# List of directorial debuts

This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early works by Orson Welles such as his filming of his stage production of Twelfth Night in 1933 or his experimental short film The Hearts of Age in 1934. Often, these early works were not intended for commercial release by intent, such as film school projects or inability to find distribution.
Subsequently, many directors learned their trade in the medium of television as it became popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Notable directors who did their first directorial work in this medium include Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, and Alfonso Cuarón. As commercial television advertising became more cinematic in the 1960s and 1970s, many directors early work was in this medium, including directors such as Alan Parker and Ridley Scott. With the success of MTV and the popularity of music videos from the early 1980s, this gave another avenue for directors to hone their skills. Notable directors whose early work was in music videos include David Fincher, Jonathan Glazer, Michel Gondry, and Spike Jonze.
The following symbols indicate where a director has worked in another medium prior to directing commercially.
♦ Indicates where a director has created other earlier works for television
# Indicates when a director's earlier work is uncredited
† Indicates when a director's earlier work has not been released in cinemas, for example film school productions, short films or music videos.
Refer to individual entries for further detail.

## 1870s
### 1874

* Pierre Janssen – Passage de Vénus

### 1878

* Eadweard Muybridge – The Horse in Motion

## 1880s
### 1887

* Louis Le Prince – Man Walking Around a Corner

### 1889

* William Kennedy Dickson – Monkeyshines
* William Friese-Greene – Leisurely Pedestrians, Open Topped Buses and Hansom Cabs with Trotting Horses

## 1890s
### 1892

* Émile Reynaud – Un bon bock

### 1894

* Alexander Black – Miss Jerry

### 1896

* Alice Guy-Blaché – La Fée aux Choux
* Georges Méliès – Le Manoir du diable

### 1898

* Edwin S. Porter – The Cavalier's Dream

## 1900s
### 1901

* Segundo de Chomón – Bajada de Montserrat

### 1907

* Sidney Olcott – The Wooing of Miles Standish

### 1908

* Louis Feuillade – L'Homme aimanté
* D. W. Griffith – The Adventures of Dollie

### 1909

* Mack Sennett – The Curtain Pole

## 1910s

* 1910
* 1911
* 1912
* 1913
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917
* 1918
* 1919

## 1920s

* 1920
* 1921
* 1922
* 1923
* 1924
* 1925
* 1926
* 1927
* 1928
* 1929

## 1930s

* 1930
* 1931
* 1932
* 1933
* 1934
* 1935
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939

## 1940s

* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* 1945
* 1946
* 1947
* 1948
* 1949

## 1950s

* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959

## 1960s

* 1960
* 1961
* 1962
* 1963
* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968
* 1969

## 1970s

* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979

## 1980s

* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989

## 1990s

* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999

## 2000s

* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009

## 2010s

* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019

## 2020s

* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025
* 2026

### 2020

* Max Barbakow – Palm Springs
* Halle Berry – Bruised
* Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz† – Antebellum
* Brian Patrick Butler† – Friend of the World
* Eric D. Cabello Diaz – El Camino de Xico
* Tony Cervone♦ - Scoob!
* Dean Craig† – Love Wedding Repeat
* Joel Crawford† – The Croods: A New Age
* Jack Danini† – Ode to Passion
* Emerald Fennell† – Promising Young Woman
* Michael Fimognari† – To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
* Will Forbes – John Henry
* Jeff Fowler† – Sonic the Hedgehog
* Edward Hall♦† – Blithe Spirit
* Sam Hargrave† – Extraction
* Chris Henchy† – Impractical Jokers: The Movie
* David Henrie† – This Is the Year
* Natalie Erika James† – Relic
* Desideri Trujillo – The Land Is Over
* Anthony Jerjen† – Inherit the Viper
* Aneil Karia♦† – Surge
* Glen Keane – Over the Moon
* Regina King♦† – One Night in Miami...
* Natalie Krinsky – The Broken Hearts Gallery
* Patrice Laliberté♦† – The Decline
* Rob Lodermeier – The Willoughbys
* Viggo Mortensen – Falling
* Jekaterina Oertel – DAU. Natasha
* Prentice Penny♦† – Uncorcked
* David Prior† – The Empty Man
* Emma Seligman† – Shiva Baby
* Tomotaka Shibayama – A Whisker Away
* Remi Weekes♦ – His House
* Autumn de Wilde† – Emma
* David S. F. Wilson† – Bloodshot
* Florian Zeller♦ – The Father

### 2021

* Elaine Bogan♦ – Spirit Untamed
* Mika Boorem† – Hollywood.Con
* Paul Briggs and John Ripa – Raya and the Last Dragon
* Laura Brousseau and Kevin Pavlovic – The Addams Family 2
* Jonathan Butterell – Everybody's Talking About Jamie
* Enrico Casarosa – Luca
* Ryan Crego♦ – Arlo the Alligator Boy
* Bakhtyar Fatah♦ – 09
* Hamish Grieve† – Rumble
* Maggie Gyllenhaal♦ – The Lost Daughter
* Rebecca Hall – Passing
* Brandon Jeffords – Vivo
* Lisa Joy♦ – Reminiscence
* Fran Kranz – Mass
* Johane Matte, Francisco Ruiz Velasco and Andrew L. Schmidt – Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
* PJ McCabe – The Beta Test
* Simon McQuoid – Mortal Kombat
* Brian Andrew Mendoza† – Sweet Girl
* Lin-Manuel Miranda – Tick, Tick... Boom!
* Edson Oda – Nine Days
* Mike Rianda - The Mitchells vs. the Machines
* Alessandra de Rossi – My Amanda
* Rodo Sayagues – Don't Breathe 2
* Evan Spiliotopoulos – The Unholy
* Liesl Tommy♦ – Respect
* Mattson Tomlin – Mother/Android
* Jean-Philippe Vine – Ron's Gone Wrong
* Jude Weng – Finding 'Ohana
* Robin Wright†♦ – Land
* Steve Yamamoto – Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild
* Carlson Young† – The Blazing World
* Matthew J. Saville – Juniper

### 2022

* Kenya Barris♦ – You People
* Loren Bouchard♦ and Bernard Derriman†♦ – The Bob's Burgers Movie
* Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum – Dog
* John C. Donkin – The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
* Jesse Eisenberg† – When You Finish Saving the World
* Tim Federle♦ – Better Nate Than Ever
* John Patton Ford† – Emily the Criminal
* Tom George♦ – See How They Run
* Mark Gustafson – Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
* Alex Hardcastle♦ – Senior Year
* Lee Jung-jae – Hunt
* Gail Lerner†♦ – Cheaper by the Dozen
* Angus MacLane – Lightyear
* Pierre Perifel – The Bad Guys
* J.J. Perry – Day Shift
* Danny and Michael Philippou† – Talk to Me
* Domee Shi† – Turning Red
* Goran Stolevski† – You Won't Be Alone
* Charlotte Wells†♦ – Aftersun
* Patrick Wilson – Insidious: The Dark Realm
* Mike Cheslik† – Hundreds of Beavers
* Spider One ♦ – Allegoria

### 2023

* Carlos Alcántara – ¡Asu mare! Los amigos
* Kenya Barris♦ – You People
* Frederick C.G. Borromeo† – Distortion
* Jacob Byrd† – Adalynn
* Charlie Day – Fool's Paradise
* Tom DeLonge – Monsters of California
* Chloe Domont†♦ – Fair Play
* Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
* Felipe Gálvez Haberle – The Settlers
* Meredith Hama-Brown† – Seagrass
* Benjamin Howard† – Riley
* Raven Jackson† – All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
* Cord Jefferson♦ – American Fiction
* Michael Jelenic♦ – The Super Mario Bros. Movie
* Michael B. Jordan – Creed III
* Zarrar Kahn† – In Flames
* Anna Kendrick – Woman of the Hour
* Chad Kinis – Beks Days of Our Lives
* Adele Lim – Joy Ride
* Eva Longoria♦ – Flamin' Hot
* Nicholas Maggio† – Mob Land
* Flora Martínez – Itzia, Tango & Cacao
* Chris Pine – Poolman
* Molly Preston – Freedom, Wisconsin
* A. V. Rockwell† – A Thousand and One
* Lee Hong-chi – Love Is a Gun
* M. H. Murray† – I Don't Know Who You Are
* FM Reyes – In His Mother's Eyes
* Jingyi Shao† – Chang Can Dunk
* Corey Sherman – Big Boys
* Grant Singer – Reptile
* Celine Song – Past Lives
* Julio Torres – Problemista
* Max Tzannes – Et Tu
* Fawn Veerasunthorn – Wish
* D. W. Waterson♦† – Backspot
* Meera Welankar – Butterfly
* Patrick Wilson – Insidious: The Red Door
* Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk – Hell of a Summer
* Zarrar Kahn†, In Flames

### 2024

* Cinzia Angelini and David Feiss – Hitpig!
* Michiel Blanchart† – Night Call
* Samantha Jayne♦† and Arturo Perez Jr.♦† – Mean Girls
* S. J. Clarkson♦ – Madame Web
* Spenser Cohen♦† and Anna Halberg – Tarot
* Patrick Delage♦ – Despicable Me 4
* David Derrick Jr.♦, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller♦† – Moana 2
* Michael Felker – Things Will Be Different
* Loris Lai – How Kids Roll
* Kelsey Mann♦ – Inside Out 2
* Kelly Marcel – Venom: The Last Dance
* Josh Margolin – Thelma
* Elle Márjá Eira♦† – Stolen
* Kyle Mooney – Y2K
* Rachel Morrison♦ – The Fire Inside
* Ishana Night Shyamalan – The Watchers
* Simon Otto – That Christmas
* Dev Patel† – Monkey Man
* Arkasha Stevenson♦† – The First Omen
* Chris Stuckmann† – Shelby Oaks
* Jerry Seinfeld♦ – Unfrosted
* Manasi Sinha – Eta Amader Golpo
* Zelda Williams† – Lisa Frankenstein
* Dougal Wilson† – Paddington in Peru

### 2025

* Aziz Ansari – Good Fortune
* Pete Browngardt – The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
* Rob Edwards – Sneaks
* Jamie Foxx♦† – All-Star Weekend
* Madeline Sharafian♦† – Elio
* Joséphine Japy – The Wonderers
* Keith Gomes - Badass Ravi Kumar
* Paul Stephen Mann - Shiver Me Timbers
* Pablo Absento – Bloat

### 2026

* Tyree Dillihay♦† – Goat
* Erica Rivinoja – The Cat in the Hat
* Daniel Chong♦† – Hoppers

### Upcoming

* Michael Cera† – TBA
* Emily Dean – Tao
* John D. Eraklis and Tara Nicole Whitaker – Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk
* Mark Fischbach†♦ – Iron Lung
* Keith Jardine† – Killer Kafé
* Scarlett Johansson† – Eleanor the Great
* Jonathan Krisel – untitled Sesame Street film
* Minkyu Lee† – The Witch Boy
* John Rice – The Angry Birds Movie 3
* Jeremy Slater – Thread: An Insidious Tale
* Kristen Stewart† – The Chronology of Water
* Taylor Swift† – TBA