| Goya Award for Best New Director | |
| Awarded For: | Best Debuting Director |
| Presenter: | Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain (AACCE) |
| Country: | Spain |
| Holder: | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren – 20,000 Species of Bees (2023) |
The Goya Award for Best New Director (es|Premio Goya a la Mejor Dirección Novel|links=no) is the Goya awarded yearly to the best debuting director. The award was first presented at the fourth edition of the Goya Awards with Ana Díez being the first winner for her film Ander eta Yul.
Three directors have won this category and later have received the Best Director award, Alejandro Amenábar won for Tesis (1996) and went on to win Best Director twice, for The Others (2001) and The Sea Inside (2005); Fernando León de Aranoa won for Familia (1997) and later won Best Director thrice, for Barrio (1998), Mondays in the Sun (2002) and The Good Boss (2022); and Juan Antonio Bayona won for The Orphanage (2007) and went on to win Best Director twice, for The Impossible (2012) and A Monster Calls (2016).
Five films have won both this award and Best Film, Agustín Díaz Yanes's Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead (1995), Alejandro Amenábar's Tesis (1996), Achero Mañas's Pellet (2000), Raúl Arévalo's The Fury of a Patient Man (2016) and Pilar Palomero's Schoolgirls (2020). Animator Enrique Gato became the first to historically win the award for an animated film with Tad, The Lost Explorer.
| Year | Director(s) | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ana Díez | Ander eta Yul | ||
| Cristina Andreu | Brumal | ||
| Massa vell per morir jove | |||
| Xavier Villaverde | Continental | ||
| Teodoro Ríos and Santiago Ríos | Guarapo | ||
| Year | Director(s) | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rosa Vergés | Boom Boom | ||
| Paco Periñán | Against the Wind | Contra el viento | |
| José María Carreño | Ovejas negras | ||
| Juanma Bajo Ulloa | Butterfly Wings | Alas de mariposa | |
| Cómo ser mujer y no morir en el intento | |||
| Salsa rosa | |||
| Julio Médem | Vacas | ||
| Acción mutante | |||
| Sublet | |||
| Mariano Barroso | My Soul Brother | Mi hermano del alma | |
| José Ángel Bohollo | Ciénaga | ||
| Arantxa Lazcano | Los años oscuros | ||
| La Cuadrilla – Santiago Aguilar Alvear and Luis Guridi | Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad | ||
| Héctor Carré | Dame lume | ||
| Todo es mentira | |||
| Agustín Díaz Yanes | Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead | Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto | |
| Antarctica | Antártida | ||
| Hola, ¿estás sola? | |||
| Alejandro Amenábar | Tesis | ||
| The Good Life | La buena vida | ||
| Alfonso Albacete, Miguel Bardem and David Menkes | Not Love, Just Frenzy | Más que amor, frenesí | |
| Fernando León de Aranoa | Familia | ||
| Mireia Ros | La Moños | ||
| David Alonso and Fernando Cámara | Memorias del ángel caído | ||
| Santiago Segura | Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley | ||
| The Miracle of P. Tinto | El milagro de P. Tinto | ||
| The First Night of My Life | La primera noche de mi vida | ||
| Mensaka | Mensaka, páginas de una historia | ||
| Benito Zambrano | Solas | ||
| The Ugliest Woman in the World | La mujer más fea del mundo | ||
| The Man with Rain in His Shoes | |||
| Nobody Knows Anybody | Nadie conoce a nadie | ||
| Year | Director(s) | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Achero Mañas | Pellet | El Bola | |
| Heart of the Warrior | El corazón del guerrero | ||
| Nico and Dani | Krámpack | ||
| I Know Who You Are | Sé quién eres | ||
| Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | Intacto | ||
| No Pain, No Gain | Más pena que gloria | ||
| Savages | Salvajes | ||
| Javier Balaguer | Mine Alone | Solo mía | |
| and | Smoking Room | ||
| My Mother Likes Women | A mi madre le gustan las mujeres | ||
| Nobody's Life | La vida de nadie | ||
| Stones | Piedras | ||
| Ángeles González Sinde | Sleeping Luck | La suerte dormida | |
| Football Days | Días de fútbol | ||
| The Hours of the Day | Las horas de día | ||
| Torremolinos 73 | |||
| Cold Winter Sun | Frío sol de invierno | ||
| Astronauts | Astronautas | ||
| Body Confusion | Fuera del cuerpo | ||
| Kill Me Tender | Haz conmigo lo que quieras | ||
| José Corbacho and Juan Cruz | Tapas | ||
| Asier Altuna and Telmo Esnal | Aupa Etxebeste | ||
| The Uninvited Guest | El habitante incierto | ||
| Life and Colour | Vida y color | ||
| Daniel Sánchez Arévalo | DarkBlueAlmostBlack | Azuloscurocasinegro | |
| Crossing the Border | Un franco, 14 pesetas | ||
| Lola | Lo que sé de Lola | ||
| The Night of the Sunflowers | La noche de los girasoles | ||
| Juan Antonio Bayona | The Orphanage | El orfanato | |
| Under the Stars | Bajo las estrellas | ||
| Suso's Tower | La torre de Suso | ||
| Tristán Ulloa and David Ulloa | Modesty | Pudor | |
| Santiago Zannou | The One-Handed Trick | El truco del manco | |
| My Prison Yard | El patio de mi cárcel | ||
| Timecrimes | Los cronocrímenes | ||
| Un novio para Yasmina | |||
| Mar Coll | Tres dies amb la família | ||
| The Shame | La vergüenza | ||
| Friend Zone | Pagafantas | ||
| Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor | Me, Too | Yo, también | |
| Year | Director(s) | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bon Appétit | |||
| Paper Birds | Pájaros de papel | ||
| Plans for Tomorrow | Planes para mañana | ||
| Every Song Is About Me | Todas las canciones hablan de mí | ||
| Kike Maíllo | Eva | ||
| Chrysalis | De tu ventana a la mía | ||
| Maktub | |||
| Verbo | |||
| Enrique Gato | Tad, the Lost Explorer | Las aventuras de Tadeo Jones | |
| Carmina or Blow Up | Carmina o revienta | ||
| Evelyn | |||
| The Body | El cuerpo | ||
| Fernando Franco | Wounded | La herida | |
| Mindscape | |||
| Stockholm | |||
| Carlos Marqués-Marcet | 10,000 km | ||
| and Esteban Roel | Shrew's Nest | Musarañas | |
| Francisco Sánchez Varela | |||
| They Are All Dead | Todos están muertos | ||
| Daniel Guzmán | Nothing in Return | A cambio de nada | |
| Retribution | El desconocido | ||
| Food and Shelter | Techo y comida | ||
| Requirements to Be a Normal Person | Requisitos para ser una persona normal | ||
| 2016 (31st) [1] | Raúl Arévalo | The Fury of a Patient Man | Tarde para la ira |
| 1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines | 1898, Los últimos de Filipinas | ||
| The One-Eyed King | El rey tuerto | ||
| María (and Everybody Else) | María (y los demás) | ||
| 2017 (32nd) [2] | Carla Simón | Summer 1993 | Estiu 1993 |
| Marrowbone | El secreto de Marrowbone | ||
| Holy Camp! | La llamada | ||
| Can't Say Goodbye | No sé decir adiós | ||
| 2018 (33rd) [3] | Arantxa Echevarría | Carmen & Lola | Carmen y Lola |
| Ana by Day | Ana de día | ||
| César Esteban Alenda and José Esteban Alenda | Not the End | Sin fin | |
| Journey to a Mother's Room | Viaje al cuarto de una madre | ||
| 2019 (34th) [4] | Belén Funes | A Thief's Daughter | La hija de un ladrón |
| Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles | Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas | ||
| The Platform | El hoyo | ||
| Advantages of Travelling by Train | Ventajas de viajar en tren | ||
| Year | Director(s) | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 (35th) [5] | Pilar Palomero | Schoolgirls | Las niñas |
| Ane Is Missing | Ane | ||
| Bernabé Rico | One Careful Owner | El inconveniente | |
| 2021 (36th) [6] [7] | Clara Roquet | Libertad | |
| Girlfriends | Chavalas | ||
| Javier Marco Rico | Josephine | Josefina | |
| David Martín de los Santos | That Was Life | La vida era eso | |
| 2022 (37th) [8] | Alauda Ruiz de Azúa | Lullaby | Cinco lobitos |
| Piggy | Cerdita | ||
| The Water | El agua | ||
| On the Fringe | En los márgenes | ||
| Cork | Suro | ||
| 2023 (38th) [9] | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren | 20,000 Species of Bees | 20.000 especies de abejas |
| The Girls Are Alright | Las chicas están bien | ||
| Matria | |||
| Alejandro Rojas, Juan Sebastián Vasquez | Upon Entry | ||
| Alejandro Marín | Love & Revolution | Te estoy amando locamente | |
The following list is for Best New Director nominees and winners that went on to win or be nominated for Best Director. The times that the directors won either of the categories are in bold.