Which film won Martin Scorsese his first Academy Award for Best Director?

Martin Scorsese won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed.

Released in 2006, The Departed is a crime thriller set largely in Boston. It follows an undercover state police officer inside an Irish-American gang and a mole inside the police department. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg lead the cast.

The film is a remake of Infernal Affairs, a 2002 Hong Kong film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. Scorsese’s version changed the setting, expanded several characters, and added a distinctive Boston crime-world atmosphere.

At the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, The Departed won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Scorsese had previously received director nominations for Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, and Gangs of New York, so the award marked a major milestone in his career.