Independent Spirit Award for Best Director

The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Director is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.

Notes

• "†" indicates an Academy Award-winning director
• "‡" indicates an Academy Award nomination

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 – Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
  • 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: Thomas McCarthy – The Visitor
  • Ramin Bahrani – Chop Shop
  • Jonathan Demme – Rachel Getting Married
  • Lance Hammer – Ballast
  • Courtney Hunt – Frozen River
• 2009: Lee Daniels – Precious ‡
  • Joel 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 (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) †
  • 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