The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature is one of the annual
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...
. It is usually given to the director (or directors) and producer (or producers). The "first feature" designation is applied to the director not the producer(s). Therefore, producers have been nominated multiple times. It was first presented in 1986 with
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
's ''
She's Gotta Have It'' being the first recipient of the award.
In 2000, this category was split into two separate categories: one for films with budgets over $500,000 and a new category, the
Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award, which was restricted to films with budgets under $500,000. In 2001, films could be eligible regardless of their budget as long as it was feature film directorial debut.
Winners and nominees
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
References
External links
Every BEST FIRST FEATURE winner ever on Film Independent's official YouTube channel
{{IS Awards Chron
F
Awards for best film
Directorial debut film awards
Awards established in 1987