# Sutherland Trophy

The Sutherland Trophy was created in 1958 by the British Film Institute (BFI) as an annual award for "the maker of the most original and imaginative [first or second] feature film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year". The award was named after a patron of the BFI, George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland.

## History

In 1997, the criteria changed to honour the maker of the most original and imaginative first feature screened during the London Film Festival.
The award is a sculpture in silver by Gerald Benney. It is presented on the closing night of the Festival.

## List of winners

| Year | Director(s) | Film | Country |
| 1958 | Yasujirō Ozu | Tokyo Story | Japan |
| 1959 | Satyajit Ray | The World of Apu | India |
| 1960 | Michelangelo Antonioni | L'Avventura | Italy |
| 1961 | Ermanno Olmi | Il Posto | Italy |
| 1962 | Jacques Rivette | Paris Belongs to Us | France |
| 1963 | Alain Resnais | Muriel | France |
| 1964 | Grigori Kozintsev | Hamlet | Soviet Union |
| 1965 | Jean-Luc Godard | Pierrot le Fou | France |
| 1966 | André Delvaux | The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short | Belgium |
| 1967 | Masaki Kobayashi | Samurai Rebellion | Japan |
| 1968 | Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet | The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach | France |
| 1969 | Jacques Rivette | L'Amour fou | France |
| 1970 | Bernardo Bertolucci | The Conformist | Italy |
| 1971 | Robert Bresson | Four Nights of a Dreamer | France |
| 1972 | Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas | The Hour of the Furnaces | Argentina |
| 1973 | Giorgi Shengelaia | Pirosmani | Soviet Union |
| 1974 | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Martha | West Germany |
| 1975 | Theodoros Angelopoulos | The Travelling Players | Greece |
| 1976 | Nagisa Oshima | In the Realm of the Senses | Japan |
| 1977 | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Hitler: A Film from Germany | West Germany |
| 1978 | Mark Rappaport | The Scenic Route | United States |
| 1979 | Zeki Ökten and Yılmaz Güney | The Herd | Turkey |
| 1980 | Peter Greenaway (shared) | The Falls | United Kingdom |
| 1980 | Xie Jin (shared) | Two Stage Sisters | China |
| 1981 | Helma Sanders-Brahms | No Mercy, No Future | West Germany |
| 1982 | Adoor Gopalakrishnan | Elippathayam | India |
| 1983 | Chris Marker | Sans Soleil | France |
| 1984 | Lino Brocka | This Is My Country | Philippines |
| 1985 | Chen Kaige | Yellow Earth | China |
| 1986 | Bill Douglas | Comrades | United Kingdom |
| 1987 | Edward Yang (shared) | Terrorizers | Taiwan |
| 1987 | Souleymane Cissé (shared) | Yeelen | Mali |
| 1989 | Nils Gaup | Pathfinder | Norway |
| 1990 | Steve Kloves | The Fabulous Baker Boys | United States |
| 1991 | Elaine Proctor | On the Wire | South Africa |
| 1992 | Jocelyn Moorhouse | Proof | Australia |
| 1993 | Julio Medem | Vacas | Spain |
| 1994 | Tran Anh Hung | The Scent of Green Papaya | Vietnam |
| 1995 | Moufida Tlatli | The Silences of the Palace | Tunisia |
| 1996 | Jevon O'Neill | Bob's Weekend | United Kingdom |
| 1997 | Bruno Dumont | The Life of Jesus | France |
| 1998 | Samira Makhmalbaf | The Apple | Iran |
| 1999 | Lynne Ramsay | Ratcatcher | United Kingdom |
| 2000 | Kenneth Lonergan | You Can Count on Me | United States |
| 2001 | Asif Kapadia | The Warrior | United Kingdom |
| 2002 | Delphine Gleize | Carnages | France |
| 2003 | Siddiq Barmak | Osama | Afghanistan |
| 2004 | Jonathan Caouette | Tarnation | United States |
| 2005 | Kari Paljakka | For the Living and the Dead | Finland |
| 2006 | Andrea Arnold | Red Road | United Kingdom |
| 2007 | Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi | Persepolis | France |
| 2008 | Sergey Dvortsevoy | Tulpan | Kazakhstan |
| 2009 | Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani | Ajami | Palestine |
| 2010 | Clio Barnard | The Arbor | United Kingdom |
| 2011 | Pablo Giorgelli | Las Acacias | Argentina |
| 2012 | Benh Zeitlin | Beasts of the Southern Wild | United States |
| 2013 | Anthony Chen | Ilo Ilo | Singapore |
| 2014 | Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy | The Tribe | Ukraine |
| 2015 | Robert Eggers | The Witch | United States |
| 2016 | Julia Ducournau | Raw | France |
| 2017 | John Trengove | The Wound | South Africa |
| 2018 | Lukas Dhont | Girl | Belgium |
| 2019 | Mati Diop | Atlantics | France |
| 2021 | Laura Wandel | Playground | Belgium |
| 2022 | Manuela Martelli | 1976 | Chile |
| 2023 | Mika Gustafson | Paradise is Burning | Sweden |
| 2024 | Laura Carreira | On Falling | United Kingdom |