Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film
The 2024 recipient: RaMell Ross
Awarded for	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film
Country	United States
Presented by	Directors Guild of America
First award	2015
Currently held by	RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys (2024)
Website	https://www.dga.org

The Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film is one of the annual Directors Guild of America Awards given by the Directors Guild of America (DGA). It was first awarded at the 68th Directors Guild of America Awards. ^[1] The award was called the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director until 2023, when it was renamed in honor of director and former DGA president Michael Apted, who created the award. ^{[2] [3]}

Winners and nominees

• † – indicates a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director.
• ‡ – indicates a nomination for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directing.

2010s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film	Ref.
2015 (68th)	Alex Garland	Ex Machina	[4]
	Fernando Coimbra	A Wolf at the Door
	Joel Edgerton	The Gift
	Marielle Heller	The Diary of a Teenage Girl
	László Nemes	Son of Saul
2016 (69th)	Garth Davis ‡	Lion	[5]
	Kelly Fremon Craig	The Edge of Seventeen
	Tim Miller	Deadpool
	Nate Parker	The Birth of a Nation
	Dan Trachtenberg	10 Cloverfield Lane
2017 (70th)	Jordan Peele † ‡	Get Out	[6] [7]
	Geremy Jasper	Patti Cake$
	William Oldroyd	Lady Macbeth
	Taylor Sheridan	Wind River
	Aaron Sorkin	Molly's Game
2018 (71st)	Bo Burnham	Eighth Grade	[8] [9] [10]
	Bradley Cooper‡	A Star Is Born
	Carlos López Estrada	Blindspotting
	Matthew Heineman	A Private War
	Boots Riley	Sorry to Bother You
2019 (72nd)	Alma Har'el	Honey Boy	[11] [12]
	Mati Diop	Atlantics
	Melina Matsoukas	Queen & Slim
	Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz	The Peanut Butter Falcon
	Joe Talbot	The Last Black Man in San Francisco

2020s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film	Ref.
2020 (73rd)	Darius Marder	Sound of Metal	[13] [14]
	Radha Blank	The 40-Year-Old Version
	Fernando Frías de la Parra	I'm No Longer Here
	Regina King	One Night in Miami...
	Florian Zeller	The Father
2021 (74th)	Maggie Gyllenhaal	The Lost Daughter	[15] [16]
	Rebecca Hall	Passing
	Tatiana Huezo	Prayers for the Stolen
	Lin-Manuel Miranda	Tick, Tick... Boom!
	Michael Sarnoski	Pig
	Emma Seligman	Shiva Baby
2022 (75th)	Charlotte Wells	Aftersun	[17] [18]
	Alice Diop	Saint Omer
	Audrey Diwan	Happening
	John Patton Ford	Emily the Criminal
	Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović	Murina
2023 (76th)	Celine Song	Past Lives	[19] [3]
	Cord Jefferson	American Fiction
	Manuela Martelli	Chile '76
	Noora Niasari	Shayda
	A. V. Rockwell	A Thousand and One
2024 (77th)	RaMell Ross	Nickel Boys	[20] [21] [22]
	Payal Kapadia	All We Imagine as Light
	Megan Park	My Old Ass
	Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel	Armand
	Sean Wang	Dìdi

References

1. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2015". Directors Guild of America. January 12, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
2. Peterson, Karen M. (February 17, 2023). "DGA Awards To Honor Former President Michael Apted at 75th Ceremony By Renaming First-Time Feature Award". Variety . Retrieved January 9, 2024. At the February ceremony, the DGA will formally change the name. ... He served as DGA president from 2003-09, and created the first-time feature award that will now bear his name.
3. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2023". Directors Guild of America. January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2024. The renaming of this award was introduced at last year's ceremony, honoring our late Past-President Michael Apted's vision in establishing recognition of outstanding debut work in feature film direction.
4. "68th Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
5. "69th Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
6. "70th Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
7. Marotta, Jenna (February 3, 2018). "DGA Awards 2018: Full Winners List, from Guillermo del Toro to Jordan Peele". IndieWire. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
8. "71st Annual DGA Awards Winners". Directors Guild of America. February 2, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
9. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2018". Directors Guild of America. January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
10. Eng, Joyce (February 2, 2019). "2019 DGA Awards live blog: Alfonso Cuaron wins Best Feature Film, Bo Burnham upsets Bradley Cooper". GoldDerby. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
11. "72nd Annual DGA Awards Winners". Directors Guild of America. January 25, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
12. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2019". Directors Guild of America. January 7, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
13. Vary, Adam B. (April 10, 2021). "Chloé Zhao Wins Top DGA Award for 'Nomadland'". Variety. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
14. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2020". Directors Guild of America. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
15. Chuba, Kirsten; Gajewski, Ryan; Lewis, Hilary (March 12, 2022). "DGA Awards: Jane Campion and The Power of the Dog Take Top Honor". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
16. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2021". Directors Guild of America. January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
17. Tapp, Tom (February 18, 2023). "DGA Awards: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert Win for Everything Everywhere All At Once – Complete Winners List". Deadline. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
18. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2022". Directors Guild of America. January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
19. Murphy, J. Kim (February 10, 2024). "Christopher Nolan Wins at Directors Guild for Oppenheimer, The Bear and The Last of Us Take TV Prizes: Full DGA Winners List". Variety. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
20. Chuba, Kirsten; Lewis, Hilary (February 8, 2025). "DGA Awards: Sean Baker Takes Top Honor for Anora". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 1, 2025.
21. "77th Annual DGA Awards Winners" (Press release). Los Angeles: Directors Guild of America. February 8, 2025. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
22. "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024" (Press release). Directors Guild of America. January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.

External links

• Directors Guild of America (official website)