Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography

Winners and nominees

1980s

• 1985: Toyomichi Kurita – Trouble in Mind
• * Michael Ballhaus – After Hours
• * Barry Sonnenfeld – Blood Simple
• * Michael Chin – '
• 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 –
• * Alex Vendler – The Bible and Gun Club
• * Frank G. 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 G. 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 – '
• 2003: Declan Quinn – In America
• * Harris Savides – Elephant
• * M. David Mullen – Northfork
• * Mandy Walker – Shattered Glass
• * Derek Cianfrance – Streets of Legend
• 2004: Éric Gautier – The Motorcycle Diaries
• * Tim Orr – Dandelion
• * David Greene – '
• * 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 –
• * 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
• * 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
• * Mike Gioulakis – It Follows
• * Reed Morano – Meadowland
• * Joshua James Richards – Songs My Brothers Taught Me
• 2016: James Laxton – Moonlight
• * Ava Berkofsky – Free in Deed
• * Lol Crawley – The Childhood of a Leader
• * Zach Kuperstein – The Eyes of My Mother
• * Robbie Ryan – American Honey
• 2017: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – Call Me by Your Name
• * Thimios Bakatakis – The Killing of a Sacred Deer
• * Elisha Christian – Columbus
• * Hélène Louvart – Beach Rats
• * Joshua James Richards – The Rider
• 2018: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – Suspiria
• * Ashley Connor – Madeline’s Madeline
• * Benjamin Loeb – Mandy
• * Zak Mulligan – We the Animals
• * Diego Garcia – Wildlife
• 2019: Jarin Blaschke – The Lighthouse
• * Todd Banhazl – Hustlers
• * Natasha Braier – Honey Boy
• * Chananun Chotrungroj – The Third Wife
• * Pawel Pogorzelski – Midsommar