The Independent Spirit Award for Best Film (or Best Feature) is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards, presented to recognize the best in independent filmmaking, it was first awarded in 1985 with Martin Scorsese's film After Hours being the first recipient of the award.

Criteria

In order to be considered as an independent film and therefore being eligible to this category, nomination committees base their decision on four criteria, "uniqueness of vision, original, provocative subject matter, percentage of financing from independent sources and economy of means"; the latter refers to a budget ceiling of $22.5 million. In 2022, Film Independent increased the budget cap for eligible films to $30 million to account for the rising cost of production. In the following lists, the first titles listed are winners. These are also in bold and in blue background; those not in bold are nominees.

Winners and nominees

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Distributors with most wins and nominations (3 or more)