# Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director

The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director is an annual award given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.

## Winners
### 1980s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film |
| 1988 | Robert Zemeckis | Who Framed Roger Rabbit |
| 1989 | Spike Lee | Do the Right Thing |
| 1989 | Woody Allen | Crimes and Misdemeanors |
| 1989 | Kenneth Branagh | Henry V |
| 1989 | Tim Burton | Batman |
| 1989 | Steven Soderbergh | Sex, Lies, and Videotape |

### 1990s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film |
| 1990 | Martin Scorsese | Goodfellas |
| 1991 | Jonathan Demme | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1991 | Kenneth Branagh | Peter's Friends |
| 1991 | Joel Coen | Barton Fink |
| 1991 | Martha Coolidge | Rambling Rose |
| 1991 | Terry Gilliam | The Fisher King |
| 1991 | Spike Lee | Jungle Fever |
| 1991 | Barry Levinson | Bugsy |
| 1991 | John Sayles | City of Hope |
| 1991 | Martin Scorsese | Cape Fear |
| 1991 | Ridley Scott | Thelma & Louise |
| 1991 | John Singleton | Boyz n the Hood |
| 1992 | Robert Altman | The Player |
| 1992 | Clint Eastwood | Unforgiven |
| 1992 | Neil Jordan | The Crying Game |
| 1992 | Spike Lee | Malcolm X |
| 1992 | Quentin Tarantino | Reservoir Dogs |
| 1993 | Steven Spielberg | Schindler's List |
| 1993 | Robert Altman | Short Cuts |
| 1993 | Jane Campion | The Piano |
| 1993 | Andrew Davis | The Fugitive |
| 1993 | Jonathan Demme | Philadelphia |
| 1994 | Quentin Tarantino | Pulp Fiction |
| 1994 | Tim Burton | Ed Wood |
| 1994 | Steve James | Hoop Dreams |
| 1994 | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Three Colours: Red |
| 1994 | Robert Zemeckis | Forrest Gump |
| 1995 | Oliver Stone | Nixon |
| 1995 | Clint Eastwood | The Bridges of Madison County |
| 1995 | Mike Figgis | Leaving Las Vegas |
| 1995 | Ron Howard | Apollo 13 |
| 1995 | Martin Scorsese | Casino |
| 1996 | Joel Coen | Fargo |
| 1996 | Miloš Forman | The People vs. Larry Flynt |
| 1996 | Mike Leigh | Secrets & Lies |
| 1996 | John Sayles | Lone Star |
| 1996 | Lars von Trier | Breaking the Waves |
| 1997 | Curtis Hanson | L.A. Confidential |
| 1997 | Paul Thomas Anderson | Boogie Nights |
| 1997 | James L. Brooks | As Good as It Gets |
| 1997 | James Cameron | Titanic |
| 1997 | Atom Egoyan | The Sweet Hereafter |
| 1997 | Ang Lee | The Ice Storm |
| 1998 | Terrence Malick | The Thin Red Line |
| 1998 | John Boorman | The General |
| 1998 | Neil Jordan | The Butcher Boy |
| 1998 | Steven Spielberg | Saving Private Ryan |
| 1998 | Peter Weir | The Truman Show |
| 1999 | Sam Mendes | American Beauty |
| 1999 | Paul Thomas Anderson | Magnolia |
| 1999 | Spike Jonze | Being John Malkovich |
| 1999 | Stanley Kubrick | Eyes Wide Shut |
| 1999 | David Lynch | The Straight Story |

### 2000s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film |
| 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | Traffic |
| 2000 | Darren Aronofsky | Requiem for a Dream |
| 2000 | Cameron Crowe | Almost Famous |
| 2000 | Ang Lee | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
| 2000 | Robert Zemeckis | Cast Away |
| 2001 | David Lynch | Mulholland Dr. |
| 2001 | Robert Altman | Gosford Park |
| 2001 | Ron Howard | A Beautiful Mind |
| 2001 | Peter Jackson | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2001 | Baz Luhrmann | Moulin Rouge! |
| 2002 | Todd Haynes | Far from Heaven |
| 2002 | Paul Thomas Anderson | Punch-Drunk Love |
| 2002 | Peter Jackson | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers |
| 2002 | Alexander Payne | About Schmidt |
| 2002 | Roman Polanski | The Pianist |
| 2002 | Martin Scorsese | Gangs of New York |
| 2003 | Peter Jackson | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
| 2003 | Tim Burton | Big Fish |
| 2003 | Sofia Coppola | Lost in Translation |
| 2003 | Clint Eastwood | Mystic River |
| 2003 | Peter Weir | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World |
| 2004 | Clint Eastwood | Million Dollar Baby |
| 2005 | David Cronenberg | A History of Violence |
| 2005 | George Clooney | Good Night, and Good Luck. |
| 2005 | Peter Jackson | King Kong |
| 2005 | Ang Lee | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2005 | Steven Spielberg | Munich |
| 2006 | Martin Scorsese | The Departed |
| 2006 | Clint Eastwood | Letters from Iwo Jima |
| 2006 | Stephen Frears | The Queen |
| 2006 | Paul Greengrass | United 93 |
| 2006 | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Babel |
| 2007 | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen | No Country for Old Men |
| 2007 | Paul Thomas Anderson | There Will Be Blood |
| 2007 | David Fincher | Zodiac |
| 2007 | Tony Gilroy | Michael Clayton |
| 2007 | Jason Reitman | Juno |
| 2008 | Danny Boyle | Slumdog Millionaire |
| 2008 | David Fincher | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
| 2008 | Christopher Nolan | The Dark Knight |
| 2008 | Andrew Stanton | WALL-E |
| 2008 | Gus Van Sant | Milk |
| 2009 | Kathryn Bigelow | The Hurt Locker |
| 2009 | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen | A Serious Man |
| 2009 | Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are |
| 2009 | Jason Reitman | Up in the Air |
| 2009 | Quentin Tarantino | Inglourious Basterds |

### 2010s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film |
| 2010 | David Fincher | The Social Network |
| 2010 | Darren Aronofsky | Black Swan |
| 2010 | Debra Granik | Winter's Bone |
| 2010 | Tom Hooper | The King's Speech |
| 2010 | Christopher Nolan | Inception |
| 2011 | Terrence Malick | The Tree of Life |
| 2011 | Michel Hazanavicius | The Artist |
| 2011 | Alexander Payne | The Descendants |
| 2011 | Nicolas Winding Refn | Drive |
| 2011 | Martin Scorsese | Hugo |
| 2012 | Kathryn Bigelow | Zero Dark Thirty |
| 2012 | Ben Affleck | Argo |
| 2012 | Paul Thomas Anderson | The Master |
| 2012 | Steven Spielberg | Lincoln |
| 2012 | Benh Zeitlin | Beasts of the Southern Wild |
| 2013 | Steve McQueen | 12 Years a Slave |
| 2013 | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen | Inside Llewyn Davis |
| 2013 | Alfonso Cuarón | Gravity |
| 2013 | Spike Jonze | Her |
| 2013 | David O. Russell | American Hustle |
| 2014 | Richard Linklater | Boyhood |
| 2014 | Wes Anderson | The Grand Budapest Hotel |
| 2014 | David Fincher | Gone Girl |
| 2014 | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) |
| 2014 | Christopher Nolan | Interstellar |
| 2015 | George Miller | Mad Max: Fury Road |
| 2015 | Todd Haynes | Carol |
| 2015 | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | The Revenant |
| 2015 | Tom McCarthy | Spotlight |
| 2015 | Adam McKay | The Big Short |
| 2016 | Barry Jenkins | Moonlight |
| 2016 | Damien Chazelle | La La Land |
| 2016 | Pablo Larraín | Jackie |
| 2016 | Kenneth Lonergan | Manchester by the Sea |
| 2016 | Chan-wook Park | The Handmaiden |
| 2017 | Christopher Nolan | Dunkirk |
| 2017 | Guillermo del Toro | The Shape of Water |
| 2017 | Greta Gerwig | Lady Bird |
| 2017 | Luca Guadagnino | Call Me by Your Name |
| 2017 | Jordan Peele | Get Out |
| 2018 | Alfonso Cuarón | Roma |
| 2018 | Bradley Cooper | A Star Is Born |
| 2018 | Yorgos Lanthimos | The Favourite |
| 2018 | Lynne Ramsay | You Were Never Really Here |
| 2018 | Paul Schrader | First Reformed |
| 2019 | Bong Joon-ho | Parasite |
| 2019 | Noah Baumbach | Marriage Story |
| 2019 | Greta Gerwig | Little Women |
| 2019 | Martin Scorsese | The Irishman |
| 2019 | Quentin Tarantino | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |

### 2020s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film |
| 2020 | Chloé Zhao | Nomadland |
| 2020 | Emerald Fennell | Promising Young Woman |
| 2020 | Spike Lee | Da 5 Bloods |
| 2020 | Steve McQueen | Lovers Rock |
| 2020 | Kelly Reichardt | First Cow |
| 2021 | Jane Campion | The Power of the Dog |
| 2021 | Paul Thomas Anderson | Licorice Pizza |
| 2021 | Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Drive My Car |
| 2021 | David Lowery | The Green Knight |
| 2021 | Steven Spielberg | West Side Story |
| 2022 | Daniel Kwan & Daniel Schinert | Everything Everywhere All at Once |
| 2022 | Park Chan-wook | Decision to Leave |
| 2022 | Todd Field | Tár |
| 2022 | Sarah Polley | Women Talking |
| 2022 | S. S. Rajamouli | RRR |
| 2023 | Christopher Nolan | Oppenheimer |
| 2023 | Greta Gerwig | Barbie |
| 2023 | Todd Haynes | May December |
| 2023 | Yorgos Lanthimos | Poor Things |
| 2023 | Martin Scorsese | Killers of the Flower Moon |
| 2024 | RaMell Ross | Nickel Boys |
| 2024 | Sean Baker | Anora |
| 2024 | Brady Corbet | The Brutalist |
| 2024 | Coralie Fargeat | The Substance |
| 2024 | Jane Schoenbrun | I Saw the TV Glow |

## Multiple winners

5 directors have won the award multiple times.
| Wins | Director |
| 2 | Kathryn Bigelow |
| 2 | Joel Coen |
| 2 | Terrence Malick |
| 2 | Martin Scorsese |
| 2 | / Christopher Nolan |