| Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Best First Screenplay |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Film Independent |
| First award | 1994 |
| Currently held by | Sean Wang forDìdi (2024) |
| Website | www |
TheIndependent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by theFilm Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It was first presented in 1994 withDavid O. Russell being the first recipient of the award forSpanking the Monkey, a film he also directed.
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| Year | Recipient(s) | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 [1] | David O. Russell | Spanking the Monkey |
| Paul Zehrer | Blessing | |
| Kevin Smith | Clerks | |
| James Bosley | Fun | |
| Tom Noonan | What Happened Was | |
| 1995 | Paul Auster | Smoke |
| Harmony Korine | Kids | |
| James Gray | Little Odessa | |
| Steve McLean | Postcards from America | |
| Kelly Reichardt | River of Grass | |
| 1996 [2] | Joseph Tropiano andStanley Tucci | Big Night |
| Suzan-Lori Parks | Girl 6 | |
| Lisa Krueger | Manny & Lo | |
| Michael Scott Myers | The Whole Wide World | |
| Steve Buscemi | Trees Lounge | |
| 1997 | Neil LaBute | In the Company of Men |
| Steven Schwartz | Critical Care | |
| Paul Thomas Anderson | Hard Eight | |
| Miguel Arteta | Star Maps | |
| Daniel Harris | The Bible and Gun Club | |
| 1998 | Darren Aronofsky | Pi |
| Lisa Cholodenko | High Art | |
| Matthew Weiss | Niagara, Niagara | |
| Tamara Jenkins | Slums of Beverly Hills | |
| Sherman Alexie | Smoke Signals | |
| 1999 [3] | Charlie Kaufman | Being John Malkovich |
| Kimberly Peirce and Andy Bienen | Boys Don't Cry | |
| Anne Rapp | Cookie's Fortune | |
| Tod Williams | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | |
| John Roach andMary Sweeney | The Straight Story |
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| Year | Recipient(s) | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 [19] | Andy Siara | Palm Springs |
| Kitty Green | The Assistant | |
| Noah Hutton | Lapsis | |
| Channing Godfrey Peoples | Miss Juneteenth | |
| James Sweeney | Straight Up | |
| 2021 [20] | Michael Sarnoski andVanessa Block | Pig |
| Sheldon D. Brown and Matthew Fifer | Cicada | |
| Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. | Wild Indian | |
| Shatara Michelle Ford | Test Pattern | |
| Fran Kranz | Mass | |
| 2022 [21] | John Patton Ford | Emily the Criminal |
| Joel Kim Booster | Fire Island | |
| Jamie Dack and Audrey Findlay, story by Jamie Dack | Palm Trees and Power Lines | |
| K.D. Dávila | Emergency | |
| Sarah DeLappe, story byKristen Roupenian | Bodies Bodies Bodies | |
| 2023 [22] | Samy Burch; story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik | May December |
| Tomás Gómez Bustillo | Chronicles of a Wandering Saint | |
| Laurel Parmet | The Starling Girl | |
| Noah Galvin,Molly Gordon,Nick Lieberman, andBen Platt | Theater Camp | |
| Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez | Upon Entry | |
| 2024 | Sean Wang | Dìdi |
| Joanna Arnow | The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed | |
| Annie Baker | Janet Planet | |
| India Donaldson | Good One | |
| Julio Torres | Problemista |