* 2022 - Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog
* 2021 - Chloé Zhao - Nomadland
* 2020 - Bong Joon-ho - Parasite
* 2019 - Sam Mendes - 1917
* 2018 - Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
* 2017 - Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water
* 2016 - Damien Chazelle - La La Land
* 2015 - Alejandro González Iñárritu - The Revenant
* 2014 - Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
* 2013 - Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity
* 2012 - Ang Lee - Life of Pi
* 2011 - Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
* 2010 - Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
* 2009 - Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
* 2008 - Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
* 2007 - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
* 2006 - Martin Scorsese - The Departed
* 2005 - Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
* 2004 - Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
* 2003 - Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
* 2002 - Roman Polanski - The Pianist
* 2001 - Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind
* 2000 - Steven Soderbergh - Traffic