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

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. 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.

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

### 2020s

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