Someone to Watch Award

1994: Lodge Kerrigan – Clean, Shaven^[2]
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

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 – Colma: The Musical
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

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^[3]
- Amman Abbasi — Dayveon
- Kevin Phillips — Super Dark Times
2018: Alexandre Moratto — Sócrates^[4]
- Ioana Uricaru — Lemonade
- Jeremiah Zagar — We the Animals
2019: Rashaad Ernesto Green — Premature^[5]
- Ash Mayfair — The Third Wife
- Joe Talbot — The Last Black Man in San Francisco

History