| Year | Director | Film | Original title | Nationality of director |
|---|
| 1950s |
| 1956 | Robert Aldrich | Autumn Leaves | United States |
| 1957 | Mario Monicelli | Fathers and Sons | Padri e figli | Italy |
| 1958 | Tadashi Imai | Jun'ai Monogatari (純愛物語) (A Story of Pure Love) | Japan |
| 1959 | Akira Kurosawa | The Hidden Fortress | 隠し砦の三悪人 (Kakushi toride no san akunin) | Japan |
| 1960s |
| 1960 | Jean-Luc Godard | Breathless | À bout de souffle | France |
| 1961 | Bernhard Wicki | The Miracle of Father Malachia | Das Wunder des Malachias | Austria |
| 1962 | Francesco Rosi | Salvatore Giuliano | Italy |
| 1963 | Nikos Koundouros | Young Aphrodites | Μικρές Αφροδίτες (Mikres Afrodites) | Greece |
| 1964 | Satyajit Ray | Mahanagar (The Big City) | India |
| 1965 | Satyajit Ray | Charulata (aka The Lonely Wife) | India |
| 1966 | Carlos Saura | La caza (The Hunt) | Spain |
| 1967 | Živojin Pavlović | The Rats Woke Up | Buđenje pacova | Yugoslavia |
| 1968 | Carlos Saura | Peppermint Frappé | Spain |
| 1970s |
| 1972 | Jean-Pierre Blanc | The Old Maid | La Vieille Fille | France |
| 1975 | Sergei Solovyov | One Hundred Days After Childhood | Сто дней после детства (Sto dney posle detstva) | Soviet Union |
| 1976 | Mario Monicelli | Caro Michele | Italy |
| 1977 | Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón | Black Litter | Camada negra | Spain |
| 1978 | Georgi Djulgerov | Advantage | Авантаж (Avantazh) | Bulgaria |
| 1979 | Astrid Henning-Jensen | Winterborn | Vinterbørn | Denmark |
| 1980s |
| 1980 | István Szabó | Bizalom (Confidence) | Hungary |
| 1982 | Mario Monicelli | The Marquis of Grillo | Il Marchese del Grillo | Italy |
| 1983 | Éric Rohmer | Pauline at the Beach | Pauline à la plage | France |
| 1984 | Costas Ferris | Rembetiko | Ρεμπέτικο | Greece |
| Ettore Scola | Le Bal | (Italian title: Ballando ballando) | Italy |
| 1985 | Robert Benton | Places in the Heart | United States |
| 1986 | Georgiy Shengelaya | The Journey of a Young Composer | Akhalgazrda kompozitoris mogzauroba | Soviet Union |
| 1987 | Oliver Stone | Platoon | United States |
| 1988 | Norman Jewison | Moonstruck | Canada |
| 1989 | Dušan Hanák | I Love, You Love | Ja milujem, ty miluješ | Czechoslovakia |
| 1990s |
| 1990 | Michael Verhoeven | The Nasty Girl | Das schreckliche Mädchen | Germany |
| 1991 | Jonathan Demme | The Silence of the Lambs | United States |
| Ricky Tognazzi | Ultra | Ultrà | Italy |
| 1992 | Jan Troell | A Swedish Requiem | Il Capitano | Sweden |
| 1993 | Andrew Birkin | The Cement Garden | England |
| 1994 | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Three Colors: White | Trois couleurs : Blanc | Poland |
| 1995 | Richard Linklater | Before Sunrise | United States |
| 1996 | Yim Ho | The Sun Has Ears | 太陽有耳 Taiyang you er | British Hong Kong |
| Richard Loncraine | Richard III | England |
| 1997 | Eric Heumann | Port Djema | France |
| 1998 | Neil Jordan | The Butcher Boy | Ireland |
| 1999 | Stephen Frears | The Hi-Lo Country | England |
| 2000s |
| 2000 | Miloš Forman | Man on the Moon | Czech Republic / United States |
| 2001 | Lin Cheng-sheng | Betelnut Beauty | 爱你爱我 Ài nǐ ài wǒ | Taiwan |
| 2002 | Otar Iosseliani | Monday Morning | Lundi matin | Georgia |
| 2003 | Patrice Chéreau | His Brother | Son frère | France |
| 2004 | Kim Ki-duk | Samaritan Girl | 사마리아 (Samaria) | South Korea |
| 2005 | Marc Rothemund | Sophie Scholl - The Final Days | Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage | Germany |
| 2006 | Michael Winterbottom
Mat Whitecross | The Road to Guantánamo | England |
| 2007 | Joseph Cedar | Beaufort ( בופור ) | Israel |
| 2008 | Paul Thomas Anderson | There Will Be Blood | United States |
| 2009 | Asghar Farhadi | About Elly | درباره الی (Dar bāre-ye Elly) | Iran |
| 2010s |
| 2010 | Roman Polanski | The Ghost Writer | Poland / France |
| 2011 | Ulrich Köhler | Sleeping Sickness | Schlafkrankheit | Germany |
| 2012 | Christian Petzold | Barbara | Germany |
| 2013 | David Gordon Green | Prince Avalanche | United States |
| 2014 | Richard Linklater | Boyhood | United States |
| 2015 | Radu Jude | Aferim! (Bravo!) | Romania |
| Malgorzata Szumowska | Body | Ciało | Poland |
| 2016 | Mia Hansen-Løve | Things to Come | L'Avenir | France |
| 2017 | Aki Kaurismäki | The Other Side of Hope | Toivon tuolla puolen | Finland |
| 2018 | Wes Anderson | Isle of Dogs | United States |
| 2019 | Angela Schanelec | I Was at Home, But | Germany |