Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography

Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography
Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography
Awarded for	Best Cinematography
Country	United States
Presented by	Film Independent
First award	1985
Currently held by	Jomo Fray for Nickel Boys (2024)
Website	www.filmindependent.org

Last updated March 05, 2025

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography is one of the annual awards given out by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It was first given in 1985, with Japanese cinematographer Toyomichi Kurita being the first recipient of the award for his work in Trouble in Mind .

Winners and nominees

1980s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
1985 ^[1]^[2]	Trouble in Mind	Toyomichi Kurita
	After Hours	Michael Ballhaus
	Blood Simple	Barry Sonnenfeld
	Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart	Michael Chin
1986	Platoon	Robert Richardson
	Blue Velvet	Frederick Elmes
	Down by Law	Robby Müller
	Salvador	Robert Richardson
	True Stories	Edward Lachman
1987	Matewan	Haskell Wexler
	Barfly	Robby Müller
	The Dead	Fred Murphy
	Slam Dance	Amir Mokri
	Tough Guys Don't Dance	John Bailey
1988	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Sven Nykvist
	The Moderns	Toyomichi Kurita
	Patti Rocks	Gregory M. Cummins
	Stand and Deliver	Tom Richmond
	Talk Radio	Robert Richardson
1989	Drugstore Cowboy	Robert Yeoman
	Earth Girls Are Easy	Oliver Stapleton
	Mystery Train	Robby Müller
	Powwow Highway	Toyomichi Kurita
	Talking to Strangers	Rob Tregenza

1990s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
1990	Wild at Heart	Frederick Elmes
	House Party	Peter Deming
	King of New York	Bojan Bazelli
	Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive	Amir Mokri
	The Plot Against Harry	Robert M. Young
1991	Kafka	Walt Lloyd
	Homicide	Roger Deakins
	My Own Private Idaho	Eric Alan Edwards and John J. Campbell
	Pastime	Tom Richmond
	Rambling Rose	Johnny E. Jensen
1992	Night on Earth	Frederick Elmes
	All the Vermeers in New York	Jon Jost
	Laws of Gravity	Jean de Segonzac
	Light Sleeper	Edward Lachman
	Swoon	Ellen Kuras
1993	Menace II Society	Lisa Rinzler
	American Heart	James R. Bagdonas
	Chain of Desire	Nancy Schreiber
	Equinox	Elliot Davis
	Ruby in Paradise	Alex Vlacos
1994	Barcelona	John Thomas
	The Beans of Egypt, Maine	Stevan Larner
	Eat Drink Man Woman	Jong Lin
	I Like It Like That	Alexander Gruszynski
	Suture	Greg Gardiner
1995	Leaving Las Vegas	Declan Quinn
	Little Odessa	Tom Richmond
	Nadja	Jim Denault
	The Underneath	Elliot Davis
	The Usual Suspects	Newton Thomas Sigel
1996	Fargo	Roger Deakins
	Bound	Bill Pope
	Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day	Rob Sweeney
	Dead Man	Robby Müller
	The Funeral	Ken Kelsch
1997	Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love	Declan Quinn
	The Bible and Gun Club	Alex Vendler
	Habit	Frank G. DeMarco
	Hard Eight	Robert Elswit
	Sunday	Michael Barrow and John Foster
1998	Velvet Goldmine	Maryse Alberti
	Affliction	Paul Sarossy
	Belly	Malik Hassan Sayeed
	High Art	Tami Reiker
	Pi	Matthew Libatique
1999	Three Seasons	Lisa Rinzler
	The City	Harlan Bosmajian
	Judy Berlin	Jeffrey Seckendorf
	Julien Donkey-Boy	Anthony Dod Mantle
	Twin Falls Idaho	M. David Mullen

2000s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
2000	Requiem for a Dream	Matthew Libatique
	Before Night Falls	Xavier Pérez Grobet and Guillermo Rosas
	George Washington	Tim Orr
	Hamlet	John de Borman
	Shadow of the Vampire	Lou Bogue
2001	Mulholland Drive	Peter Deming
	The American Astronaut	W. Mott Hupfel III
	The Deep End	Giles Nuttgens
	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	Frank G. DeMarco
	Memento	Wally Pfister
2002	Far from Heaven	Edward Lachman
	Gerry	Harris Savides
	Interview with the Assassin	Richard Rutkowski
	Narc	Alex Nepomniaschy
	Personal Velocity: Three Portraits	Ellen Kuras
2003	In America	Declan Quinn
	Elephant	Harris Savides
	Northfork	M. David Mullen
	Shattered Glass	Mandy Walker
	Streets of Legend	Derek Cianfrance
2004	The Motorcycle Diaries	Éric Gautier
	Dandelion	Tim Orr
	Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story	David Greene
	Saints and Soldiers	Ryan Little
	We Don't Live Here Anymore	Maryse Alberti
2005	Good Night, and Good Luck	Robert Elswit
	Capote	Adam Kimmel
	Keane	John Foster
	Last Days	Harris Savides
	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	Chris Menges
2006	Pan's Labyrinth	Guillermo Navarro
	Brothers of the Head	Anthony Dod Mantle
	Four Eyed Monsters	Arin Crumley
	Man Push Cart	Michael Simmonds
	Wild Tigers I Have Known	Aaron Platt
2007	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Janusz Kamiński
	Lust, Caution	Rodrigo Prieto
	The Savages	W. Mott Hupfel III
	Vanaja	Milton Kam
	Youth Without Youth	Mihai Mălaimare Jr.
2008	The Wrestler	Maryse Alberti
	Ballast	Lol Crawley
	Chop Shop	Michael Simmonds
	Medicine for Melancholy	James Laxton
	Milk	Harris Savides
2009	A Serious Man	Roger Deakins
	Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Peter Zeitlinger
	Cold Souls	Andrij Parekh
	Sin nombre	Adriano Goldman
	Treeless Mountain	Anne Misawa

2010s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
2010 ^[3]	Black Swan	Matthew Libatique
	Never Let Me Go	Adam Kimmel
	Tiny Furniture	Jody Lee Lipes
	Winter's Bone	Michael McDonough
	Greenberg	Harris Savides
2011 ^[4]	The Artist	Guillaume Schiffman
	Bellflower	Joel Hodge
	The Off Hours	Benjamin Kasulke
	Midnight in Paris	Darius Khondji
	The Dynamiter	Jeffrey Waldron
2012 ^[5]	Beasts of the Southern Wild	Ben Richardson
	Valley of Saints	Yoni Brook
	Here	Lol Crawley
	End of Watch	Roman Vasyanov
	Moonrise Kingdom	Robert Yeoman
2013 ^[6]	12 Years a Slave	Sean Bobbitt
	Spring Breakers	Benoît Debie
	Inside Llewyn Davis	Bruno Delbonnel
	All Is Lost	Frank G. DeMarco
	Computer Chess	Matthias Grunsky
2014 ^[7]	Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)	Emmanuel Lubezki
	The Immigrant	Darius Khondji
	It Felt Like Love	Sean Porter
	A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night	Lyle Vincent
	Selma	Bradford Young
2015 ^[8]	Carol	Edward Lachman
	Beasts of No Nation	Cary Joji Fukunaga
	It Follows	Mike Gioulakis
	Meadowland	Reed Morano
	Songs My Brothers Taught Me	Joshua James Richards
2016 ^[9]	Moonlight	James Laxton
	Free in Deed	Ava Berkofsky
	The Childhood of a Leader	Lol Crawley
	The Eyes of My Mother	Zach Kuperstein
	American Honey	Robbie Ryan
2017 ^[10]	Call Me by Your Name	Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
	The Killing of a Sacred Deer	Thimios Bakatakis
	Columbus	Elisha Christian
	Beach Rats	Hélène Louvart
	The Rider	Joshua James Richards
2018 ^[11]	Suspiria	Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
	Madeline's Madeline	Ashley Connor
	Mandy	Benjamin Loeb
	We the Animals	Zak Mulligan
	Wildlife	Diego Garcia
2019 ^[12]	The Lighthouse	Jarin Blaschke
	Hustlers	Todd Banhazl
	Honey Boy	Natasha Braier
	The Third Wife	Chananun Chotrungroj
	Midsommar	Pawel Pogorzelski

2020s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
2020 ^[13]	Nomadland	Joshua James Richards
	She Dies Tomorrow	Jay Keitel
	Bull	Shabier Kirchner
	The Assistant	Michael Latham
	Never Rarely Sometimes Always	Hélène Louvart
2021 ^[14]	Passing	Eduard Grau
	Blue Bayou	Ante Cheng and Matthew Chuang
	The Humans	Lol Crawley
	A Chiara	Tim Curtin
	Zola	Ari Wegner
2022 ^[15]	Tár	Florian Hoffmeister
	Murina	Hélène Louvart
	Aftersun	Gregory Oke
	Pearl	Eliot Rockett
	Neptune Frost	Anisia Uzeyman
2023	The Holdovers	Eigil Bryld
	All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt	Jomo Fray
	Chronicles of a Wandering Saint	Pablo Lozano
	Monica	Katelin Arizmendi
	We Grown Now	Pat Scola
2024	Nickel Boys	Jomo Fray
	The Fire Inside	Rina Yang
	Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell	Ðinh Duy Hưng
	Janet Planet	Maria von Hausswolff
	La cocina	Juan Pablo Ramírez

References

↑ "Film Independent Spirit Awards - 34 Years of Nominees and Winners" (PDF). s3.amazonaws.com. p. 47. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-30. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
↑ Barry Jenkins expected to join tiny group of double directing champs at Spirit Awards - GoldDerby
↑ Fernandez, Sofia M. (February 26, 2011). "2011 Independent Spirit Awards Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 26, 2011.
↑ Fernandez, Jay (February 25, 2012). "Indie Spirit Awards 2012: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2012.
↑ THR Staff (February 23, 2013). "Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 23, 2013.
↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (March 1, 2014). "Independent Spirit Awards: '12 Years a Slave' Named Best Feature". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 1, 2014.
↑ THR Staff (February 21, 2015). "Spirit Awards 2015: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 21, 2015.
↑ THR Staff (February 27, 2016). "Spirit Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 27, 2016.
↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (February 25, 2017). "Spirit Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2017.
↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (March 3, 2018). "Spirit Awards: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 3, 2018.
↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (February 23, 2019). "Spirit Awards: 'If Beale Street Could Talk' Wins Best Feature; Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 23, 2019.
↑ Galuppo, Mia; Nordyke, Kimberly; Howard, Annie (February 8, 2020). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'The Farewell' Takes Best Feature; Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 8, 2020.
↑ Galuppo, Mia; Nordyke, Kimberly; Drury, Sharareh; Perez, Lexy (April 22, 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Nomadland' Wins Best Feature, Best Director for Chloe Zhao". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 22, 2021.
↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (March 6, 2022). "Spirit Awards: Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 6, 2022.
↑ Lewis, Hilary; Coates, Tyler (November 22, 2022). "Independent Spirit Awards Film Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Leads With Eight Nods". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 22, 2022.

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[1] "Film Independent Spirit Awards - 34 Years of Nominees and Winners" (PDF). s3.amazonaws.com. p. 47. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-30. Retrieved 2024-09-15.

[2] Barry Jenkins expected to join tiny group of double directing champs at Spirit Awards - GoldDerby

[3] Fernandez, Sofia M. (February 26, 2011). "2011 Independent Spirit Awards Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 26, 2011.

[4] Fernandez, Jay (February 25, 2012). "Indie Spirit Awards 2012: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2012.

[5] THR Staff (February 23, 2013). "Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 23, 2013.

[6] Nordyke, Kimberly (March 1, 2014). "Independent Spirit Awards: '12 Years a Slave' Named Best Feature". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 1, 2014.

[7] THR Staff (February 21, 2015). "Spirit Awards 2015: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 21, 2015.

[8] THR Staff (February 27, 2016). "Spirit Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 27, 2016.

[9] Nordyke, Kimberly (February 25, 2017). "Spirit Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2017.

[10] Nordyke, Kimberly (March 3, 2018). "Spirit Awards: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 3, 2018.

[11] Nordyke, Kimberly (February 23, 2019). "Spirit Awards: 'If Beale Street Could Talk' Wins Best Feature; Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 23, 2019.

[12] Galuppo, Mia; Nordyke, Kimberly; Howard, Annie (February 8, 2020). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'The Farewell' Takes Best Feature; Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[13] Galuppo, Mia; Nordyke, Kimberly; Drury, Sharareh; Perez, Lexy (April 22, 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Nomadland' Wins Best Feature, Best Director for Chloe Zhao". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 22, 2021.

[14] Nordyke, Kimberly (March 6, 2022). "Spirit Awards: Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 6, 2022.

[15] Lewis, Hilary; Coates, Tyler (November 22, 2022). "Independent Spirit Awards Film Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Leads With Eight Nods". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 22, 2022.

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v t e Independent Spirit Awards
Current categories	Best Film Best Director Best Lead Performance Best Supporting Performance Best Breakthrough Performance Best Cinematography Best Editing Best Documentary Feature Best First Feature Best International Film Best Screenplay Best First Screenplay Best New Scripted Series Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series John Cassavetes Award Robert Altman Award
Retired categories	Best Male Lead Best Female Lead Best Supporting Male Best Supporting Female Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Ceremonies	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 (years are of film release; ceremonies are the following year)