Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature

Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
Presented by	Independent Spirit Awards
First awarded	She's Gotta Have It (1986)
Currently held by	A Thousand and One (2023)
Website	spiritawards.com

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 ^[1]	She's Gotta Have It	Spike Lee
	Belizaire the Cajun	Glen Pitre	Allan L. Durand
	A Great Wall	Peter Wang	Shirley Sun
	Hoosiers	David Anspaugh	John Daly, Carter DeHaven, Derek Gibson and Angelo Pizzo
	True Stories	David Byrne	Gary Kurfirst
1987	Dirty Dancing	Emile Ardolino	Linda Gottlieb
	Anna	Yurek Bogayevicz	Zanne Devine
	Hollywood Shuffle	Robert Townsend	Carl Craig
	Siesta	Mary Lambert	Gary Kurfirst
	Waiting for the Moon	Jill Godmilow	Sandra Schulberg
1988	Mystic Pizza	Donald Petrie	Mark Levinson and Scott M. Rosenfelt
	Border Radio	Allison Anders, Dean Lent and Kurt Voss	Marcus DeLeon
	The Chocolate War	Keith Gordon	Jonathan D. Krane
	The Prince of Pennsylvania	Ron Nyswaner	Jonathan D. Krane
	The Wash	Michael Toshiyuki Uno	Calvin Skaggs
1989	Heathers	Michael Lehmann	Denise Di Novi
	84 Charlie Mopic	Patrick Sheane Duncan	Michael Nolan
	Powwow Highway	Jonathan Wacks	Jan Wieringa
	Sidewalk Stories	Charles Lane	Howard M. Brickner
	Talking to Strangers	Rob Tregenza	J.K. Eareckson

1990s

Year	Winner	Director(s)	Producer(s)
1990	Metropolitan	Whit Stillman
	House Party	Reginald Hudlin	Warrington Hudlin
	Lightning Over Braddock^[2]	Tony Buba
	The Natural History of Parking Lots	Everett Lewis	Aziz Ghazal
	Twister	Michael Almereyda	Wieland Schulz-Keil [de]
1991	Straight Out of Brooklyn	Matty Rich
	Chameleon Street	Wendell B. Harris Jr.
	Poison	Todd Haynes	Christine Vachon
	The Rapture	Michael Tolkin	Karen Koch, Nancy Tenenbaum and Nick Wechsler
	Slacker	Richard Linklater
1992	The Waterdance	Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg	Gale Anne Hurd, Marie Cantin and Guy Riedel
	Laws of Gravity	Nick Gomez	Bob Gosse and Larry Meistrich
	My New Gun	Stacy Cochran	Michael Flynn
	Reservoir Dogs	Quentin Tarantino	Lawrence Bender
	Swoon	Tom Kalin	Christine Vachon
1993	El Mariachi	Robert Rodriguez	Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo
	American Heart	Martin Bell	Jeff Bridges and Rosilyn Heller
	Combination Platter	Tony Chan	Tony Chan and Judy Moy
	Mac	John Turturro	Brenda Goodman and Nancy Tenenbaum
	Menace II Society	Allen and Albert Hughes	Darin Scott
1994	Spanking the Monkey	David O. Russell	Dean Silvers
	Clean, Shaven	Lodge Kerrigan
	Clerks	Kevin Smith	Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier
	I Like It Like That	Darnell Martin	Lane Janger
	Suture	David Siegel and Scott McGehee	David Siegel, Scott McGehee, and Michele Petin
1995	The Brothers McMullen	Edward Burns	Dick Fisher
	Kids	Larry Clark	Cary Woods
	Little Odessa	James Gray	Paul Webster
	Picture Bride	Kayo Hatta	Diane Mei Lin Mark and Lisa Onodera
	River of Grass	Kelly Reichardt	Jesse Hartman
1996	Sling Blade	Billy Bob Thornton	David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser
	Big Night	Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci	Jonathan Filley
	I Shot Andy Warhol	Mary Harron	Tom Kalin and Christine Vachon
	Manny & Lo	Lisa Krueger	Marlen Hecht and Dean Silvers
	Trees Lounge	Steve Buscemi	Chris Hanley and Brad Wyman
1997	Eve's Bayou	Kasi Lemmons	Caldecot Chubb and Samuel L. Jackson
	The Bible and Gun Club	Daniel J. Harris^[3]
	Hard Eight	Paul Thomas Anderson	Robert Jones and John S. Lyons
	In the Company of Men	Neil LaBute	Mark Archer and Stephen Pevner
	Star Maps	Miguel Arteta	Matthew Greenfield
1998	The Opposite of Sex	Don Roos	David Kirkpatrick and Michael Besman
	Buffalo '66	Vincent Gallo	Chris Hanley
	High Art	Lisa Cholodenko	Dolly Hall, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Susan A. Stover
	$π$	Darren Aronofsky	Eric Watson
	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
	Boys Don't Cry	Kimberly Peirce	Jeffrey Sharp, John Hart, Eva Kolodner and Christine Vachon
	Three Seasons	Tony Bui	Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente
	Twin Falls Idaho	Michael Polish	Marshall Persinger, Rena Ronson and Steven J. Wolfe
	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
	Boiler Room	Ben Younger	Jennifer Todd and Suzanne Todd
	Girlfight	Karyn Kusama	Maggie Renzi, Sarah Green and Martha Griffin
	Love & Basketball	Gina Prince-Bythewood	Spike Lee and Sam Kitt
	The Visit	Jordan Walker-Pearlman
2001	In the Bedroom	Todd Field	Todd Field, Ross Katz, and Graham Leader
	The Anniversary Party	Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh
	The Believer	Henry Bean	Susan Hoffman and Christopher Roberts
	Donnie Darko	Richard Kelly	Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, and Adam Fields
	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
	Interview with the Assassin	Neil Burger	Brian Koppelman and David Levien
	Manito	Eric Eason	Jesse Scolaro and Allen Bain
	Paid in Full	Charles Stone III	Damon Dash, Jay-Z, Brett Ratner, Azie Faison, and Steve Rifkind
	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
	Bomb the System	Adam Bhala Lough	Ben Rekhi and Sol Tryon
	House of Sand and Fog	Vadim Perelman	Vadim Perelman and Michael London
	Quattro Noza	Joey Curtis^[4]	Fredric King
	Thirteen	Catherine Hardwicke	Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Michael London
2004	Garden State	Zach Braff	Pamela Abdy, Gary Gilbert, Dan Halsted and Richard Klubeck
	Brother to Brother	Rodney Evans	Rodney Evans, Jim McKay, Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof
	Napoleon Dynamite	Jared Hess	Jeremy Coon, Sean Covel and Chris Wyatt
	Saints and Soldiers	Ryan Little	Ryan Little and Adam Abel
	The Woodsman	Nicole Kassell	Lee Daniels
2005	Crash	Paul Haggis	Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari, Mark R. Harris and Bobby Moresco
	Lackawanna Blues	George C. Wolfe	Halle Berry, Vince Cirrincione, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Nellie Nugiel and Shelby Stone
	Me and You and Everyone We Know	Miranda July	Gina Kwon
	Thumbsucker	Mike Mills	Anthony Bregman and Bob Stephenson
	Transamerica	Duncan Tucker	Sebastian Dungan, Linda Moran and Rene Bastian
2006	Sweet Land	Ali Selim	Alan Cumming and James Bigham
	Day Night Day Night	Julia Loktev	Melanie Judd and Jessica Levin
	Man Push Cart	Ramin Bahrani	Pradip Ghosh and Bedford T. Bentley
	The Motel	Michael Kang	Matthew Greenfield, Miguel Arteta, Gina Kwon and Karin Chien
	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
	2 Days in Paris	Julie Delpy	Christophe Mazodier and Thierry Potok
	Great World of Sound	Craig Zobel	Craig Zobel, Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green and Richard A. Wright
	Rocket Science	Jeffrey Blitz	Effie Brown and Sean Welch
	Vanaja	Rajnesh Domalpalli	Latha R. Domalapalli
2008	Synecdoche, New York	Charlie Kaufman	Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze and Sidney Kimmel
	Afterschool	Antonio Campos	T. Sean Durkin and Josh Mond
	Medicine for Melancholy	Barry Jenkins	Justin Barber
	Sangre de Mi Sangre	Christopher Zalla	Per Melita and Ben Odell
	Sleep Dealer	Alex Rivera	Anthony Bregman
2009	Crazy Heart	Scott Cooper	Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall, Rob Carliner, Judy Cairo and T-Bone Burnett
	Easier with Practice	Kyle Patrick Alvarez	Cookie Carosella
	The Messenger	Oren Moverman	Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee and Zach Miller
	Paranormal Activity	Oren Peli	Oren Peli and Jason Blum
	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
	Everything Strange and New	Frazer Bradshaw	Laura Techera Francia and A.D. Liano
	The Last Exorcism	Daniel Stamm	Eric Newman, Eli Roth, Marc Abraham and Thomas A. Bliss
	Night Catches Us	Tanya Hamilton	Ronald Simon, Sean Costello and Jason Orans
	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
	Another Earth	Mike Cahill	Hunter Gray, Mike Cahill, Brit Marling and Nicholas Shumaker
	In the Family	Patrick Wang	Patrick Wang, Andrew van den Houten and Robert Tonino
	Martha Marcy May Marlene	Sean Durkin	Josh Mond, Antonio Campos, Chris Maybach and Patrick Cunningham
	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
	Fill the Void	Rama Burshtein	Assaf Amir
	Gimme the Loot	Adam Leon	Natalie Difford, Dominic Buchanan and Jamund Washington
	Safety Not Guaranteed	Colin Trevorrow	Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf, Stephanie Langhoff, Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow
	Sound of My Voice	Zal Batmanglij	Hans Ritter, Brit Marling and Shelley Surpin
2013	Fruitvale Station	Ryan Coogler	Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker
	Blue Caprice	Alexandre Moors	Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O'Connell, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham
	Concussion	Stacie Passon	Cliff Chenfeld, Anthony Cupo and Rose Troche
	Una Noche	Lucy Mulloy	Daniel Mulloy, Lucy Mulloy, Maite Artieda and Sandy Perez Aguila
	Wadjda	Haifaa al-Mansour	Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul
2014	Nightcrawler	Dan Gilroy	Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Michel Litvak, Jake Gyllenhaal and David Lancaster
	Dear White People	Justin Simien	Effie Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Justin Simien and Lena Waithe
	A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night	Ana Lily Amirpour	Justin Begnaud and Sina Sayyah
	Obvious Child	Gillian Robespierre	Elisabeth Holm
	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
	James White	Josh Mond	Max Born, Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Melody Roscher, and Eric Schultz
	Manos sucias	Josef Kubota Wladyka	Elena Greenlee and Márcia Nunes
	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
	Songs My Brother Taught Me	Chloé Zhao	Chloé Zhao, Mollye Asher, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Angela C. Lee, and Forest Whitaker
2016 ^[5]^[6]	The Witch	Robert Eggers	Robert Eggers, Daniel Bekerman, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, and Rodrigo Teixeira
	The Childhood of a Leader	Brady Corbet	Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Chris Coen, Ron Curtis, Helena Danielsson, Mona Fastvold, and István Major
	The Fits	Anna Rose Holmer	Anna Rose Holmer and Lisa Kjerulff
	Other People	Chris Kelly	Sam Bisbee, Adam Scott, and Naomi Scott
	Swiss Army Man	Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan	Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon, and Jonathan Wang
2017 ^[7]	Ingrid Goes West	Matt Spicer	Jared Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, and Trevor White
	Columbus	Kogonada	Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Aaron Boyd, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Andrew Miano, and Chris Weitz
	Menashe	Joshua Z. Weinstein	Yoni Brook, Traci Carlson, Daniel Finkelman, and Alex Lipschultz
	Oh Lucy!	Atsuko Hirayanagi	Jessica Elbaum, Yukie Kito, and Han West
	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
	Hereditary	Ari Aster	Kevin Frakes, Lars Knudsen, and Buddy Patrick
	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
	We the Animals	Jeremiah Zagar	Jeremy Yaches, Christina D. King, Andrew Goldman, and Paul Mezey
	Wildlife	Paul Dano	Oren Moverman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker, Ann Ruark, Alex Saks, Andrew Duncan, and Paul Dano
2019 ^[8]	Booksmart	Olivia Wilde	Megan Ellison, Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfield, Jessica Elbaum, Katie Silberman
	The Climb	Michael Angelo Covino	Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, and Noah Lang
	Diane	Kent Jones	Luca Borghese, Ben Howe, Caroline Kaplan, and Oren Moverman
	The Last Black Man in San Francisco	Joe Talbot	Khaliah Neal, Joe Talbot, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Christina Oh
	The Mustang	Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre	Alain Goldman
	See You Yesterday	Stefon Bristol	Spike Lee

2020s

Year	Winner	Director(s)	Producer(s)
2020 ^[9]	Sound of Metal	Darius Marder	Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Bill Benz and Kathy Benz
	The 40-Year-Old Version	Radha Blank	Lena Waithe, Jordan Fudge, Radha Blank, Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jennifer Semler and Rishi Rajani
	I Carry You With Me	Heidi Ewing	Heidi Ewing, Mynette Louie, Gabriela Maire and Edher Campos
	Miss Juneteenth	Channing Godfrey Peoples	Toby Halbrooks, Tim Headington, Jeanie Igoe, James M. Johnston, Theresa Page and Neil Creque Williams
	Nine Days	Edson Oda	Jason Michael Berman, Mette-Marie Kongsved, Matthew Linder, Laura Tunstall and Datari Turner
2021 ^[10]	7 Days	Roshan Sethi	Liz Cardenas, Mel Eslyn
	Holler	Nicole Riegel	Adam Cobb, Rachel Gould, Katie McNeill, Jamie Patricof and Christy Spitzer Thornton
	Queen of Glory	Nana Mensah	Baff Akoto, Anya Migdal, Kelley Robins Hicks and Jamund Washington
	Test Pattern	Shatara Michelle Ford	Pin-Chun Liu and Yu-Hao Su
	Wild Indian	Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.	Thomas Mahoney, Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., and Eric Tavitian
2022 ^[11]	*Aftersun*	Charlotte Wells	Mark Ceryak, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski
	Emily the Criminal	John Patton Ford	Tyler Davidson, Aubrey Plaza, Drew Sykes
	The Inspection	Elegance Bratton	Effie T. Brown, Chester Algernal Gordon
	Murina	Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović	Danijel Pek, Rodrigo Teixeira
	Palm Trees and Power Lines	Jamie Dack	Leah Chen Baker
2023 ^[12]	*A Thousand and One*	A. V. Rockwell	Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, and Brad Weston
	All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt	Raven Jackson	Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, and Adele Romanski
	Chronicles of a Wandering Saint	Tomás Gómez Bustillo	Gewan Brown and Amanda Freedman
	Earth Mama	Savanah Leaf	Sam Bisbee, Shirley O'Connor, Medb Riordan, and Cody Ryder
	Upon Entry	Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez	Sergio Adrià, Carlos Juárez, Alba Sotorra, Carles Torras, and Xosé Zapata

References

^ "Spirit Awards: Year Of Film Independents". Los Angeles Times. 1987-03-30. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
^ BAM|Lightning Over Braddock
^ The Bible and Gun Club - Variety
^ Quattro Noza - Variety
^ Spirit Awards: 'The Witch' Wins Best First Feature-Hollywood Reporter
^ ‘The Witch’ Wins 2017 Independent Spirit Award For Best First Feature-IndieWire
^ Spirit Awards: 'Ingrid Goes West' Wins Best First Feature-Hollywood Reporter
^ These Are Your 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominees!-Film Independent
^ 2021 Independent Spirit Awards Winner's List|IndieWire
^ Spirit Awards Winners: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ‘The Lost Daughter’ Wins Best Feature — Full List|IndieWire
^ Davis, Clayton (November 22, 2022). "Independent Spirit Awards Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere' Leads With Eight Noms". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
^ "Film Independent Spirit Awards (2024)". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-02-25.

External links

Every BEST FIRST FEATURE winner ever on Film Independent's official YouTube channel

[1] "Spirit Awards: Year Of Film Independents". Los Angeles Times. 1987-03-30. Retrieved 2014-03-13.

[2] BAM|Lightning Over Braddock

[3] The Bible and Gun Club - Variety

[4] Quattro Noza - Variety

[5] Spirit Awards: 'The Witch' Wins Best First Feature-Hollywood Reporter

[6] ‘The Witch’ Wins 2017 Independent Spirit Award For Best First Feature-IndieWire

[7] Spirit Awards: 'Ingrid Goes West' Wins Best First Feature-Hollywood Reporter

[8] These Are Your 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominees!-Film Independent

[9] 2021 Independent Spirit Awards Winner's List|IndieWire

[10] Spirit Awards Winners: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ‘The Lost Daughter’ Wins Best Feature — Full List|IndieWire

[11] Davis, Clayton (November 22, 2022). "Independent Spirit Awards Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere' Leads With Eight Noms". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2022.

[12] "Film Independent Spirit Awards (2024)". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-02-25.

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