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Best Director  |  Archive

    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
    • Best Film
    • Best Supporting Actor
    • Best Supporting Actress
    • Best Adapted Screenplay
    • Best Animated Feature
    • Best Director
    • Best Directorial Debut
    • Best Documentary
    • Best Foreign Language Film
    • Best Original Screenplay
    • Breakthrough Performance Actor
    • Breakthrough Performance Actress
    • Special Achievement In Filmmaking
    • Top 10 Independent Films
    • Top 5 Documentaries
    • NBR Freedom Of Expression
    • Spotlight Award
    • Top 5 Foreign Language Films
    • Top Films
    • William K. Everson Award for Film History
    • Breakthrough Performance
    • Top Independent Films
    • Production Design Award
    • Best Ensemble Cast
    • Career Achievement in Cinematography
    • Career Achievement Award
    • Career Achievement in Producing
    • Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking
    • Special Achievement in Producing
    • Outstanding Achievement in Special Effects
    • Career Achievement in Music Composition
    • Best Film or Mini-Series Made for Cable TV
    • Producers Award
    • Outstanding Film Music Composition
    • Billy Wilder Award for Excellence in Directing
    • Special Citations
    • Humanitarian Award
    • International Freedom Award
    • Special Award for Visionary Cinematic Achievement
    • Best Screenplay
    • Outstanding Dramatic Music Performance
    • Outstanding Cinematic Series
    • Top Foreign Films
    • Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award
    • Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
    • NBR Icon Award
    • Best International Film
    • Top 5 International Films
    • Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry
    View All Awards
2024 Best Director

Jon M. Chu 

Wicked 

2023 Best Director

Martin Scorsese 

Killers of the Flower Moon 

2022 Best Director

Steven Spielberg 

The Fabelmans 

2021 Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson 

Licorice Pizza 

2020 Best Director

Spike Lee 

Da 5 Bloods 

2019 Best Director

Quentin Tarantino 

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood 

2018 Best Director

Bradley Cooper 

A Star is Born 

2017 Best Director

Greta Gerwig 

Lady Bird 

2016 Best Director

Barry Jenkins 

Moonlight 

2015 Best Director

Ridley Scott 

The Martian 

2014 Best Director

Clint Eastwood 

American Sniper 

2013 Best Director

Spike Jonze 

Her 

2012 Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow 

Zero Dark Thirty 

2011 Best Director

Martin Scorsese 

Hugo 

2010 Best Director

David Fincher 

The Social Network 

2009 Best Director

Clint Eastwood 

Invictus  

2008 Best Director

David Fincher 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 

2007 Best Director

Tim Burton 

Sweeney Todd 

2006 Best Director

Martin Scorsese 

The Departed 

2005 Best Director

Ang Lee 

Brokeback Mountain  

2004 Best Director

Michael Mann 

Collateral 

2003 Best Director

Edward Zwick  

The Last Samurai 

2002 Best Director

Phillip Noyce 

The Quiet American  Rabbit-Proof Fence 

2001 Best Director

Todd Field 

In The Bedroom 

2000 Best Director

Steven Soderbergh 

Traffic  Erin Brockovitch 

1999 Best Director

Anthony Minghella 

The Talented Mr. Ripley 

1998 Best Director

Shekhar Kapur 

Elizabeth 

1997 Best Director

Curtis Hanson 

L.A. Confidential 

1996 Best Director

Joel Cohen 

Fargo 

1995 Best Director

Ang Lee 

Sense & Sensibility 

1994 Best Director

Quentin Tarantino 

Pulp Fiction 

1993 Best Director

Martin Scorsese 

The Age of Innocence 

1992 Best Director

James Ivory 

Howards End 

1991 Best Director

Jonathan Demme 

The Silence of the Lambs 

1990 Best Director

Kevin Costner 

Dance With Wolves 

1989 Best Director

Kenneth Branagh 

Henry V  

1988 Best Director

Alan Parker 

Mississippi Burning 

1987 Best Director

Steven Spielberg 

Empire of the Sun 

1986 Best Director

Woody Allen 

Hannah and Her Sisters  

1985 Best Director

Akira Kurosawa 

Ran  

1984 Best Director

David Lean 

A Passage to India  

1983 Best Director

James L. Brooks 

Terms of Endearment  

1982 Best Director

Sidney Lumet 

The Verdict  

1981 Best Director

Warren Beatty 

Reds 

1980 Best Director

Robert Redford  

Ordinary People 

1979 Best Director

John Schlesinger 

Yanks 

1978 Best Director

Ingmar Bergman  

Autumn Sonata 

1977 Best Director

Luis Bunuel 

That Obscure Object of Desire 

1976 Best Director

Alan J. Pakula  

All The Presidents Men 

1975 Best Director

Stanley Kubrick  

Barry Lyndon 

1975 Best Director

Robert Altman  

Nashville 

1974 Best Director

Francis Ford Coppola 

The Conversation 

1973 Best Director

Ingmar Bergman  

Cries and Whispers 

1972 Best Director

Bob Fosse 

Cabaret 

1971 Best Director

Ken Russell 

The Devils  The Boy Friend 

1970 Best Director

Francois Truffaut 

The Wild Child 

1969 Best Director

Alfred Hitchcock 

Topaz  

1968 Best Director

Franco Zeffirelli 

Romeo and Juliet 

1967 Best Director

Richard Brooks 

In Cold Blood 

1966 Best Director

Fred Zinnemann 

A Man for All Seasons 

1965 Best Director

John Schlesinger 

Darling  

1964 Best Director

Desmond Davis 

The Girl with Green Eyes  

1963 Best Director

Tony Richardson 

Tom Jones  

1962 Best Director

David Lean 

Lawrence of Arabia  

1961 Best Director

Jack Clayton 

The Innocents 

1960 Best Director

Jack Cardiff 

Sons & Lovers 

1959 Best Director

Fred Zinnemann 

The Nun´s Story 

1958 Best Director

John Ford 

The Last Hurrah 

1957 Best Director

David Lean 

The Bridge on the River Kwai 

1956 Best Director

John Huston 

Moby Dick  

1955 Best Director

William Wyler 

The Desperate Hours 

1954 Best Director

Renato Castellani 

Romeo & Juliet 

1953 Best Director

George Stevens 

Shane 

1952 Best Director

David Lean 

Breaking the Sound Barrier 

1951 Best Director

Akira Kurosawa 

Rashomon 

1950 Best Director

John Huston 

The Asphalt Jungle 

1949 Best Director

Vittorio De Sica 

The Bicycle Thief  

1948 Best Director

Roberto Rossellini 

Paisan 

1947 Best Director

Elia Kazan 

Boomerang!  Gentleman´s Agreement 

1946 Best Director

William Wyler 

The Best Years of Our Lives  

1945 Best Director

Jean Renoir 

The Southerner 

National Board of Review © 2013

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