 | River of Grass | Kelly Reichardt | Jesse Hartman |
| 1996 | Sling Blade | Billy Bob Thornton | David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser |
| 1996 | Big Night | Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci | Jonathan Filley |
| 1996 | I Shot Andy Warhol | Mary Harron | Tom Kalin and Christine Vachon |
| 1996 | Manny & Lo | Lisa Krueger | Marlen Hecht and Dean Silvers |
| 1996 | Trees Lounge | Steve Buscemi | Chris Hanley and Brad Wyman |
| 1997 | Eve's Bayou | Kasi Lemmons | Caldecot Chubb and Samuel L. Jackson |
| 1997 | The Bible and Gun Club | Daniel J. Harris | Daniel J. Harris |
| 1997 | Hard Eight | Paul Thomas Anderson | Robert Jones and John S. Lyons |
| 1997 | In the Company of Men | Neil LaBute | Mark Archer and Stephen Pevner |
| 1997 | Star Maps | Miguel Arteta | Matthew Greenfield |
| 1998 | The Opposite of Sex | Don Roos | David Kirkpatrick and Michael Besman |
| 1998 | Buffalo '66 | Vincent Gallo | Chris Hanley |
| 1998 | High Art | Lisa Cholodenko | Dolly Hall, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Susan A. Stover |
| 1998 | π | Darren Aronofsky | Eric Watson |
| 1998 | Slums of Beverly Hills | Tamara Jenkins | Michael Nozik and Stan Wlodkowski |
| 1999 | Being John Malkovich | Spike Jonze | Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern, Steve Golin and Vincent Landay |
| 1999 | Boys Don't Cry | Kimberly Peirce | Jeffrey Sharp, John Hart, Eva Kolodner and Christine Vachon |
| 1999 | Three Seasons | Tony Bui | Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente |
| 1999 | Twin Falls Idaho | Michael Polish | Marshall Persinger, Rena Ronson and Steven J. Wolfe |
| 1999 | Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl | Joan Chen | Joan Chen and Wai-Chung Chan |

### 2000s

| Year | Winner | Director(s) | Producer(s) |
| 2000 | You Can Count on Me | Kenneth Lonergan | John Hart, Jeffrey Sharp, Barbara De Fina and Larry Meistrich |
| 2000 | Boiler Room | Ben Younger | Jennifer Todd and Suzanne Todd |
| 2000 | Girlfight | Karyn Kusama | Maggie Renzi, Sarah Green and Martha Griffin |
| 2000 | Love & Basketball | Gina Prince-Bythewood | Spike Lee and Sam Kitt |
| 2000 | The Visit | Jordan Walker-Pearlman | Jordan Walker-Pearlman |
| 2001 | In the Bedroom | Todd Field | Todd Field, Ross Katz, and Graham Leader |
| 2001 | The Anniversary Party | Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh | Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh |
| 2001 | The Believer | Henry Bean | Susan Hoffman and Christopher Roberts |
| 2001 | Donnie Darko | Richard Kelly | Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, and Adam Fields |
| 2001 | Ghost World | Terry Zwigoff | Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, and Russell Smith |
| 2002 | The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys | Peter Care | Jodie Foster, Meg LeFauve, Jay Shapiro, and Todd McFarlane |
| 2002 | Interview with the Assassin | Neil Burger | Brian Koppelman and David Levien |
| 2002 | Manito | Eric Eason | Jesse Scolaro and Allen Bain |
| 2002 | Paid in Full | Charles Stone III | Damon Dash, Jay-Z, Brett Ratner, Azie Faison, and Steve Rifkind |
| 2002 | Roger Dodger | Dylan Kidd | Dylan Kidd, Anne Chaisson, and Campbell Scott |
| 2003 | Monster | Patty Jenkins | Mark Damon, Donald Kushner, Clark Peterson, Charlize Theron and Brad Wyman |
| 2003 | Bomb the System | Adam Bhala Lough | Ben Rekhi and Sol Tryon |
| 2003 | House of Sand and Fog | Vadim Perelman | Vadim Perelman and Michael London |
| 2003 | Quattro Noza | Joey Curtis | Fredric King |
| 2003 | Thirteen | Catherine Hardwicke | Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Michael London |
| 2004 | Garden State | Zach Braff | Pamela Abdy, Gary Gilbert, Dan Halsted and Richard Klubeck |
| 2004 | Brother to Brother | Rodney Evans | Rodney Evans, Jim McKay, Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof |
| 2004 | Napoleon Dynamite | Jared Hess | Jeremy Coon, Sean Covel and Chris Wyatt |
| 2004 | Saints and Soldiers | Ryan Little | Ryan Little and Adam Abel |
| 2004 | The Woodsman | Nicole Kassell | Lee Daniels |
| 2005 | Crash | Paul Haggis | Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari, Mark R. Harris and Bobby Moresco |
| 2005 | Lackawanna Blues | George C. Wolfe | Halle Berry, Vince Cirrincione, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Nellie Nugiel and Shelby Stone |
| 2005 | Me and You and Everyone We Know | Miranda July | Gina Kwon |
| 2005 | Thumbsucker | Mike Mills | Anthony Bregman and Bob Stephenson |
| 2005 | Transamerica | Duncan Tucker | Sebastian Dungan, Linda Moran and Rene Bastian |
| 2006 | Sweet Land | Ali Selim | Alan Cumming and James Bigham |
| 2006 | Day Night Day Night | Julia Loktev | Melanie Judd and Jessica Levin |
| 2006 | Man Push Cart | Ramin Bahrani | Pradip Ghosh and Bedford T. Bentley |
| 2006 | The Motel | Michael Kang | Matthew Greenfield, Miguel Arteta, Gina Kwon and Karin Chien |
| 2006 | Wristcutters: A Love Story | Goran Dukić | Adam Sherman, Chris Coen, Tatiana Kelly and Mikal P. Lazarev |
| 2007 | The Lookout | Scott Frank | Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Laurence Mark and Walter F. Parkes |
| 2007 | 2 Days in Paris | Julie Delpy | Christophe Mazodier and Thierry Potok |
| 2007 | Great World of Sound | Craig Zobel | Craig Zobel, Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green and Richard A. Wright |
| 2007 | Rocket Science | Jeffrey Blitz | Effie Brown and Sean Welch |
| 2007 | Vanaja | Rajnesh Domalpalli | Latha R. Domalapalli |
| 2008 | Synecdoche, New York | Charlie Kaufman | Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze and Sidney Kimmel |
| 2008 | Afterschool | Antonio Campos | T. Sean Durkin and Josh Mond |
| 2008 | Medicine for Melancholy | Barry Jenkins | Justin Barber |
| 2008 | Sangre de Mi Sangre | Christopher Zalla | Per Melita and Ben Odell |
| 2008 | Sleep Dealer | Alex Rivera | Anthony Bregman |
| 2009 | Crazy Heart | Scott Cooper | Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall, Rob Carliner, Judy Cairo and T-Bone Burnett |
| 2009 | Easier with Practice | Kyle Patrick Alvarez | Cookie Carosella |
| 2009 | The Messenger | Oren Moverman | Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee and Zach Miller |
| 2009 | Paranormal Activity | Oren Peli | Oren Peli and Jason Blum |
| 2009 | A Single Man | Tom Ford | Tom Ford, Chris Weitz, Andrew Miano and Robert Salerno |

### 2010s

| Year | Winner | Director(s) | Producer(s) |
| 2010 | Get Low | Aaron Schneider | Dean Zanuck and David Gundlach |
| 2010 | Everything Strange and New | Frazer Bradshaw | Laura Techera Francia and A.D. Liano |
| 2010 | The Last Exorcism | Daniel Stamm | Eric Newman, Eli Roth, Marc Abraham and Thomas A. Bliss |
| 2010 | Night Catches Us | Tanya Hamilton | Ronald Simon, Sean Costello and Jason Orans |
| 2010 | Tiny Furniture | Lena Dunham | Kyle Martin and Alicia Van Couvering |
| 2011 | Margin Call | J. C. Chandor | Joe Jenckes, Robert Ogden Barnum, Corey Moosa, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson and Zachary Quinto |
| 2011 | Another Earth | Mike Cahill | Hunter Gray, Mike Cahill, Brit Marling and Nicholas Shumaker |
| 2011 | In the Family | Patrick Wang | Patrick Wang, Andrew van den Houten and Robert Tonino |
| 2011 | Martha Marcy May Marlene | Sean Durkin | Josh Mond, Antonio Campos, Chris Maybach and Patrick Cunningham |
| 2011 | Natural Selection | Robbie Pickering | Brion Hambell and Paul Jensen |
| 2012 | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | Lianne Halfon, Russell Smith and John Malkovich |
| 2012 | Fill the Void | Rama Burshtein | Assaf Amir |
| 2012 | Gimme the Loot | Adam Leon | Natalie Difford, Dominic Buchanan and Jamund Washington |
| 2012 | Safety Not Guaranteed | Colin Trevorrow | Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf, Stephanie Langhoff, Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow |
| 2012 | Sound of My Voice | Zal Batmanglij | Hans Ritter, Brit Marling and Shelley Surpin |
| 2013 | Fruitvale Station | Ryan Coogler | Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker |
| 2013 | Blue Caprice | Alexandre Moors | Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O'Connell, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham |
| 2013 | Concussion | Stacie Passon | Cliff Chenfeld, Anthony Cupo and Rose Troche |
| 2013 | Una Noche | Lucy Mulloy | Daniel Mulloy, Lucy Mulloy, Maite Artieda and Sandy Perez Aguila |
| 2013 | Wadjda | Haifaa al-Mansour | Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul |
| 2014 | Nightcrawler | Dan Gilroy | Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Michel Litvak, Jake Gyllenhaal and David Lancaster |
| 2014 | Dear White People | Justin Simien | Effie Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Justin Simien and Lena Waithe |
| 2014 | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | Ana Lily Amirpour | Justin Begnaud and Sina Sayyah |
| 2014 | Obvious Child | Gillian Robespierre | Elisabeth Holm |
| 2014 | She's Lost Control | Anja Marquardt | Anja Marquardt, Mollye Asher and Kiara C. Jones |
| 2015 | The Diary of a Teenage Girl | Marielle Heller | Miranda Bailey, Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, and Madeline Samit |
| 2015 | James White | Josh Mond | Max Born, Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Melody Roscher, and Eric Schultz |
| 2015 | Manos sucias | Josef Kubota Wladyka | Elena Greenlee and Márcia Nunes |
| 2015 | Mediterranea | Jonas Carpignano | Jason Michael Berman, Chris Columbus, Jon Coplon, Christoph Daniel, Andrew Kortschak, John Lesher, Ryan Lough, Justin Nappi, Alain Peyrollaz, Gwyn Sannia, Marc Schmidheiny, Victor Shapiro, and Ryan Zacarias |
| 2015 | Songs My Brother Taught Me | Chloé Zhao | Chloé Zhao, Mollye Asher, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Angela C. Lee, and Forest Whitaker |
| 2016 | The Witch | Robert Eggers | Robert Eggers, Daniel Bekerman, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, and Rodrigo Teixeira |
| 2016 | The Childhood of a Leader | Brady Corbet | Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Chris Coen, Ron Curtis, Helena Danielsson, Mona Fastvold, and István Major |
| 2016 | The Fits | Anna Rose Holmer | Anna Rose Holmer and Lisa Kjerulff |
| 2016 | Other People | Chris Kelly | Sam Bisbee, Adam Scott, and Naomi Scott |
| 2016 | Swiss Army Man | Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan | Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon, and Jonathan Wang |
| 2017 | Ingrid Goes West | Matt Spicer | Jared Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, and Trevor White |
| 2017 | Columbus | Kogonada | Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Aaron Boyd, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Andrew Miano, and Chris Weitz |
| 2017 | Menashe | Joshua Z. Weinstein | Yoni Brook, Traci Carlson, Daniel Finkelman, and Alex Lipschultz |
| 2017 | Oh Lucy! | Atsuko Hirayanagi | Jessica Elbaum, Yukie Kito, and Han West |
| 2017 | Patti Cake$ | Geremy Jasper | Chris Columbus, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Noah Stahl, and Rodrigo Teixeira |
| 2018 | Sorry to Bother You | Boots Riley | Nina Yang Bongiovi, Kelly Williams, Jonathan Duffy, Charles D. King, George Rush, and Forest Whitaker |
| 2018 | Hereditary | Ari Aster | Kevin Frakes, Lars Knudsen, and Buddy Patrick |
| 2018 | The Tale | Jennifer Fox | Jennifer Fox, Oren Moverman, Laura Rister, Mynette Louie, Simone Pero, Lawrence Inglee, Sol Bondy, Regina K. Scully, Lynda Weinman, and Reka Posta |
| 2018 | We the Animals | Jeremiah Zagar | Jeremy Yaches, Christina D. King, Andrew Goldman, and Paul Mezey |
| 2018 | Wildlife | Paul Dano | Oren Moverman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker, Ann Ruark, Alex Saks, Andrew Duncan, and Paul Dano |
| 2019 | Booksmart | Olivia Wilde | Megan Ellison, Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfield, Jessica Elbaum, Katie Silberman |
| 2019 | The Climb | Michael Angelo Covino | Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, and Noah Lang |
| 2019 | Diane | Kent Jones | Luca Borghese, Ben Howe, Caroline Kaplan, and Oren Moverman |
| 2019 | The Last Black Man in San Francisco | Joe Talbot | Khaliah Neal, Joe Talbot, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Christina Oh |
| 2019 | The Mustang | Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre | Alain Goldman |
| 2019 | See You Yesterday | Stefon Bristol | Spike Lee |

### 2020s

| Year | Winner | Director(s) | Producer(s) |
| 2020 | Sound of Metal | Darius Marder | Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Bill Benz and Kathy Benz |
| 2020 | The 40-Year-Old Version | Radha Blank | Lena Waithe, Jordan Fudge, Radha Blank, Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jennifer Semler and Rishi Rajani |
| 2020 | I Carry You With Me | Heidi Ewing | Heidi Ewing, Mynette Louie, Gabriela Maire and Edher Campos |
| 2020 | Miss Juneteenth | Channing Godfrey Peoples | Toby Halbrooks, Tim Headington, Jeanie Igoe, James M. Johnston, Theresa Page and Neil Creque Williams |
| 2020 | Nine Days | Edson Oda | Jason Michael Berman, Mette-Marie Kongsved, Matthew Linder, Laura Tunstall and Datari Turner |
| 2021 | 7 Days | Roshan Sethi | Liz Cardenas, Mel Eslyn |
| 2021 | Holler | Nicole Riegel | Adam Cobb, Rachel Gould, Katie McNeill, Jamie Patricof and Christy Spitzer Thornton |
| 2021 | Queen of Glory | Nana Mensah | Baff Akoto, Anya Migdal, Kelley Robins Hicks and Jamund Washington |
| 2021 | Test Pattern | Shatara Michelle Ford | Pin-Chun Liu and Yu-Hao Su |
| 2021 | Wild Indian | Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. | Thomas Mahoney, Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., and Eric Tavitian |
| 2022 | Aftersun | Charlotte Wells | Mark Ceryak, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski |
| 2022 | Emily the Criminal | John Patton Ford | Tyler Davidson, Aubrey Plaza, Drew Sykes |
| 2022 | The Inspection | Elegance Bratton | Effie T. Brown, Chester Algernal Gordon |
| 2022 | Murina | Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović | Danijel Pek, Rodrigo Teixeira |
| 2022 | Palm Trees and Power Lines | Jamie Dack | Leah Chen Baker |
| 2023 | A Thousand and One | A. V. Rockwell | Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, and Brad Weston |
| 2023 | All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt | Raven Jackson | Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, and Adele Romanski |
| 2023 | Chronicles of a Wandering Saint | Tomás Gómez Bustillo | Gewan Brown and Amanda Freedman |
| 2023 | Earth Mama | Savanah Leaf | Sam Bisbee, Shirley O'Connor, Medb Riordan, and Cody Ryder |
| 2023 | Upon Entry | Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez | Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, and Xosé Zapata |
| 2024 | Dìdi | Sean Wang | Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, and Josh Peters |
| 2024 | In the Summers | Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio | Janek Ambros, Lynette Coll, Alexander Dinelaris, Cynthia Fernandez De La Cruz, Cristóbal Güell, Sergio Alberto Lira, Rob Quadrino, Jan Suter, Daniel Tantalean, Nando Vila, Slava Vladimirov, and Stephanie Yankwitt |
| 2024 | Janet Planet | Annie Baker | Andrew Goldman, Dan Janvey, and Derrick Tseng |
| 2024 | The Piano Lesson | Malcolm Washington | Todd Black and Denzel Washington |
| 2024 | Problemista | Julio Torres | Ali Herting, Dave McCary, and Emma Stone |