1952
One Summer of Happiness (Hon dansade en sommar) by Arne Mattsson
Sweden
1953
The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) by Henri-Georges Clouzot
France/Italy
1954
Hobson's Choice by David Lean
United Kingdom
1955
The Rats (Die Ratten) by Robert Siodmak
Federal Republic of Germany
1956
Invitation to the Dance by Gene Kelly
United States
1957
12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet
United States
1958
Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället) by Ingmar Bergman
Sweden
1959
The Cousins (Les cousins) by Claude Chabrol
France
1960
El Lazarillo de Tormes by César Ardavin
Spain
1961
The Night (La notte) by Michelangelo Antonioni
Italy/France
1962
A Kind of Loving by John Schlesinger
United Kingdom
1963
The Devil (Il diavolo) by Gian Luigi Polidoro
Italy
1964
Reflections (Susuz yaz) by Metin Erksan
Turkey
1965
Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard
France/Italy
1966
Cul-de-Sac by Roman Polanski
United Kingdom
1967
Le départ by Jerzy Skolimowski
Belgium
1968
Who Saw Him Die? (Ole dole doff) by Jan Troell
Sweden
1969
Early Works (Rani radovi) by Želimir Žilnik
Yugoslavia
1971
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini) by Vittorio De Sica
Italy/W. Germany
1972
The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury) by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Italy
1973
Distant Thunder (Ashani Sanket) by Satyajit Ray
India
1974
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Ted Kotcheff
Canada
1975
Adoption (Örökbefogadás) by Márta Mészáros
Hungary
1976
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson by Robert Altman
United States
1977
The Ascent (Voskhozhdeniye) by Larisa Shepitko
Soviet Union
1978
Trout (Las truchas) by José Luis García Sánchez
Spain
Ascensor by Tomas Munoz
Spain
The Words of Max (Las palabras de Max) by Emilio Martínez Lázaro
Spain
1979
David by Peter Lilienthal
West Germany
1980
Heartland by Richard Pearce
United States
Palermo or Wolfsburg (Palermo oder Wolfsburg) by Werner Schroeter
West Germany
1981
Hurry, Hurry! (Deprisa, deprisa) by Carlos Saura
Spain ( with France)
1982
Veronika Voss (Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
West Germany
1983
Ascendancy by Edward Bennett
United Kingdom
The Beehive (La colmena) by Mario Camus
Spain
1984
Love Streams by John Cassavetes
United States
1985
Die Frau und der Fremde by Rainer Simon
East Germany
Wetherby by David Hare
United Kingdom
1986
Stammheim by Reinhard Hauff
West Germany
1987
The Theme (Tema) by Gleb Panfilov
Soviet Union
1988
Red Sorghum (Hong gao liang) by Zhang Yimou
China
1989
Rain Man by Barry Levinson
United States
1990
Music Box by Costa-Gavras
United States
Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti) by Jiri Menzel
Czechoslovakia
1991
The House of Smiles (La casa del sorriso) by Marco Ferreri
Italy
1992
Grand Canyon by Lawrence Kasdan
United States
1993
Woman Sesame Oil Maker (Xiang hun nu) by Xie Fei
China
The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) by Ang Lee
Taiwan/United States
1994
In the Name of the Father by Jim Sheridan
UK/Ireland
1995
The Bait (L'appât) by Bertrand Tavernier
France
1996
Sense and Sensibility by Ang Lee
United States/United Kingdom
1997
The People vs. Larry Flynt by Miloš Forman
United States
1998
Central Station (Central do Brasil) by Walter Salles
Brazil (with France)
1999
The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick
United States
2000
Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson
United States
2001
Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau
UK (with France, Germany, Spain)
2002
Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) by Hayao Miyazaki
Japan
Bloody Sunday by Paul Greengrass
UK/Ireland
2003
In This World by Michael Winterbottom
United Kingdom
2004
Head-On (Gegen die Wand) by Fatih Akin
Germany/Turkey
2005
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha by Mark Dornford-May
South Africa
2006
Grbavica by Jasmila Žbanić
Bosnia and Herzegovina (with Austria, Germany, Croatia)
2007
Tuya's Marriage (Tuya de hun shi) by Wang Quan'an
China
2008
The Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite) by José Padilha
Brazil
2009
The Milk of Sorrow (La teta asustada) by Claudia Llosa
Peru