David di Donatello for Best Directorial Debut

The David di Donatello for Best Directorial Debut (Italian: David di Donatello per il miglior esordio alla regia), known as the David di Donatello per il miglior regista esordiente prior to 2023, is a film award presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI, Academy of Italian Cinema) to recognize the outstanding feature-film directorial debut of a film director who has worked within the Italian film industry during the year preceding the ceremony.^[1] The award was first handled out in 1982.^[2]

David di Donatello Award for Directorial Debut
Country	Italy
Presented by	Accademia del Cinema Italiano
First award	1982 (for directorial debut films released during the 1981/1982 film season)
Currently held by	Paola Cortellesi — There's Still Tomorrow (2024)
Website	daviddidonatello.it

Nominees and winners are selected via runoff voting by all members of the Accademia.^[3][4]

Winners and nominees

Below, winners are listed first in the colored row, followed by other nominees.^[1]

Luciano De Crescenzo won in 1985 for Così parlò Bellavista.

Enrico Montesano won in 1986 for A me mi piace.

Francesca Archibugi won in 1989 for Mignon Has Come to Stay.

Alessandro D'Alatri won in 1991 for Red American.

Sergio Rubini won in 1991 for The Station.

Massimo Scaglione won in 1992 for Angeli a Sud.

Maurizio Zaccaro won in 1992 for Where the Night Begins.

Mario Martone won in 1993 for Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician.

Simona Izzo won in 1994 for Sentimental Maniacs.

Paolo Virzì won in 1995 for Living It Up.

Mimmo Calopresti won in 1996 for The Second Time.

Roberta Torre won in 1998 for To Die for Tano.

Luciano Ligabue won in 1999 for Radiofreccia.

Daniele Vicari won in 2003 for Maximum Velocity (V-Max).

Saverio Costanzo won in 2005 for Private.

Fausto Brizzi won in 2006 for Notte prima degli esami.

Kim Rossi Stuart won in 2007 for Along the Ridge.

1980s

Year	Director	Film	Ref.
1981/82 (27th)
	Luciano Manuzzi	Off Season
	Alessandro Benvenuti	Ad ovest di Paperino
	Enzo De Caro	Prima che sia troppo presto
1982/83 (28th)
	Francesco Laudadio	Grog
	Roberto Benigni	Tu mi turbi
	Marco Risi	I'm Going to Live by Myself
	Cinzia TH Torrini	Giocare d'azzardo
1983/84 (29th)
	Roberto Russo	Flirt
	Giacomo Battiato	Hearts and Armour
	Francesca Marciano and Stefania Casini	Lontano da dove
1984/85 (30th)
	Luciano De Crescenzo	Così parlò Bellavista
	Francesca Comencini	Pianoforte
	Francesco Nuti	Casablanca, Casablanca
1985/86 (31st)
	Enrico Montesano	A me mi piace
	Amanzio Todini	Big Deal After 20 Years
	Valerio Zecca	Chi mi aiuta?
1986/87 (32nd)
	Giorgio Treves	The Malady of Love
	Antonietta De Lillo and Giorgio Magliulo	Una casa in bilico
	Giuseppe Tornatore	The Professor
1987/88 (33rd)
	Daniele Luchetti	It's Happening Tomorrow
	Carlo Mazzacurati	Italian Night
	Stefano Reali	Down There in the Jungle
1988/89 (34th)
	Francesca Archibugi	Mignon Has Come to Stay
	Massimo Guglielmi	Rebus
	Sergio Staino	Cavalli si nasce

1990s

Year	Director	Film	Ref.
1989/90 (35th)
	Ricky Tognazzi	Little Misunderstandings
	Gianfranco Cabiddu	Disamistade
	Giacomo Campiotti	Corsa di primavera
	Livia Giampalmo	Evelina e i suoi figli
	Monica Vitti	Secret Scandal
1990/91 (36th)
	Alessandro D'Alatri	Red American
	Sergio Rubini	The Station
	Christian De Sica	Faccione
	Antonio Monda	Dicembre
	Michele Placido	Pummarò
1991/92 (37th)
	Massimo Scaglione	Angeli a sud
	Maurizio Zaccaro	Where the Night Begins
	Giulio Base	Crack
1992/93 (38th)
	Mario Martone	Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician
	Carlo Carlei	Flight of the Innocent
	Pasquale Pozzessere	Verso Sud
1993/94 (39th)
	Simona Izzo	Sentimental Maniacs
	Francesco Ranieri Martinotti	Abissinia
	Leone Pompucci	Mille bolle blu
1994/95 (40th)
	Paolo Virzì	Living It Up
	Sandro Baldoni	Weird Tales
	Alberto Simone	Colpo di luna
1995/96 (41st)
	Mimmo Calopresti	The Second Time
	Stefano Incerti	Il verificatore
	Leonardo Pieraccioni	The Graduates
1996/97 (42nd)
	Fulvio Ottaviano	Growing Artichokes in Mimongo
	Franco Bernini	The Grey Zone
	Ugo Chiti	Albergo Roma
	Roberto Cimpanelli	A Cold, Cold Winter
	Anna Di Francesca	No Spring Chicken
1997/98 (43rd)
	Roberta Torre	To Die for Tano
	Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo and Massimo Venier	Three Men and a Leg
	Riccardo Milani	Auguri professore
1998/99 (44th)
	Luciano Ligabue	Radiofreccia
	Giuseppe M. Gaudino	Giro di lune tra terra e mare
	Gabriele Muccino	Ecco fatto

2000s

Year	Director	Film	Ref.
1999/00 (45th)
	Alessandro Piva	La capa gira
	Andrea and Antonio Frazzi	Il cielo cade
	Piergiorgio Gay and Roberto San Pietro	Three Stories
2000/01 (46th)
	Alex Infascelli	Almost Blue
	Roberto Andò	The Prince's Manuscript
	Rolando Stefanelli	Il prezzo
2001/02 (47th)
	Marco Ponti	Santa Maradona
	Vincenzo Marra	Sailing Home
	Paolo Sorrentino	L'uomo in più
2002/03 (48th)
	Daniele Vicari	Maximum Velocity (V-Max)
	Francesco Falaschi	I Am Emma
	Michele Mellara and Alessandro Rossi	Fortezza Bastiani
	Marco Simon Puccioni	What Are You Looking For
	Spiro Scimone and Francesco Sframeli	Two Friends
2003/04 (49th)
	Salvatore Mereu	Three-Step Dance
	Andrea Manni	The Fugitive
	Francesco Patierno	Pater Familias
	Piero Sanna	La destinazione
	Maria Sole Tognazzi	Past Perfect
2004/05 (50th)
	Saverio Costanzo	Private
	Paolo Franchi	The Spectator
	David Grieco	Evilenko
	Stefano Mordini	Smalltown, Italy
	Paolo Vari and Antonio Bocola	Chemical Hunger
2005/06 (51st)
	Fausto Brizzi	Notte prima degli esami
	Vittorio Moroni	Tu devi essere il lupo
	Francesco Munzi	Saimir
	Fausto Paravidino	Texas
	Stefano Pasetto	Tartarughe sul dorso
2006/07 (52nd)
	Kim Rossi Stuart	Along the Ridge
	Alessandro Angelini	Salty Air
	Francesco Amato	What the Hell Am I Doing Here?
	Giambattista Avellino, and Ficarra e Picone	Il 7 e l'8
	Davide Marengo	Night Bus
2007/08 (53rd)
	Andrea Molaioli	The Girl by the Lake
	Fabrizio Bentivoglio	Don't Waste Your Time, Johnny!
	Giorgio Diritti	The Wind Blows Round
	Marco Martani	Concrete Romance
	Silvio Muccino	Parlami d'amore
2008/09 (54th)
	Gianni Di Gregorio	Mid-August Lunch
	Marco Amenta	The Sicilian Girl
	Umberto Carteni	Different from Whom?
	Tony D'Angelo	Una notte
	Marco Pontecorvo	Pa-ra-da

2010s

Year	Director	Film	Ref.
2009/10 (55th)
	Valerio Mieli	Ten Winters
	Giuseppe Capotondi	The Double Hour
	Marco Chiarini	L'uomo fiammifero
	Susanna Nicchiarelli	Cosmonaut
	Claudio Noce	Good Morning Aman
2010/11 (56th)
	Rocco Papaleo	Basilicata Coast to Coast
	Aureliano Amadei	20 Cigarettes
	Massimiliano Bruno	Escort in Love
	Edoardo Leo	18 Years Later
	Paola Randi	Into Paradiso
2011/12 (57th)
	Francesco Bruni	Easy!
	Guido Lombardi	Là-bas: A Criminal Education
	Alice Rohrwacher	Heavenly Body
	Andrea Segre	Shun Li and the Poet
	Stefano Sollima	ACAB - All Cops Are Bastards
2012/13 (58th)
	Leonardo Di Costanzo	The Interval
	Giorgia Farina	Amiche da morire
	Alessandro Gassmann	The Mongrel
	Luigi Lo Cascio	The Ideal City
	Laura Morante	Cherry on the Cake
2013/14 (59th)
	Pif	The Mafia Kills Only in Summer
	Valeria Golino	Miele
	Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza	Salvo
	Matteo Oleotto	Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot
	Sydney Sibilia	I Can Quit Whenever I Want
2014/15 (60th)
	Edoardo Falcone	God Willing
	Laura Bispuri	Sworn Virgin
	Eleonora Danco	N-Capace
	Andrea Jublin	Banana
	Lamberto Sanfelice	Chlorine
2015/16 (61st)
	Gabriele Mainetti	They Call Me Jeeg
	Alberto Caviglia	Burning Love
	Carlo Lavagna	Arianna
	Piero Messina	The Wait
	Francesco Miccichè and Fabio Bonifacci	Them Who?
	Adriano Valerio	Banat
2016/17 (62nd)
	Marco Danieli	Worldly Girl
	Lorenzo Corvino	WAX: We Are the X
	Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro	Mine
	Marco Segato	La pelle dell'orso
	Michele Vannucci	I Was a Dreamer
2017/18 (63rd)
	Donato Carrisi	The Girl in the Fog
	Cosimo Gomez	Ugly Nasty People
	Roberto De Paolis	Pure Hearts
	Andrea De Sica	Children of the Night
	Andrea Magnani	Easy
2018/19 (64th)
	Alessio Cremonini	On My Skin
	Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo	Boys Cry
	Luca Facchini	Fabrizio De André - Principe libero
	Valerio Mastandrea	Ride
	Simone Spada	Hotel Gagarin

2020s

Year	Director	Film	Ref.
2020 (65th)
	Phaim Bhuyian	Bangla
	Igort	5 Is the Perfect Number
	Leonardo D'Agostini	The Champion
	Marco D'Amore	L'immortale
	Carlo Sironi	Sole
2021 (66th)
	Pietro Castellitto	I predatori
	Ginevra Elkann	If Only
	Mauro Mancini	Thou Shalt Not Hate
	Alice Filippi	Out of My League
Luca Medici	Tolo Tolo
2022 (67th)
	Laura Samani	Small Body
	Gianluca Jodice	The Bad Poet
	Maura Delpero	Maternal
	Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis	Re Granchio
	Francesco Costabile	Una Femmina: The Code of Silence
2023 (68th)
	Giulia Steigerwalt	September
	Carolina Cavalli	Amanda
	Jasmine Trinca	Marcel!
	Niccolò Falsetti	Margins
	Vincenzo Pirrotta	Spaccaossa
2024 (68th)
	Paola Cortellesi	There's Still Tomorrow
	Giacomo Abbruzzese	Disco Boy
	Giuseppe Fiorello	Fireworks
	Micaela Ramazzotti	Felicità
	Michele Riondino	Palazzina Laf

See also

• Nastro d'Argento for Best New Director
• Cinema of Italy