| 2025 |
Sean Baker |
Anora |
| 2024 |
Christopher Nolan |
Oppenheimer |
| 2023 |
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert |
Everything Everywhere All at Once |
| 2022 |
Jane Campion |
The Power of the Dog |
| 2021 |
Chloé Zhao |
Nomadland |
| 2020 |
Bong Joon-ho |
Parasite |
| 2019 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
Roma |
| 2018 |
Guillermo del Toro |
The Shape of Water |
| 2017 |
Damien Chazelle |
La La Land |
| 2016 |
Alejandro G. Iñárritu |
The Revenant |
| 2015 |
Alejandro G. Iñárritu |
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) |
| 2014 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
Gravity |
| 2013 |
Ang Lee |
Life of Pi |
| 2012 |
Michel Hazanavicius |
The Artist |
| 2011 |
Tom Hooper |
The King's Speech |
| 2010 |
Kathryn Bigelow |
The Hurt Locker |
| 2009 |
Danny Boyle |
Slumdog Millionaire |
| 2008 |
Ethan Coen |
No Country for Old Men |
| 2007 |
Martin Scorsese |
The Departed |
| 2006 |
Ang Lee |
Brokeback Mountain |
| 2005 |
Clint Eastwood |
Million Dollar Baby |
| 2004 |
Peter Jackson |
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
| 2003 |
Roman Polanski |
The Pianist |
| 2002 |
Ron Howard |
A Beautiful Mind |
| 2001 |
Steven Soderbergh |
Traffic |
| 2000 |
Sam Mendes |
American Beauty |
| 1999 |
Steven Spielberg |
Saving Private Ryan |
| 1998 |
James Cameron |
Titanic |
| 1997 |
Anthony Minghella |
The English Patient |
| 1996 |
Mel Gibson |
Braveheart |
| 1995 |
Robert Zemeckis |
Forrest Gump |
| 1994 |
Steven Spielberg |
Schindler's List |
| 1993 |
Clint Eastwood |
Unforgiven |
| 1992 |
Jonathan Demme |
The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1991 |
Kevin Costner |
Dances with Wolves |
| 1990 |
Oliver Stone |
Born on the Fourth of July |
| 1989 |
Barry Levinson |
Rain Man |
| 1988 |
Bernardo Bertolucci |
The Last Emperor |
| 1987 |
Oliver Stone |
Platoon |
| 1986 |
Sydney Pollack |
Out of Africa |
| 1985 |
Milos Forman |
Amadeus |
| 1984 |
James L. Brooks |
Terms of Endearment |
| 1983 |
Richard Attenborough |
Gandhi |
| 1982 |
Warren Beatty |
Reds |
| 1981 |
Robert Redford |
Ordinary People |
| 1980 |
Robert Benton |
Kramer vs. Kramer |
| 1979 |
Michael Cimino |
The Deer Hunter |
| 1978 |
Woody Allen |
Annie Hall |
| 1977 |
John G. Avildsen |
Rocky |
| 1976 |
Milos Forman |
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1975 |
Francis Ford Coppola |
The Godfather: Part II |
| 1974 |
George Roy Hill |
The Sting |
| 1973 |
Bob Fosse |
Cabaret |
| 1972 |
William Friedkin |
The French Connection |
| 1971 |
Franklin J. Schaffner |
Patton |
| 1970 |
John Schlesinger |
Midnight Cowboy |
| 1969 |
Carol Reed |
Oliver! |
| 1968 |
Mike Nichols |
The Graduate |
| 1967 |
Fred Zinnemann |
A Man for All Seasons |
| 1966 |
Robert Wise |
The Sound of Music |
| 1965 |
George Cukor |
My Fair Lady |
| 1964 |
Tony Richardson |
Tom Jones |
| 1963 |
David Lean |
Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1962 |
Robert Wise |
West Side Story |
| 1961 |
Billy Wilder |
The Apartment |
| 1960 |
William Wyler |
Ben-Hur |
| 1959 |
Vincente Minnelli |
Gigi |
| 1958 |
David Lean |
The Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 1957 |
George Stevens |
Giant |
| 1956 |
Delbert Mann |
Marty |
| 1955 |
Elia Kazan |
On the Waterfront |
| 1954 |
Fred Zinnemann |
From Here to Eternity |
| 1953 |
John Ford |
The Quiet Man |
| 1952 |
George Stevens |
A Place in the Sun |
| 1951 |
Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
All About Eve |
| 1950 |
Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
A Letter to Three Wives |
| 1949 |
John Huston |
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
| 1948 |
Elia Kazan |
Gentleman's Agreement |
| 1947 |
William Wyler |
The Best Years of Our Lives |
| 1946 |
Billy Wilder |
The Lost Weekend |
| 1945 |
Leo McCarey |
Going My Way |
| 1944 |
Michael Curtiz |
Casablanca |
| 1943 |
William Wyler |
Mrs. Miniver |
| 1942 |
John Ford |
How Green Was My Valley |
| 1941 |
John Ford |
The Grapes of Wrath |
| 1940 |
Victor Fleming |
Gone with the Wind |
| 1939 |
Frank Capra |
You Can't Take It with You |
| 1938 |
Leo McCarey |
The Awful Truth |
| 1937 |
Frank Capra |
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town |
| 1936 |
John Ford |
The Informer |
| 1935 |
Frank Capra |
It Happened One Night |
| 1934 |
Frank Lloyd |
Cavalcade |
| 1933 |
Frank Borzage |
Bad Girl |
| 1932 |
Norman Taurog |
Skippy |
| 1931 |
Lewis Milestone |
All Quiet on the Western Front |
| 1930 |
Frank Lloyd |
The Divine Lady |
| 1929 |
Frank Borzage |
7th Heaven (Drama) |
|
Lewis Milestone |
Two Arabian Knights (Comedy) |
