Independent Spirit Award for Best Director

Winners and nominees

1980s

• 1985: Joel Coen – Blood Simple / Martin Scorsese – After Hours
• * Joyce Chopra – Smooth Talk
• * Peter Masterson – The Trip to Bountiful
• 1986: Oliver Stone – Platoon
• * Jim Jarmusch – Down by Law
• * David Lynch – Blue Velvet
• * Rob Reiner – Stand by Me
• * Oliver Stone – Salvador
• 1987: John Huston – The Dead
• * Jonathan Demme – Swimming to Cambodia
• * Tim Hunter – River's Edge
• * Jim McBride – The Big Easy
• * John Sayles – Matewan
• 1988: Ramon Menendez – Stand and Deliver
• * David Burton Morris – Patti Rocks
• * Errol Morris – The Thin Blue Line
• * Oliver Stone – Talk Radio
• * John Waters – Hairspray
• 1989: Steven Soderbergh – Sex, Lies, and Videotape
• * Jim Jarmusch – Mystery Train
• * Charles Lane – Sidewalk Stories
• * Nancy Savoca – True Love
• * Gus Van Sant – Drugstore Cowboy

  1990s

• 1990: Charles Burnett – To Sleep with Anger
• * Reginald Hudlin – House Party
• * John McNaughton – '
• * Allan Moyle – Pump Up the Volume
• * Michael Roemer – The Plot Against Harry
• 1991: Martha Coolidge – Rambling Rose
• * Todd Haynes – Poison
• * Richard Linklater – Slacker
• * Gus Van Sant – My Own Private Idaho
• * Joseph Vásquez – Hangin' with the Homeboys
• 1992: Carl Franklin – One False Move
• * Allison Anders – Gas Food Lodging
• * Abel Ferrara – Bad Lieutenant
• * Tom Kalin – Swoon
• * Quentin Tarantino – Reservoir Dogs
• 1993: Robert Altman – Short Cuts
• * Ang Lee – The Wedding Banquet
• * Victor Nuñez – Ruby in Paradise
• * Robert Rodriguez – El Mariachi
• * John Turturro – Mac
• 1994: Quentin Tarantino – Pulp Fiction
• * John Dahl – Red Rock West
• * Ang Lee – Eat Drink Man Woman
• * Roman Polanski – Death and the Maiden
• * Alan Rudolph – Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
• 1995: Mike Figgis – Leaving Las Vegas
• * Michael Almereyda – Nadja
• * Ulu Grosbard – Georgia
• * Todd Haynes – Safe
• * John Sayles – The Secret of Roan Inish
• 1996: Joel Coen – Fargo
• * Abel Ferrara – The Funeral
• * David O. Russell – Flirting with Disaster
• * Todd Solondz – Welcome to the Dollhouse
• * Robert M. Young – Caught
• 1997: Robert Duvall – The Apostle
• * Larry Fessenden – Habit
• * Victor Nuñez – Ulee's Gold
• * Paul Schrader – Touch
• * Wim Wenders – The End of Violence
• 1998: Wes Anderson – Rushmore
• * Todd Haynes – Velvet Goldmine
• * Lodge Kerrigan – Claire Dolan
• * Paul Schrader – Affliction
• * Todd Solondz – Happiness
• '1999: Alexander Payne – Election
• * Harmony Korine – Julien Donkey-Boy
• * Doug Liman – Go
• * David Lynch – The Straight Story
• * Steven Soderbergh – The Limey''

  2000s

• 2000: Ang Lee – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• * Darren Aronofsky – Requiem for a Dream
• * Miguel Arteta – Chuck & Buck
• * Christopher Guest – Best in Show
• * Julian Schnabel – Before Night Falls
• 2001: Christopher Nolan – Memento
• * Michael Cuesta – L.I.E.
• * Cheryl Dunye – Stranger Inside
• * Richard Linklater – Waking Life
• * John Cameron Mitchell – Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• 2002: Todd Haynes – Far from Heaven
• * Joe Carnahan – Narc
• * Nicole Holofcener – Lovely & Amazing
• * Bernard Rose – Ivans Xtc
• * Gus Van Sant – Gerry
• 2003: Sofia Coppola – Lost in Translation
• * Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini – American Splendor
• * Jim Sheridan – In America
• * Peter Sollett – Raising Victor Vargas
• * Gus Van Sant – Elephant
• 2004: Alexander Payne – Sideways
• * Shane Carruth – Primer
• * Joshua Marston – Maria Full of Grace
• * Walter Salles – The Motorcycle Diaries
• * Mario Van Peebles – Baadasssss!
• 2005: Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain
• * Gregg Araki – Mysterious Skin
• * Noah Baumbach – The Squid and the Whale
• * George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck
• * Rodrigo García – Nine Lives
• 2006: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris – Little Miss Sunshine
• * Robert Altman – A Prairie Home Companion
• * Ryan Fleck – Half Nelson
• * Karen Moncrieff – The Dead Girl
• * Steven Soderbergh – Bubble
• 2007: Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• * Todd Haynes – I'm Not There
• * Tamara Jenkins – The Savages
• * Jason Reitman – Juno
• * Gus Van Sant – Paranoid Park
• 2008: Tom McCarthy – The Visitor
• * Ramin Bahrani – Chop Shop
• * Jonathan Demme – Rachel Getting Married
• * Lance Hammer – Ballast
• * Courtney Hunt – Frozen River
• 2009: Lee Daniels – Precious
• * Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
• * Cary Fukunaga – Sin Nombre
• * James Gray – Two Lovers
• * Michael Hoffman – The Last Station

  2010s

• 2010: Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• * Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
• * Lisa Cholodenko – The Kids Are All Right
• * Debra Granik – Winter's Bone
• * John Cameron Mitchell – Rabbit Hole
• 2011: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
• * Mike Mills – Beginners
• * Jeff Nichols – Take Shelter
• * Alexander Payne – The Descendants
• * Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
• 2012: David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
• * Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
• * Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet
• * Ira Sachs – Keep the Lights On
• * Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
• 2013: Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
• * Shane Carruth – Upstream Color
• * J. C. Chandor – All Is Lost
• * Jeff Nichols – Mud
• * Alexander Payne – Nebraska
• 2014: Richard Linklater – Boyhood
• *Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
• *Ava DuVernay – Selma
• *Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or
• *David Zellner – Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
• 2015: Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
• *Sean Baker – Tangerine
• *Cary Joji Fukunaga – Beasts of No Nation
• *Todd Haynes – Carol
• *Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson – Anomalisa
• *David Robert Mitchell – It Follows
• 2016: Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
• *Andrea Arnold – American Honey
• *Pablo Larraín – Jackie
• *Jeff Nichols – Loving
• *Kelly Reichardt – Certain Women
• 2017: Jordan Peele – Get Out
• *Sean Baker – The Florida Project
• *Jonas Carpignano – A Ciambra
• *Luca Guadagnino – Call Me by Your Name
• *Safdie Brothers – Good Time
• *Chloé Zhao – The Rider
• 2018: Barry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk
• *Debra Granik – Leave No Trace
• *Tamara Jenkins – Private Life
• *Lynne Ramsay – You Were Never Really Here
• *Paul Schrader – First Reformed
• 2019: Safdie Brothers – Uncut Gems
• *Robert Eggers – The Lighthouse
• *Alma Har'el – Honey Boy
• *Julius Onah – Luce
• *Lorene Scafaria – Hustlers

  Multiple nominations (3 or more)

• Todd Haynes: 6
• Gus van Sant: 5
• Ang Lee: 4
• Alexander Payne: 4
• Joel Coen: 3
• Richard Linklater: 3
• Jeff Nichols: 3
• Paul Schrader: 3
• Steven Soderbergh: 3
• Oliver Stone: 3

  Multiple wins

• Barry Jenkins: 2
• Tom McCarthy: 2
• Joel Coen: 2
• Alexander Payne: 2