> For which movie did Steven Spielberg win his first Oscar for Best Director?And the answer: Schindler's List.Photo credit: David James / BPI.Steven Spielberg has been nominated for multipleBest Director Oscars, starting with the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the ThirdKind. As of 2021, he has won twice, for the 1993 film Schindler's List and forthe 1998 film Saving Private Ryan. Schindler's List is a uniquely painful, keen, and necessary telling of theharrowing experience of Jewish refugees in the Holocaust. The story is based onAustralian author Thomas Keneally's novel Schindler's Ark, which is a historicalfiction depicting the effort of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist whotogether with his wife Emilie Schindler saved more than a thousand mostlyPolish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factoriesduring World War II.The inspiration from which the film draws its narrative grew from a chanceencounter between Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden (literallytranslated to "Schindler Jews") and author Keneally in 1980. Pfefferberg, whohad made it his life goal to tell the story of the Schindler Jewish refugees,found voice for his story in Keneally. Eventually, the author went on to writethe screenplay for the film. While Schindler's List went on to win several Oscars, including one for BestDirector, Spielberg was incredibly hesitant to sign on to the title. Beforeaccepting, Spielberg even reached out to several other directors who he gaugedto be better equipped to tell the story. Indeed, Spielberg wasn't sure he wasmature enough to address this subject until he observed Holocaust-deniersreceiving serious consideration in the media. Worried for a return tointolerance, Spielberg finally signed on, forgoing a salary for the film. Shot over the course of just 72 days, Spielberg did not expect the film tosucceed. The modest budget of $22 million and quick schedule created a rough,true-to-life feel that critics later applauded. Much of the film was shot onlocation in Kraków, Poland, in a black-and-white documentary style. Today, Schindler's List is one of the most critically acclaimed films of thelate 20th century, and has been deemed "culturally, historically oraesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress in 2004 and selected forpreservation in the National Film Registry. Read more about its production andreception here [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv].