# Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best First Documentary Feature

The Best First Documentary Feature is one of the annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. It is usually given to the director (or directors). The "first feature" designation is applied to the director.
At the 9th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards, the category was renamed to Best New Documentary Filmmaker(s).

## Winners and nominees
### 2010s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2016 (1st) | Weiner | Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg |
| 2016 (1st) | The Eagle Huntress | Otto Bell |
| 2016 (1st) | Hooligan Sparrow | Nanfu Wang |
| 2016 (1st) | Off the Rails | Adam Irving |
| 2016 (1st) | Tickled | David Farrier and Dylan Reeve |
| 2016 (1st) | The Witness | James D. Solomon |
| 2017 (2nd) | Kedi | Ceyda Torun |
| 2017 (2nd) | California Typewriter | Doug Nichol |
| 2017 (2nd) | Nowhere to Hide | Zaradasht Ahmed |
| 2017 (2nd) | Step | Amanda Lipitz |
| 2017 (2nd) | Strong Island | Yance Ford |
| 2017 (2nd) | Whose Streets? | Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis |
| 2018 (3rd) | Science Fair | Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster |
| 2018 (3rd) | Minding the Gap | Bing Liu |
| 2018 (3rd) | Kusama: Infinity | Heather Lenz |
| 2018 (3rd) | Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda | Stephen Nomura Schible |
| 2018 (3rd) | The Sentence | Rudy Valdez |
| 2018 (3rd) | Wild Wild Country | Chapman Way and Maclain Way |
| 2019 (4th) | Honeyland | Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov |
| 2019 (4th) | Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché | Pamela B. Green |
| 2019 (4th) | David Crosby: Remember My Name | A.J. Eaton |
| 2019 (4th) | For the Birds | Richard Miron |
| 2019 (4th) | Love, Antosha | Garret Price |
| 2019 (4th) | Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound | Midge Costin |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2020 (5th) | Mr. Soul! | Melissa Haizlip |
| 2020 (5th) | Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes | Robert S. Bader |
| 2020 (5th) | A Secret Love | Chris Bolan |
| 2020 (5th) | Feels Good Man | Arthur Jones |
| 2020 (5th) | Jane Goodall: The Hope | Elizabeth Leiter and Kim Woodard |
| 2020 (5th) | Stray | Elizabeth Lo |
| 2021 (6th) | Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) | Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson |
| 2021 (6th) | Ascension | Jessica Kingdon |
| 2021 (6th) | Faya Dayi | Jessica Beshir |
| 2021 (6th) | Introducing, Selma Blair | Rachel Fleit |
| 2021 (6th) | Pray Away | Kristine Stolakis |
| 2021 (6th) | The Sparks Brothers | Edgar Wright |
| 2021 (6th) | The Velvet Underground | Todd Haynes |
| 2022 (7th) | Bad Axe | David Siev |
| 2022 (7th) | Cow | Andrea Arnold |
| 2022 (7th) | The Automat | Lisa Hurwitz |
| 2022 (7th) | My Old School | Jono McLeod |
| 2022 (7th) | Lucy and Desi | Amy Poehler |
| 2022 (7th) | The Territory | Alex Pritz |
| 2022 (7th) | Three Minutes: A Lengthening | Bianca Stigter |
| 2023 (8th) | 20 Days in Mariupol | Mstyslav Chernov |
| 2023 (8th) | 26.2 to Life | Christine Yoo |
| 2023 (8th) | Bad Press | Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler |
| 2023 (8th) | Bobi Wine: The People's President | Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo |
| 2023 (8th) | Kokomo City | D. Smith |
| 2023 (8th) | Orlando, My Political Biography | Paul B. Preciado |
| 2023 (8th) | Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Anna Hints |
| 2023 (8th) | The Thief Collector | Allison Otto |
| 2024 (9th) | Daughters | Natalie Rae and Angela Patton |
| 2024 (9th) | Porcelain War | Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev |
| 2024 (9th) | Frida | Carla Gutiérrez |
| 2024 (9th) | Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story | Charlie Hamilton James |
| 2024 (9th) | The Last of the Sea Women | Sue Kim |
| 2024 (9th) | Sugarcane | Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie |