The Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film is an award presented annually at the Independent Spirit Awards to recognize the best feature films produced outside United States. It was first presented in 1986, with Brazilian-American drama Kiss of the Spider Woman being the first recipient of the award.

Winners and nominees

1980s

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
1985	Kiss of the Spider Woman	O beijo da mulher aranha	Héctor Babenco	Brazil,  United States
	Dreamchild		Gavin Millar	United Kingdom
	The Hit		Stephen Frears
	Ran	乱 / Ran	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
1986	A Room with a View		James Ivory	United Kingdom
	Men…	Männer…	Doris Dörrie	West Germany
	28 Up		Michael Apted	United Kingdom
	Mona Lisa		Neil Jordan
	My Beautiful Laundrette		Stephen Frears
1987	My Life as a Dog	Mitt liv som hund	Lasse Hallström	Sweden
	Au revoir les enfants		Louis Malle	France,  West Germany
	Hope and Glory		John Boorman	United Kingdom
	Prick Up Your Ears		Stephen Frears
	Tampopo	タンポポ / Tampopo	Juzo Itami	Japan
1988	Wings of Desire	Der Himmel über Berlin	Wim Wenders	West Germany
	The Kitchen Toto		Harry Hook	United Kingdom
	Bagdad Café		Percy Adlon	West Germany
	A World Apart		Chris Menges	United Kingdom,  Zimbabwe
	Yeelen		Souleymane Cissé	Mali
1989	My Left Foot		Jim Sheridan	Ireland,  United Kingdom
	Hanussen		István Szabó	Hungary
	Distant Voices, Still Lives		Terence Davies	United Kingdom
	High Hopes		Mike Leigh
	Rouge	胭脂扣 / Yìnjì kau	Stanley Kwan	Hong Kong

1990s

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
1990	Sweetie		Jane Campion	Australia
	Black Rain	黒い雨 / Kuroi ame	Shohei Imamura	Japan
	A City of Sadness	悲情城市 / Bēiqíng chéngshì	Hou Hsiao-hsien	Taiwan
	The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover		Peter Greenaway	France,  United Kingdom
	Freeze Die Come to Life	Замри, умри, воскресни / Zamri, umri, voskresni!	Vitali Kanevsky	Soviet Union
1991	An Angel at My Table		Jane Campion	New Zealand,  United Kingdom,  Australia
	The Double Life of Véronique	La double vie de Véronique	Krzysztof Kieślowski	France,  Poland
	Life is Sweet		Mike Leigh	United Kingdom
	Requiem for Dominic	Requiem für Dominik	Robert Dornhelm	Austria, France,  Romania
	Taxi Blues	Такси-блюз / Taksi-Blyuz	Pavel Lungin	Soviet Union
1992	The Crying Game		Neil Jordan	United Kingdom
	Close to Eden	Урга / Urga	Nikita Mikhalkov	Soviet Union
	Danzon		Maria Novaro	Mexico,  Spain
	Howards End		James Ivory	United Kingdom
	Raise the Red Lantern	大红灯笼高高挂 / Dà Hóng Dēnglong Gāogāo Guà	Zhang Yimou	China,  Hong Kong,  Taiwan
1993	The Piano		Jane Campion	Australia
	Naked		Mike Leigh	United Kingdom
	Orlando		Sally Potter
	Like Water for Chocolate	Como agua para chocolate	Alfonso Arau	Mexico
	The Story of Qiu Ju	秋菊打官司 / Qiū Jú dǎ guānsi	Zhang Yimou	China, Hong Kong
1994	Three Colors: Red	Trois couleurs: Rouge	Krzysztof Kieślowski	France,  Poland
	The Blue Kite	蓝风筝 / Lán fēngzheng	Tian Zhuangzhuang	China,  Hong Kong
	Ladybird, Ladybird		Ken Loach	United Kingdom
	The Boys of St. Vincent		John N. Smith	Canada
	Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould		François Girard
1995	Before the Rain	Pred doždot	Milcho Manchevski	Macedonia,  United Kingdom
	The City of Lost Children	La cité des enfants perdus	Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet	France
	Exotica		Atom Egoyan	Canada
	I Am Cuba	Soy Cuba	Mikhail Kalatozov	Cuba,  Soviet Union
	Through the Olive Trees	زیر درختان زیتون / Zīr-e Derakhtān-e Zeytūn	Abbas Kiarostami	Iran
1996	Secrets & Lies		Mike Leigh	United Kingdom
	Breaking the Waves		Lars von Trier	Denmark
	Chungking Express	重庆森林 / Chung Hing sam lam	Wong Kar-wai	Hong Kong
	Lamerica		Gianni Amelio	Italy
	Trainspotting		Danny Boyle	United Kingdom
1997	The Sweet Hereafter		Atom Egoyan	Canada
	Happy Together	春光乍泄 / Chun gwong cha sit	Wong Kar-wai	Hong Kong
	Mouth to Mouth	Boca a boca	Manuel Gómez Pereira	Spain
	Nenette and Boni	Nénette et Boni	Claire Denis	France
	Underground	Podzemlje	Emir Kusturica	FR Yugoslavia,  France,  Germany
1998	The Celebration	Festen	Thomas Vinterberg	Denmark
	Central Station	Central do Brasil	Walter Salles	Brazil
	The Eel	うなぎ / Unagi	Shohei Imamura	Japan
	The General		John Boorman	Ireland,  United Kingdom
	Fireworks	はなび / Hana-bi	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
1999	Run Lola Run	Lola rennt	Tom Tykwer	Germany
	All About My Mother	Todo sobre mi madre	Pedro Almodóvar	Spain
	My Son the Fanatic		Udayan Prasad	United Kingdom
	Topsy-Turvy		Mike Leigh
	Rosetta		Dardenne brothers	Belgium,  France

2000s

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
2000	Dancer in the Dark	Danser i mørket	Lars von Trier	Denmark
	In the Mood for Love	花样年华 / Fa yeung nin wa	Wong Kar-wai	France,  Hong Kong
	Malli		Santosh Sivan	India
	A Time for Drunken Horses	زمانی برای مستی اسب‌ها / Zamani barayé masti asbha	Bahman Ghobadi	Iran
	The War Zone		Tim Roth	United Kingdom
2001	Amélie	Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain	Jean-Pierre Jeunet	France
	Amores perros		Alejandro González Iñárritu	Mexico
	Lumumba		Raoul Peck	Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Haiti
	Sexy Beast		Jonathan Glazer	United Kingdom,  Spain
	Together	Tillsammans	Lukas Moodysson	Sweden,  Denmark,  Italy
2002	Y Tu Mamá También		Alfonso Cuarón	Mexico
	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner	Atanarjuat	Zacharias Kunuk	Canada
	Time Out	L'emploi du temps	Laurent Cantet	France
	The Piano Teacher	La pianiste	Michael Haneke
	Bloody Sunday		Paul Greengrass	Ireland,  United Kingdom
2003	Whale Rider		Niki Caro	New Zealand,  Germany
	City of God	Cidade de Deus	Fernando Meirelles	Brazil
	Lilya 4-Ever	Lilja 4-ever	Lukas Moodysson	Denmark
	The Magdalene Sisters		Peter Mullan	United Kingdom,  Ireland
	The Triplets of Belleville	Les triplettes de Belleville	Sylvain Chomet	France,  Canada,  Belgium
2004	The Sea Inside	Mar Adentro	Alejandro Amenabar	Spain
	Oasis	오아시스 / Oasiseu	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
	Bad Education	La mala educación	Pedro Almodóvar	Spain
	Red Lights	Feux rouges	Cédric Kahn	France
	Yesterday		Darrell Roodt	South Africa
2005	Paradise Now		Hany Abu-Assad	Palestine,  Netherlands,  Germany,  France
	The Death of Mr. Lazarescu	Moartea domnului Lazarescu	Cristi Puiu	Romania
	Duck Season	Temporada de patos	Fernando Eimbcke	Mexico
	Head-On	Gegen die Wand	Fatih Akın	Germany,  Turkey
	Tony Takitani	トニー滝谷 / Tony Takitani	Jun Ichikawa	Japan
2006	The Lives of Others	Das Leben der Anderen	Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck	Germany
	12:08 East of Bucharest	A fost sau n-a fost?	Corneliu Porumboiu	Romania
	The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros	Ang pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros	Auraeus Solito	Philippines
	Chronicle of an Escape	Crónica de una fuga	Israel Adrián Caetano	Argentina
	Days of Glory	Indigènes	Rachid Bouchareb	France,  Morocco,  Algeria,  Belgium,  Japan
2007	Once		John Carney	Ireland
	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile	Cristian Mungiu	Romania
	The Band's Visit	ביקור התזמורת / Bikur Ha-Tizmoret	Eran Kolirin	France,  Israel,  United States
	Persepolis		Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud	France
	Lady Chatterley		Pascale Ferran	Belgium,  France
2008	The Class	Entre les murs	Laurent Cantet	France
	Gomorrah	Gomorra	Matteo Garrone	Italy
	The Secret of the Grain	La graine et le mulet	Abdellatif Kechiche	France
	Hunger		Steve McQueen	Ireland,  United Kingdom
	Silent Light	Stellet licht	Carlos Reygadas	France,  Germany,  Netherlands,  Mexico
2009	An Education		Lone Scherfig	United Kingdom
	Everlasting Moments	Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick	Jan Troell	Sweden
	The Maid	La nana	Sebastián Silva	Chile
	Mother	마더 / Madeo	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
	A Prophet	Un prophète	Jacques Audiard	France

2010s

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
2010	The King's Speech		Tom Hooper	United Kingdom
	Kisses		Lance Daly	Ireland
	Mademoiselle Chambon		Stéphane Brizé	France
	Of Gods and Men	Des hommes et des dieux	Xavier Beauvois	Morocco, France
	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ / Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat	Apichatpong Weerasethakul	Thailand
2011	A Separation	جدایی نادر از سیمین / Jodaí-e Nadér az Simín	Asghar Farhadi	Iran
	The Kid with a Bike	Le gamin au vélo	Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne	Belgium
	Shame		Steve McQueen	United Kingdom
	Tyrannosaur		Paddy Considine
	Melancholia		Lars von Trier	Denmark
2012	Amour		Michael Haneke	Austria, France,  Germany
	Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Bir zamanlar Anadolu'da	Nuri Bilge Ceylan	Turkey,  Bosnia and Herzegovina
	Rust and Bone	De rouille et d'os	Jacques Audiard	France,  Belgium
	War Witch	Rebelle	Kim Nguyen	Canada
	Sister	L'enfant d'en haut	Ursula Meier	France,   Switzerland
2013	Blue Is the Warmest Colour	La vie d'Adèle	Abdellatif Kechiche	France
	Gloria		Sebastian Lelio	Chile
	The Great Beauty	La grande bellezza	Paolo Sorrentino	Italy
	The Hunt	Jagten	Thomas Vinterberg	Denmark
	A Touch of Sin	天注定 / Tiān Zhùdìng	Jia Zhangke	China
2014	Ida		Paweł Pawlikowski	Poland
	Force Majeure	Turist	Ruben Östlund	Sweden
	Leviathan	Левиафан / Leviafan	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Russia
	Mommy		Xavier Dolan	Canada
	Norte, the End of History	Norte, hangganan ng kasaysayan	Lav Diaz	Philippines
	Under the Skin		Jonathan Glazer	United Kingdom
2015[1]	Son of Saul	Saul Fia	László Nemes	Hungary
	Embrace of the Serpent	El abrazo de la serpiente	Ciro Guerra	Colombia
	Girlhood	Bande de fillies	Céline Sciamma	France
	A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence	En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron	Roy Andersson	Sweden
	Mustang		Deniz Gamze Ergüven	France,  Turkey
2016[2]	Toni Erdmann		Maren Ade	Germany,  Romania
	Aquarius		Kleber Mendonça Filho	Brazil
	Chevalier		Athina Rachel Tsangari	Greece
	My Golden Days	Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse	Arnaud Desplechin	France
	Under the Shadow	زیر سایه / Zeer-e sāye	Babak Anvari	Iran,  United Kingdom
2017[3]	A Fantastic Woman	Una mujer fantástica	Sebastián Lelio	Chile
	120 Beats Per Minute	120 battements par minute	Robin Campillo	France
	I Am Not a Witch		Rungano Nyoni	United Kingdom
	Lady Macbeth		William Oldroyd
	Loveless	Нелюбовь / Nelyubov	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Russia
2018	Roma		Alfonso Cuarón	Mexico
	Burning	버닝 / Beoning	Lee Chang-dong	South Korea
	Happy as Lazzaro	Lazzaro felice	Alice Rohrwacher	Italy
	The Favourite		Yorgos Lanthimos	United Kingdom
	Shoplifters	万引き家族 / Manbiki Kazoku	Hirokazu Kore-eda	Japan
2019	Parasite	기생충 / Gisaengchung	Bong Joon-ho	South Korea
	The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão	A Vida Invisível	Karim Aïnouz	Brazil
	Les Misérables		Ladj Ly	France
	Portrait of a Lady on Fire	Portrait de la jeune fille en feu	Céline Sciamma
	Retablo		Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio	Peru
	The Souvenir		Joanna Hogg	United Kingdom

2020s

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
2020 [4]	Quo Vadis, Aida?		Jasmila Žbanić	Bosnia and Herzegovina
	Bacurau		Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles	Brazil
	The Disciple		Chaitanya Tamhane	India
	Night of the Kings	La Nuit des rois	Philippe Lacôte	Ivory Coast
	Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time	Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre	Lili Horvát	Hungary
2021 [5]	Drive My Car	ドライブ・マイ・カー / Doraibu mai kā	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Japan
	Compartment No. 6	Hytti nro 6 / Купе номер шесть	Juho Kuosmanen	Finland and  Russia
	Parallel Mothers	Madres Paralelas	Pedro Almodóvar	Spain
	Pebbles	கூழாங்கல் / Koozhangal	P.S. Vinothraj	India
	Petite Maman		Céline Sciamma	France
	Prayers for the Stolen	Noche de fuego	Tatiana Huezo	Mexico
2022 [6]	Joyland		Saim Sadiq	Pakistan,  United States
	Corsage		Marie Kreutzer	Austria,  Luxembourg,  France,  Italy,  United Kingdom
	Leonor Will Never Die		Martika Ramirez Escobar	Philippines
	Return to Seoul	Retour à Séoul	Davy Chou	South Korea,  France,  Belgium,  Romania
	Saint Omer		Alice Diop	France
2023 [7]	Anatomy of a Fall	Anatomie d'une chute	Justine Triet	France
	Godland	Volaða land / Vanskabte Land	Hlynur Pálmason	Denmark,  Iceland
	Mami Wata		C.J. Obasi	Nigeria,  France,  United Kingdom
	Tótem		Lila Avilés	Mexico,  Denmark,  France
	The Zone of Interest		Jonathan Glazer	United Kingdom,  Poland,  United States