# Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Film

The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Film is one of the annual awards given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.

## Winners
### 1980s

| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
| 1988 | Mississippi Burning | Alan Parker |
| 1989 | Do the Right Thing | Spike Lee |
| 1989 | Batman | Tim Burton |
| 1989 | Born on the Fourth of July | Oliver Stone |
| 1989 | Crimes and Misdemeanors | Woody Allen |
| 1989 | Drugstore Cowboy | Gus Van Sant |
| 1989 | A Dry White Season | Euzhan Palcy |
| 1989 | Henry V | Kenneth Branagh |
| 1989 | Sex, Lies, and Videotape | Steven Soderbergh |

### 1990s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Director(s) |
| 1990 | Goodfellas | Martin Scorsese |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | Jonathan Demme |
| 1991 | Barton Fink | Joel Coen |
| 1991 | Beauty and the Beast | Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise |
| 1991 | Boyz n the Hood | John Singleton |
| 1991 | Thelma & Louise | Ridley Scott |
| 1992 | Malcolm X | Spike Lee |
| 1992 | The Crying Game | Neil Jordan |
| 1992 | The Player | Robert Altman |
| 1992 | Reservoir Dogs | Quentin Tarantino |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Clint Eastwood |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | Steven Spielberg |
| 1993 | The Fugitive | Andrew Davis |
| 1993 | The Piano | Jane Campion |
| 1993 | Short Cuts | Robert Altman |
| 1994 | Hoop Dreams | Steve James |
| 1994 | Forrest Gump | Robert Zemeckis |
| 1994 | Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino |
| 1994 | Quiz Show | Robert Redford |
| 1994 | The Shawshank Redemption | Frank Darabont |
| 1995 | Apollo 13 | Ron Howard |
| 1995 | Crumb | Terry Zwigoff |
| 1995 | Exotica | Atom Egoyan |
| 1995 | Heat | Michael Mann |
| 1995 | Nixon | Oliver Stone |
| 1996 | Fargo | Joel Coen |
| 1996 | Dead Man | Jim Jarmusch |
| 1996 | The English Patient | Anthony Minghella |
| 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Miloš Forman |
| 1996 | Secrets & Lies | Mike Leigh |
| 1997 | L.A. Confidential | Curtis Hanson |
| 1997 | As Good as It Gets | James L. Brooks |
| 1997 | Boogie Nights | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 1997 | The Sweet Hereafter | Atom Egoyan |
| 1997 | Titanic | James Cameron |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Steven Spielberg |
| 1998 | The Butcher Boy | Neil Jordan |
| 1998 | Life Is Beautiful | Roberto Benigni |
| 1998 | Shakespeare in Love | John Madden |
| 1998 | The Thin Red Line | Terrence Malick |
| 1998 | The Truman Show | Peter Weir |
| 1999 | American Beauty | Sam Mendes |
| 1999 | Being John Malkovich | Spike Jonze |
| 1999 | The Insider | Michael Mann |
| 1999 | Magnolia | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 1999 | The Straight Story | David Lynch |

### 2000s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Director(s) |
| 2000 | Almost Famous | Cameron Crowe |
| 2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Ang Lee |
| 2000 | Traffic | Steven Soderbergh |
| 2000 | Wonder Boys | Curtis Hanson |
| 2000 | You Can Count on Me | Kenneth Lonergan |
| 2001 | Mulholland Drive | David Lynch |
| 2001 | A Beautiful Mind | Ron Howard |
| 2001 | In the Bedroom | Todd Field |
| 2001 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Peter Jackson |
| 2001 | Waking Life | Richard Linklater |
| 2002 | Far from Heaven | Todd Haynes |
| 2002 | About Schmidt | Alexander Payne |
| 2002 | Adaptation. | Spike Jonze |
| 2002 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Peter Jackson |
| 2002 | The Pianist | Roman Polanski |
| 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Peter Jackson |
| 2003 | American Splendor | Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini |
| 2003 | Finding Nemo | Andrew Stanton |
| 2003 | Lost in Translation | Sofia Coppola |
| 2003 | Mystic River | Clint Eastwood |
| 2004 | Sideways | Alexander Payne |
| 2005 | Crash | Paul Haggis |
| 2005 | Brokeback Mountain | Ang Lee |
| 2005 | Good Night, and Good Luck. | George Clooney |
| 2005 | A History of Violence | David Cronenberg |
| 2005 | King Kong | Peter Jackson |
| 2006 | The Departed | Martin Scorsese |
| 2006 | Babel | Alejandro González Iñárritu |
| 2006 | Little Miss Sunshine | Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris |
| 2006 | The Queen | Stephen Frears |
| 2006 | United 93 | Paul Greengrass |
| 2007 | No Country for Old Men | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen |
| 2007 | Into the Wild | Sean Penn |
| 2007 | Michael Clayton | Tony Gilroy |
| 2007 | Once | John Carney |
| 2007 | There Will Be Blood | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 2008 | WALL-E | Andrew Stanton |
| 2008 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | David Fincher |
| 2008 | The Dark Knight | Christopher Nolan |
| 2008 | Milk | Gus Van Sant |
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | Danny Boyle |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Kathryn Bigelow |
| 2009 | Inglourious Basterds | Quentin Tarantino |
| 2009 | A Serious Man | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen |
| 2009 | Up in the Air | Jason Reitman |
| 2009 | Where the Wild Things Are | Spike Jonze |

### 2010s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Director(s) |
| 2010 | The Social Network | David Fincher |
| 2010 | Black Swan | Darren Aronofsky |
| 2010 | Inception | Christopher Nolan |
| 2010 | The King's Speech | Tom Hooper |
| 2010 | Winter's Bone | Debra Granik |
| 2011 | The Tree of Life | Terrence Malick |
| 2011 | The Artist | Michel Hazanavicius |
| 2011 | The Descendants | Alexander Payne |
| 2011 | Drive | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| 2011 | Hugo | Martin Scorsese |
| 2012 | Zero Dark Thirty | Kathryn Bigelow |
| 2012 | Argo | Ben Affleck |
| 2012 | Beasts of the Southern Wild | Benh Zeitlin |
| 2012 | Lincoln | Steven Spielberg |
| 2012 | The Master | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Steve McQueen |
| 2013 | American Hustle | David O. Russell |
| 2013 | Gravity | Alfonso Cuarón |
| 2013 | Her | Spike Jonze |
| 2013 | Inside Llewyn Davis | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen |
| 2014 | Boyhood | Richard Linklater |
| 2014 | Birdman | Alejandro G. Iñárritu |
| 2014 | The Grand Budapest Hotel | Wes Anderson |
| 2014 | Under the Skin | Jonathan Glazer |
| 2014 | Whiplash | Damien Chazelle |
| 2015 | Mad Max: Fury Road | George Miller |
| 2015 | Carol | Todd Haynes |
| 2015 | Inside Out | Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen |
| 2015 | The Revenant | Alejandro G. Iñárritu |
| 2015 | Spotlight | Tom McCarthy |
| 2016 | Moonlight | Barry Jenkins |
| 2016 | The Handmaiden | Chan-wook Park |
| 2016 | Jackie | Pablo Larraín |
| 2016 | La La Land | Damien Chazelle |
| 2016 | Manchester by the Sea | Kenneth Lonergan |
| 2017 | Lady Bird | Greta Gerwig |
| 2017 | Call Me by Your Name | Luca Guadagnino |
| 2017 | Dunkirk | Christopher Nolan |
| 2017 | The Shape of Water | Guillermo del Toro |
| 2017 | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Martin McDonagh |
| 2018 | Roma | Alfonso Cuarón |
| 2018 | The Favourite | Yorgos Lanthimos |
| 2018 | First Reformed | Paul Schrader |
| 2018 | Hereditary | Ari Aster |
| 2018 | A Star Is Born | Bradley Cooper |
| 2019 | Parasite | Bong Joon-ho |
| 2019 | The Irishman | Martin Scorsese |
| 2019 | Little Women | Greta Gerwig |
| 2019 | Marriage Story | Noah Baumbach |
| 2019 | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Quentin Tarantino |

### 2020s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Director(s) |
| 2020 | Nomadland | Chloé Zhao |
| 2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Spike Lee |
| 2020 | First Cow | Kelly Reichardt |
| 2020 | Lovers Rock | Steve McQueen |
| 2020 | Promising Young Woman | Emerald Fennell |
| 2021 | The Power of the Dog | Jane Campion |
| 2021 | Drive My Car | Ryusuke Hamaguchi |
| 2021 | The Green Knight | David Lowery |
| 2021 | Licorice Pizza | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 2021 | West Side Story | Steven Spielberg |
| 2022 | The Banshees of Inisherin | Martin McDonagh |
| 2022 | Aftersun | Charlotte Wells |
| 2022 | Decision to Leave | Park Chan-wook |
| 2022 | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert |
| 2022 | Tár | Todd Field |
| 2023 | Killers of the Flower Moon | Martin Scorsese |
| 2023 | Barbie | Greta Gerwig |
| 2023 | May December | Todd Haynes |
| 2023 | Oppenheimer | Christopher Nolan |
| 2023 | Poor Things | Yorgos Lanthimos |
| 2024 | The Brutalist | Brady Corbet |
| 2024 | Anora | Sean Baker |
| 2024 | Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga | George Miller |
| 2024 | I Saw the TV Glow | Jane Schoenbrun |
| 2024 | Nickel Boys | RaMell Ross |
| 2024 | The Substance | Coralie Fargeat |