Someone to Watch Award
The Someone to Watch Award, sponsored by Kiehl's, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.History
The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. The award was first given at the 1994 award ceremony.
Notable winners/nominees who would soon become recognized include Kelly Reichardt, Chris Smith, Tim Blake Nelson, Marc Forster, Andrew Bujalski, Ramin Bahrani & Barry JenkinsWinners
1990s
- 1994: Lodge Kerrigan – Clean, Shaven
- 1995: Christopher Münch – Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day
- *Tim McCann - Desolation Angels
- *Jennifer Montgomery - Art for Teachers of Children
- *Kelly Reichardt - River of Grass
- *Rafal Zielinski - Fun
- 1996: Larry Fessenden – Habit
- *Joe Brewster - The Keeper
- *Chris Smith - American Job
- 1997: Scott Saunders – The Headhunter's Sister
- *Erin Dignam - Loved
- *Tim Blake Nelson - Eye of God
- 1998: David D. Williams – Thirteen
- *Tony Barbieri - One
- *Lynn Hershman Leeson - Conceiving Ada
- *Eric Tretbar - Snow
- 1999: Cauleen Smith - Drylongso
- * Dan Clark - The Item
- * Julian Goldberger - Trans
- * Lisanne Skyler - Getting to Know You
2000s
- 2000: Marc Forster - Everything Put Together
- *Dan McCormack - Other Voices
- *Mia Trachinger - Bunny
- 2001: Debra Eisenstadt - Daydream Believer
- *DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter - Lift
- *Michael Gilio - Kwik Stop
- *David Maquiling - Too Much Sleep
- 2002: Przemyslaw Reut - Paradox Lake
- *Eric Eason - Manito
- *Eitan Gorlin - The Holy Land
- 2003: Andrew Bujalski - Funny Ha Ha
- *Ben Coccio - Zero Day
- *Ryan Eslinger - Madness and Genius
- 2004: Jem Cohen - Chain
- *Bryan Poyser - Dear Pillow
- *Jennifer Reeves - The Time We Killed
- 2005: Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana - Cavite
- *Robinson Devor - Police Beat
- *Jay Duplass - The Puffy Chair
- 2006: Julia Loktev - Day Night Day Night
- *So Yong Kim - In Between Days
- *Richard Wong - '
- 2007: Ramin Bahrani - Chop Shop
- *Ronald Bronstein - Frownland
- *Lee Isaac Chung - Munyurangabo
- 2008: Lynn Shelton - My Effortless Brilliance
- *Barry Jenkins - Medicine for Melancholy
- *Nina Paley - Sita Sings the Blues
- '2009: Kyle Patrick Alvarez - Easier with Practice
- *Asiel Norton - Redland
- *Tariq Tapa - Zero Bridge''
2010s
- 2010: Mike Ott - Littlerock
- *Hossein Keshavarz - Dog Sweat
- *Laurel Nakadate - The Wolf Knife
- 2011: Mark Jackson - Without
- *Simon Arthur - Silver Tongues
- *Nicholas Ozeki - Mamitas
- 2012: Adam Leon - Gimme the Loot
- *David Fenster - Pincus
- *Rebecca Thomas - Electrick Children
- 2013: Shaka King - Newlyweeds
- *Madeline Olnek - The Foxy Merkins
- *Aaron Douglas Johnston - My Sister's Quinceañera
- 2014: Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia - H.
- * Ana Lily Amirpour - A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
- * Chris Eska - The Retrieval
- 2015: Felix Thompson – King Jack
- *Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck – God Bless the Child
- *Chloé Zhao – Songs My Brothers Taught Me
- 2016: Anna Rose Holmer – The Fits
- *Andrew Ahn – Spa Night
- *Claire Carré – Embers
- *Ingrid Jungermann – Women Who Kill
- 2017: Justin Chon — Gook
- *Amman Abbasi — Dayveon
- *Kevin Phillips — Super Dark Times
- 2018: Alexandre Moratto — Sócrates
- *Ioana Uricaru — Lemonade
- *Jeremiah Zagar — We the Animals
- 2019: Rashaad Ernesto Green — Premature
- *Ash Mayfair — The Third Wife
- *Joe Talbot — The Last Black Man in San Francisco''
