From Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County U.S.A. to Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies, some of the most lauded and lasting nonfiction films of all time have been crafted by debut filmmakers. Previous winners in this category include Jennifer Venditti for Billy the Kid (2008), Yung Chang for Up the Yangtze (2009), Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for October Country (2010), Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol (2011), Clio Barnard for The Arbor (2012), Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims for Only the Young (2013), Zachary Heinzerling for Cutie and the Boxer (2014), John Maloof and Charlie Siskel for Finding Vivian Maier (2015), Crystal Moselle for The Wolfpack (2016), Nanfu Wang for Hooligan Sparrow (2017), Yance Ford for Strong Island (2018), Bing Liu for Minding the Gap (2019), Beniamino Barrese for The Disappearance of My Mother (2020), Garrett Bradley for Time (2021), Jessica Kingdon for Ascension (2022), Alex Pritz for The Territory (2023), D. Smith for Kokomo City (20240, and Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor for No Other Land (2025).
