- 2006 - Paul Greengrass - United 93
- 2005 - Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
- 2004 - Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
- 2003 - Peter Weir - The Far Side of the World
- 2002 - Roman Polanski - The Pianist
- 2001 - Peter Jackson - The Fellowship of the Ring
- 2000 - Ang Lee - Wo hu cang long
- 1999 - Pedro Almodóvar - Todo sobre mi madre
- 1998 - Peter Weir - The Truman Show
- 1997 - Baz Luhrmann - Romeo + Juliet
- 1995 - Michael Radford - Il Postino
- 1994 - Mike Newell - Four Weddings and a Funeral
- 1993 - Steven Spielberg - Schindler`s List
- 1992 - Robert Altman - The Player
- Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven
- Neil Jordan - The Crying Game
- James Ivory - Howards End
- 1991 - Alan Parker - The Commitments
- 1990 - Martin Scorsese - GoodFellas
- 1989 - Kenneth Branagh - Henry V
- 1988 - Louis Malle - Au revoir, les enfants
- 1987 - Oliver Stone - Platoon
- 1986 - Woody Allen - Hannah and Her Sisters
- Roland Joffí© - The Mission
- Neil Jordan - Mona Lisa
- James Ivory - A Room with a View
- 1985 - -
- 1984 - Wim Wenders - Paris, Texas
- 1983 - Bill Forsyth - Local Hero
- Sydney Pollack - Tootsie
- Martin Scorsese - The King of Comedy
- James Ivory - Heat and Dust
- 1982 - Richard Attenborough - Gandhi
- 1981 - Louis Malle - Atlantic City
- 1980 - Akira Kurosawa - Kagemusha
- 1979 - Francis Ford Coppola - Apocalypse Now
- 1978 - Alan Parker - Midnight Express
- 1977 - Woody Allen - Annie Hall
- 1975 - Stanley Kubrick - Barry Lyndon
- 1974 - Roman Polanski - Chinatown
- 1973 - François Truffaut - La Nuit amí©ricaine
- 1971 - John Schlesinger - Sunday Bloody Sunday
- 1969 - John Schlesinger - Midnight Cowboy
- 1968 - Mike Nichols - The Graduate
