The 18th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 2002, were presented on March 22, 2003. It was hosted by John Waters. The nominations were announced on December 12, 2002. Additionally, this ceremony is notable for when presenter Brittany Murphy seemingly bungled the reading of the winner for Best Debut Performance. In reference to her acting ability, legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote: "As for Brittany Murphy, for me, it goes back to the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards [where] Murphy was assigned to present one of the awards. Her task was to read the names of the five nominees, open an envelope, and reveal the name of the winner. This she turned into an opportunity for screwball improvisational comedy, by pretending she could not follow this sequence, not even after the audience shouted instructions and the stage manager came to whisper in her ear not once but twice. There were those in the audience who were dumbfounded by her stupidity. I was dumbfounded by her brilliance." Suspiciously, video footage of the entire ceremony is absent from online resources despite prior and subsequent ceremonies being made available in their entirety officially on Film Independent's YouTube account. However, footage of Murphy's alleged act was used for the 2021 HBO Max documentary titled What Happened, Brittany Murphy?.

Winners and nominees

Special awards

John Cassavetes Award

Personal Velocity: Three Portraits

Truer Than Fiction Award

Jennifer Dworkin – Love & Diane

Producers Award

Effie Brown – Real Women Have Curves and Stranger Inside

Someone to Watch Award

Przemysław Reut – Paradox Lake

Films with multiple wins and nominations

Films that received multiple nominations

Films that won multiple awards