Independent Spirit Award / Best Debut Film

Award-winning and nominated film productions for the Independent Spirit Award in the category Best Debut Film (Best First Feature) . The directors and producers of the films are honored.

1980s

1987

Nola Darling (She's Gotta Have It) - Director: Spike Lee ; Production: Spike Lee, Monty Ross

Belizaire - The Cajun (Belizaire the Cajun) - Director: Glen Pitre ; Production: Allan L. Durand
Free Throw (Hoosiers) - Directed by David Anspaugh ; Production: Carter DeHaven , Angelo Pizzo
The Great Wall (A Great Wall) - Director: Peter Wang ; Production: Shirley Sun
True Stories - Directed by David Byrne ; Production: Gary Kurfirst

1988

Dirty Dancing - Director: Emile Ardolino ; Production: Linda Gottlieb

Anna ... Exil New York (Anna) - Director: Yurek Bogayevicz ; Production: Yurek Bogayevicz, Gábor Dettre , Zanne Devine
Hollywood Shuffle - Director: Robert Townsend ; Production: Robert Townsend
Siesta - Director: Mary Lambert ; Production: Gary Kurfirst
Waiting for the Moon (Waiting for the Moon) - Director: Jill Godmilow ; Production: Sandra Schulberg

1989

Pizza Pizza - A Slice of Heaven (Mystic Pizza) - Director: Donald Petrie ; Production: Mark Levinson , Scott M. Rosenfelt

Border Radio - Grenzstation (Border Radio) - Directors: Allison Anders , Dean Lent , Kurt Voss ; Production: Marcus DeLeon
The Chocolate War - Directed by Keith Gordon ; Production: Jonathan D. Krane
The Prince of Pennsylvania (The Prince of Pennsylvania) - Director: Ron Nyswaner ; Production: Joan Fishman , Kenny Orent
The Wash - Directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno ; Production: Calvin Skaggs

1990s

1993

Waterdance (The Waterdance) - Directors: Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg

1994

El Mariachi - Director: Robert Rodriguez

1995

Spanking the Monkey - Director: David O. Russell

1996

Little Sins Among Brothers (The Brothers McMullen) - Director: Edward Burns

1997

Sling Blade - Director: Billy Bob Thornton

1998

Eve's Bayou (Eve's Bayou) - Director: Kasi Lemmons

1999

The Opposite of Sex - The Opposite of Sex (The Opposite of Sex) - Director: Don Roos

2000s

2000

Being John Malkovich - Director: Spike Jonze ; Blair Witch Project - Directors: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

2001

You Can Count on Me - Directed by Kenneth Lonergan

2002

In the Bedroom - Directed by Todd Field

2003

Lost Heaven (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) - Director: Peter Care

2004

Monster - Director: Patty Jenkins

2005

Garden State - Director: Zach Braff

2006

LA Crash (Crash) - Director: Paul Haggis

2007

Sweet Land - Director: Ali Selim

2008

The Rules of Violence - Director: Scott Frank

2009

Synecdoche, New York - Director: Charlie Kaufman

2010s

2010

Crazy Heart - Director: Scott Cooper

2011

At the end of the road - A true story of lies (Get Low) - Director: Aaron Schneider

2012

The Great Crash - Margin Call (Margin Call) - Director: JC Chandor

2013

Maybe Better Tomorrow (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) - Director: Stephen Chbosky

2014

Next stop: Fruitvale station (Fruitvale Station) - Director: Ryan Coogler

2015

Nightcrawler - Every night has its price (Nightcrawler) - Director: Dan Gilroy

2016

The Diary of a Teenage Girl - Director: Marielle Heller

2017

The Witch - Director: Robert Eggers , Production: Daniel Bekerman , Lars Knudsen , Jodi Redmond

The Childhood of a Leader - Director: Brady Corbet , Production: Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre , Brady Corbet, Chris Coen , Helena Danielsson , István Major
The Fits - Director: Anna Rose Holmer , Production: Lisa Kjerulff , Anna Rose Holmer
Other People - Directed by Chris Kelly , Produced by Sam Bisbee , Adam Scott , Naomi Scott
Swiss Army Man - Directors: Daniel Kwan , Daniel Scheinert , Production: Miranda Bailey , Lawrence Inglee , Lauren Mann , Amanda Marshall , Eyal Rimmon , Jonathan Wang

2018

Ingrid Goes West - Director: Matt Spicer , Producer: Jared Ian Goldman , Adam Mirels , Robert Mirels , Aubrey Plaza , Tim White , Trevor White

Columbus - Director: Kogonada , Production: Danielle Renfrew Behrens , Aaron Boyd , Giulia Caruso , Ki Jin Kim , Andrew Miano , Chris Weitz
Menashe - Director: Joshua Z. Weinstein , Production: Yoni Brook , Joshua Z. Weinstein, Traci Carlson , Daniel Finkelman , Alex Lipschultz
Oh Lucy! - Director: Atsuko Hirayanagi , Production: Jessica Elbaum , Atsuko Hirayanagi, Yukie Kito , Han West
Patti Cake $ - Queen of Rap (Patti Cake $) - Director: Geremy Jasper , Production: Christ Columbus , Michael Gottwald , Dan Janvey , Daniela Taplin Lundberg , Noah Stahl , Rodrigo Teixeira

2019

Sorry to Bother You - Directed by Boots Riley , Produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi , Jonathan Duffy , Charles D. King , George Rush , Forest Whitaker , Kelly Williams

Hereditary - The Legacy (Hereditary) - Director: Ari Aster , Production: Kevin Frakes , Lars Knudsen , Buddy Patrick
The Tale - Memories (The Tale) - Director: Jennifer Fox , Production: Sol Bondy , Jennifer Fox , Lawrence Inglee , Mynette Louie , Oren Moverman , Simone Pero , Reka Posta , Laura Rister , Regina K. Scully , Lynda Weinman
We the Animals - Directed by Jeremiah Zagar , Produced by Andrew Goldman , Christina D. King , Paul Mezey , Jeremy Yaches
Wildlife - Directed / Produced by Paul Dano , Produced by Andrew Duncan , Jake Gyllenhaal , Riva Marker , Oren Moverman , Ann Ruark , Alex Saks

2020s

2020

Booksmart - Director: Olivia Wilde , Producer : Chelsea Barnard , David Distenfeld , Jessica Elbaum , Megan Ellison , Katie Silberman

The Climb - Directed by Michael Angelo Covino , Produced by Noah Lang , Kyle Marvin
Diane - Directed by Kent Jones , Produced by Luca Borghese , Ben Howe , Caroline Kaplan , Oren Moverman
The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Director / Production: Joe Talbot , Production: Dede Gardner , Jeremy Kleiner , Khaliah Neal , Christina Oh
The Mustang - Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre , Production: Ilan Goldman
See You Yesterday - Director: Stefon Bristol , Production: Spike Lee