Sutradara Terbaik (Independent Spirit Award)


1980an 
 1985: Joel Coen – Blood Simple / Martin Scorsese – After Hours
 Joyce Chopra – Smooth Talk
 Peter Masterson – The Trip to Bountiful
 1986: Oliver Stone – Platoon †
 Jim Jarmusch – Down by Law
 David Lynch – Blue Velvet
 Rob Reiner – Stand by Me
 Oliver Stone – Salvador
 1987: John Huston – The Dead
 Jonathan Demme – Swimming to Cambodia
 Tim Hunter – River's Edge
 Jim McBride – The Big Easy
 John Sayles – Matewan
 1988: Ramon Menendez – Stand and Deliver
 David Burton Morris – Patti Rocks
 Errol Morris – The Thin Blue Line
 Oliver Stone – Talk Radio
 John Waters – Hairspray
 1989: Steven Soderbergh – Sex, Lies, and Videotape
 Jim Jarmusch – Mystery Train
 Charles Lane – Sidewalk Stories
 Nancy Savoca – True Love
 Gus Van Sant – Drugstore Cowboy

Penghargaan