# National Board of Review Award for Best Director

The National Board of Review Award for Best Director is one of the annual film awards given (since 1945) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

## Winners
### 1940s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 1945 | Jean Renoir | The Southerner |
| 1946 | William Wyler | The Best Years of Our Lives |
| 1947 | Elia Kazan | Boomerang! |
| 1947 | Elia Kazan | Gentleman's Agreement |
| 1948 | Roberto Rossellini | Paisan |
| 1949 | Vittorio De Sica | Bicycle Thieves |

### 1950s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 1950 | John Huston | The Asphalt Jungle |
| 1951 | Akira Kurosawa | Rashōmon |
| 1952 | David Lean | The Sound Barrier |
| 1953 | George Stevens | Shane |
| 1954 | Renato Castellani | Romeo and Juliet |
| 1955 | William Wyler | The Desperate Hours |
| 1956 | John Huston | Moby Dick |
| 1957 | David Lean | The Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 1958 | John Ford | The Last Hurrah |
| 1959 | Fred Zinnemann | The Nun's Story |

### 1960s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 1960 | Jack Cardiff | Sons and Lovers |
| 1961 | Jack Clayton | The Innocents |
| 1962 | David Lean | Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1963 | Tony Richardson | Tom Jones |
| 1964 | Desmond Davis | Girl with Green Eyes |
| 1965 | John Schlesinger | Darling |
| 1966 | Fred Zinnemann | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1967 | Richard Brooks | In Cold Blood |
| 1968 | Franco Zeffirelli | Romeo and Juliet |
| 1969 | Alfred Hitchcock | Topaz |

### 1970s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 1970 | François Truffaut | The Wild Child |
| 1971 | Ken Russell | The Boy Friend |
| 1971 | Ken Russell | The Devils |
| 1972 | Bob Fosse | Cabaret |
| 1973 | Ingmar Bergman | Cries and Whispers |
| 1974 | Francis Ford Coppola | The Conversation |
| 1975 | Robert Altman | Nashville |
| 1975 | Stanley Kubrick | Barry Lyndon |
| 1976 | Alan J. Pakula | All the President's Men |
| 1977 | Luis Buñuel | That Obscure Object of Desire |
| 1978 | Ingmar Bergman | Autumn Sonata |
| 1979 | John Schlesinger | Yanks |

### 1980s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 1980 | Robert Redford | Ordinary People |
| 1981 | Warren Beatty | Reds |
| 1982 | Sidney Lumet | The Verdict |
| 1983 | James L. Brooks | Terms of Endearment |
| 1984 | David Lean | A Passage to India |
| 1985 | Akira Kurosawa | Ran |
| 1986 | Woody Allen | Hannah and Her Sisters |
| 1987 | Steven Spielberg | Empire of the Sun |
| 1988 | Alan Parker | Mississippi Burning |
| 1989 | Kenneth Branagh | Henry V |

### 1990s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 1990 | Kevin Costner | Dances with Wolves |
| 1991 | Jonathan Demme | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | James Ivory | Howards End |
| 1993 | Martin Scorsese | The Age of Innocence |
| 1994 | Quentin Tarantino | Pulp Fiction |
| 1995 | Ang Lee | Sense and Sensibility |
| 1996 | Joel Coen | Fargo |
| 1997 | Curtis Hanson | L.A. Confidential |
| 1998 | Shekhar Kapur | Elizabeth |
| 1999 | Anthony Minghella | The Talented Mr. Ripley |

### 2000s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | Erin Brockovich |
| 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | Traffic |
| 2001 | Todd Field | In the Bedroom |
| 2002 | Phillip Noyce | The Quiet American |
| 2002 | Phillip Noyce | Rabbit-Proof Fence |
| 2003 | Edward Zwick | The Last Samurai |
| 2004 | Michael Mann | Collateral |
| 2005 | Ang Lee | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2006 | Martin Scorsese | The Departed |
| 2007 | Tim Burton | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
| 2008 | David Fincher | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
| 2009 | Clint Eastwood | Invictus |

### 2010s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 2010 | David Fincher | The Social Network |
| 2011 | Martin Scorsese | Hugo |
| 2012 | Kathryn Bigelow | Zero Dark Thirty |
| 2013 | Spike Jonze | Her |
| 2014 | Clint Eastwood | American Sniper |
| 2015 | Ridley Scott | The Martian |
| 2016 | Barry Jenkins | Moonlight |
| 2017 | Greta Gerwig | Lady Bird |
| 2018 | Bradley Cooper | A Star Is Born |
| 2019 | Quentin Tarantino | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |

### 2020s

| Year | Winner | Film |
| 2020 | Spike Lee | Da 5 Bloods |
| 2021 | Paul Thomas Anderson | Licorice Pizza |
| 2022 | Steven Spielberg | The Fabelmans |
| 2023 | Martin Scorsese | Killers of the Flower Moon |
| 2024 | Jon M. Chu | Wicked |

## Multiple winners

* David Lean - 4
* Martin Scorsese - 4
* Ingmar Bergman - 2
* Clint Eastwood - 2
* David Fincher - 2
* John Huston - 2
* Akira Kurosawa - 2
* Ang Lee - 2
* John Schlesinger - 2
* Steven Spielberg - 2
* Quentin Tarantino - 2
* William Wyler - 2
* Fred Zinnemann - 2