Which film gave Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director?

Which film gave Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director? Schindler's List did. Spielberg won the directing Oscar at the 66th Academy Awards, honoring his 1993 Holocaust drama.

The film follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who gradually uses his factory and influence to save Jewish workers from Nazi persecution. It was adapted from Thomas Keneally's nonfiction novel Schindler's Ark and was filmed largely in black and white, giving the story a stark documentary-like visual style.

Spielberg had received earlier Best Director nominations for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but did not win. Schindler's List also won Best Picture, while Spielberg's later World War II film Saving Private Ryan earned him a second directing Oscar in 1999.

A common mix-up is The Color Purple, which received 11 Oscar nominations but no wins, including no directing prize for Spielberg. Lincoln was also nominated for Best Picture and acting awards, but it did not give him his first directing Oscar.