- 2024: Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer
- 2023: Daniel Kwan and 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 González Iñárritu - The Revenant
- 2015: Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman
- 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: Joel Coen and 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: Jerome Robbins & 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
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Entertainment