Someone to Watch Award

Last updated February 23, 2025

The Someone to Watch Award is an emerging filmmaker award presented by Film Independent Spirit Awards that recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

History

The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.^[1] The award was first given at the 1994 award ceremony.

Notable winners/nominees who would soon become recognized include Kelly Reichardt ( Wendy and Lucy ), Chris Smith ( American Movie ), Tim Blake Nelson ( The Grey Zone ), Marc Forster ( Finding Neverland ), Andrew Bujalski ( Mutual Appreciation ), Ramin Bahrani ( Fahrenheit 451 ) & Barry Jenkins ( Moonlight )

Winners

1990s

1994: Lodge Kerrigan – Clean, Shaven ^[2]
1995: Christopher Münch – Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day
- Tim McCann –Desolation Angels
- Jennifer Montgomery –Art for Teachers of Children
- Kelly Reichardt – River of Grass
- Rafal Zielinski – Fun
1996: Larry Fessenden – Habit
- Joe Brewster –The Keeper
- Chris Smith – American Job
1997: Scott Saunders – The Headhunter's Sister
- Erin Dignam – Loved
- Tim Blake Nelson – Eye of God
1998: David D. Williams – Thirteen
- Tony Barbieri –One
- Lynn Hershman Leeson – Conceiving Ada
- Eric Tretbar –Snow
1999: Cauleen Smith – Drylongso
- Dan Clark –The Item
- Julian Goldberger – Trans
- Lisanne Skyler –Getting to Know You

2000s

2000: Marc Forster – Everything Put Together
- Dan McCormack – Other Voices
- Mia Trachinger –Bunny
2001: Debra Eisenstadt – Daydream Believer
- DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter –Lift
- Michael Gilio –Kwik Stop
- David Maquiling –Too Much Sleep
2002: Przemyslaw Reut – Paradox Lake
- Eric Eason – Manito
- Eitan Gorlin – The Holy Land
2003: Andrew Bujalski – Funny Ha Ha
- Ben Coccio – Zero Day
- Ryan Eslinger –Madness and Genius
2004: Jem Cohen – Chain
- Bryan Poyser –Dear Pillow
- Jennifer Reeves –The Time We Killed
2005: Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana – Cavite
- Robinson Devor – Police Beat
- Jay Duplass – The Puffy Chair
2006: Julia Loktev – Day Night Day Night
- So Yong Kim – In Between Days
- Richard Wong – Colma: The Musical
2007: Ramin Bahrani – Chop Shop
- Ronald Bronstein – Frownland
- Lee Isaac Chung – Munyurangabo
2008: Lynn Shelton –My Effortless Brilliance
- Barry Jenkins – Medicine for Melancholy
- Nina Paley – Sita Sings the Blues
2009: Kyle Patrick Alvarez – Easier with Practice
- Asiel Norton –Redland
- Tariq Tapa – Zero Bridge

2010s

2010: Mike Ott – Littlerock
- Hossein Keshavarz –Dog Sweat
- Laurel Nakadate –The Wolf Knife
2011: Mark Jackson –Without
- Simon Arthur – Silver Tongues
- Nicholas Ozeki –Mamitas
2012: Adam Leon – Gimme the Loot
- David Fenster –Pincus
- Rebecca Thomas – Electrick Children
2013: Shaka King – Newlyweeds
- Madeline Olnek – The Foxy Merkins
- Aaron Douglas Johnston –My Sister's Quinceañera
2014: Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia –H.
- Ana Lily Amirpour – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
- Chris Eska –The Retrieval
2015: Felix Thompson – King Jack
- Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck – God Bless the Child
- Chloé Zhao – Songs My Brothers Taught Me
2016: Anna Rose Holmer – The Fits
- Andrew Ahn – Spa Night
- Claire Carré – Embers
- Ingrid Jungermann – Women Who Kill
2017: Justin Chon — Gook ^[3]
- Amman Abbasi — Dayveon
- Kevin Phillips — Super Dark Times
2018: Alexandre Moratto — Sócrates ^[4]
- Ioana Uricaru — Lemonade
- Jeremiah Zagar — We the Animals
2019: Rashaad Ernesto Green — Premature^[5]
- Ash Mayfair — The Third Wife
- Joe Talbot — The Last Black Man in San Francisco

2020s

2020: Ekwa Msangi – Farewell Amor
- David Midell – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
- Annie Silverstein – Bull
2021: Alex Camilleri – Luzzu
- Gillian Wallace Horvat – I Blame Society
- Michael Sarnoski – Pig
2022: Nikyatu Jusu – Nanny
- Adamma Ebo – Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
- Araceli Lemos – Holy Emy
2023
- Monica Sorelle – Mountains
- Joanna Arnow – The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed
- Laura Moss – Birth/Rebirth
2024
- Sarah Friedland - Familiar Touch
- Nicholas Colia - Griffin in Summer
- Pham Thien An - Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

References

↑ "Spirit Awards Grants - Film Independent". Film Independent. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
↑ Clean, Shaven - Awards - IMDb
↑ Spirit Awards 2018 Winners List — Variety
↑ 'Socrates' Trailer: Brazilian Indie Spirit Was Made for $20K|IndieWire
↑ Independent Spirit Awards 2020: The Complete List of Winners - The Wrap

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Spirit Awards Grants - Film Independent". Film Independent. Retrieved 2017-12-21.

[2] Clean, Shaven - Awards - IMDb

[3] Spirit Awards 2018 Winners List — Variety

[4] 'Socrates' Trailer: Brazilian Indie Spirit Was Made for $20K|IndieWire

[5] Independent Spirit Awards 2020: The Complete List of Winners - The Wrap

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]