| Year (Director) | Movie Title | Awards Nominated for |
| 2010 (Lisa Cholodenko) | |
| 2010 (Danny Boyle) | |
| 2010 (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) | |
| 2010 (Debra Granik) | |
| 2009 (Neill Blomkamp) | |
| 2009 (Lone Scherfig) | |
| 2009 (Joel & Ethan Coen) | |
| 2010 (Jason Reitman) | |
| 2008 (Ron Howard) | |
| 2005 (George Clooney) | |
| 2005 (Steven Spielberg) | |
| 2010 (Gary Ross) | |
| 2002 (Martin Scorsese) | |
| 2001 (Todd Field) | |
| 2000 (Lasse Hallström) | |
| 1999 (Frank Darabont) | |
| 1999 (Michael Mann) | |
| 1999 (M. Night Shyamalan) | |
| 1998 (Terrence Malick) | |
| 1996 (Mike Leigh) | |
| 1994 (Mike Newell) | |
| 1994 (Robert Redford) | |
| 1994 (Frank Darabont) | |
| 1993 (Jim Sheridan) | |
| 1993 (James Ivory) | |
| 1992 (Rob Reiner) | |
| 1991 (Barbra Streisand) | |
| 1990 (Penny Marshall) | |
| 1990 (Francis Ford Coppola) | |
| 1989 (Phil Alden Robinson) | |
| 1987 (James L. Brooks) | |
| 1987 (Adrian Lyne) | |
| 1985 (Steven Spielberg) | |
| 1984 (Norman Jewison) | |
| 1983 (Lawrence Kasdan) | |
| 1983 (Peter Yates) | |
| 1982 (Sidney Lumet) | |
| 1981 (Louis Malle) | |
| 1980 (David Lynch) | |
| 1978 (Paul Mazursky) | |
| 1977 (Herbert Ross) | |
| 1976 (Martin Scorsese) | |
| 1974 (Francis Ford Coppola) | |
| 1974 (Bob Fosse) | |
| 1973 (George Lucas) | |
| 1972 (John Boorman) | |
| | Year (Director) | Movie Title | Awards Nominated for |
| 1972 (Jan Troell) | |
| 1972 (Martin Ritt) | |
| 1971 (Stanley Kubrick) | |
| 1970 (Bob Rafelson) | |
| 1968 (Paul Newman) | |
| 1966 (Lewis Gilbert) | |
| 1966 (Norman Jewison) | |
| 1966 (Robert Wise) | |
| 1964 (Stanley Kubrick) | |
| 1962 (Lewis Milestone) | |
| 1961 (Joshua Logan) | |
| 1960 (Fred Zinnemann) | |
| 1959 (Otto Preminger) | |
| 1959 (Fred Zinnemann) | |
| 1958 (Morton Da Costa) | |
| 1958 (Richard Brooks) | |
| 1957 (Mark Robson) | |
| 1957 (Sidney Lumet) | |
| 1957 (Billy Wilder) | |
| 1956 (William Wyler) | |
| 1954 (Edward Dmytryk) | |
| 1952 (Richard Thorpe) | |
| 1951 (Anatole Litvak) | |
| 1950 (Vincente Minnelli) | |
| 1947 (Edward Dmytryk) | |
| 1946 (Laurence Olivier) | |
| 1946 (Frank Capra) | |
| 1944 (Billy Wilder) | |
| 1943 (Ernst Lubitsch) | |
| 1943 (Clarence Brown) | |
| 1943 (Noel Coward & David Lean) | |
| 1943 (William A. Wellman) | |
| 1942 (Sam Wood) | |
| 1942 (Orson Welles) | |
| 1942 (Irving Pichel) | |
| 1942 (Mervyn LeRoy) | |
| 1942 (George Stevens) | |
| 1942 (John Farrow) | |
| 1941 (Mitchell Leisen) | |
| 1941 (William Wyler) | |
| 1941 (John Huston) | |
| 1941 (Irving Rapper) | |
| 1940 (Anatole Litvak) | |
| 1940 (Alfred Hitchcock) | |
| 1940 (Charles Chaplin) | |
| 1940 (William Wyler) | |
| | Year (Director) | Movie Title | Awards Nominated for |
| 1940 (John Ford) | |
| 1940 (Sam Wood) | |
| 1939 (Edmund Goulding) | |
| 1939 (Leo McCarey) | |
| 1939 (Ernst Lubitsch) | |
| 1939 (Lewis Milestone) | |
| 1938 (King Vidor) | |
| 1938 (Michael Curtiz) | |
| 1938 (Jean Renoir) | |
| 1938 (Victor Fleming) | |
| 1937 (William Wyler) | |
| 1937 (Gregory La Cava) | |
| 1936 (Jack Conway) | |
| 1936 (George Cukor) | |
| 1936 (Jack Conway) | |
| 1936 (Henry Koster) | |
| 1935 (George Stevens) | |
| 1935 (Michael Curtiz) | |
| 1935 (George Cukor) | |
| 1935 (Richard Boleslawski) | |
| 1935 (Leo McCarey) | |
| 1935 (Mark Sandrich) | |
| 1934 (Sidney Franklin) | |
| 1934 (Frank Borzage) | |
| 1934 (Lloyd Bacon) | |
| 1934 (Alfred Werker) | |
| 1934 (John M. Stahl) | |
| 1934 (W. S. Van Dyke) | |
| 1934 (Irving Cummings) | |
| 1932-33 (Lloyd Bacon) | |
| 1932-33 (Mervyn LeRoy) | |
| 1932-33 (Frank Capra) | |
| 1932-33 (Lowell Sherman) | |
| 1932-33 (Sidney Franklin) | |
| 1932-33 (Henry King) | |
| 1931-32 (John Ford) | |
| 1931-32 (Mervyn LeRoy) | |
| 1931-32 (Ernst Lubitsch) | |
| 1931-32 (Ernst Lubitsch) | |
| 1930-31 (Frank Lloyd) | |
| 1930-31 (Lewis Milestone) | |
| 1930-31 (W. S. Van Dyke) | |
| 1929-30 (Ernst Lubitsch) | |
| 1928-29 (Roland West) | |
| 1928-29 (Charles Reisner) | |
| 1927-28 (Howard Hughes) | |
|