Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography is one of the annual awards given by Independent Spirit Awards, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers.

Winners and nominees

1980s

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

1990s

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

2000s

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

2010s

• 2010: Matthew Libatique – Black Swan
  • Harris Savides – Greenberg
  • Adam Kimmel – Never Let Me Go
  • Jody Lee Lipes – Tiny Furniture
  • Michael McDonough – Winter's Bone
• 2011: Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
  • Joel Hodge – Bellflower
  • Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
  • Darius Khondji – Midnight in Paris
  • Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter
• 2012: Ben Richardson – Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Roman Vasyanov – End of Watch
  • Lol Crawley – Here
  • Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom
  • Yoni Brook – Valley of Saints
• 2013: Sean Bobbitt – 12 Years a Slave
  • Benoît Debie – Spring Breakers
  • Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
  • Frank G. DeMarco – All Is Lost
  • Matthias Grunsky – Computer Chess
• 2014: Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • Lyle Vincent – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
  • Darius Khondji – The Immigrant
  • Sean Porter – It Felt Like Love
  • Bradford Young – Selma
• 2015: Edward Lachman – Carol
  • Cary Joji Fukunaga – Beasts of No Nation
  • Michael Gioulakis – It Follows
  • Reed Morano – Meadowland
  • Joshua James Richards – Songs My Brothers Taught Me