# AACTA International Award for Best Direction

The AACTA International Award for Best Direction is an award that is presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), to a director of a film made outside Australia. It was first handed out by the Academy after its establishment in 2011 by the Australian Film Institute (AFI). The winners and nominees for 2011 were determined by a jury.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the winner is marked in a separate colour, and highlighted in boldface; the nominees are those that are not highlighted or in boldface.

### 2010s

| Year | Director | Film title |
| 2011 (1st) |
| 2011 (1st) | Michel Hazanavicius | The Artist |
| 2011 (1st) | Nicolas Winding Refn | Drive |
| 2011 (1st) | Martin Scorsese | Hugo |
| 2011 (1st) | J. C. Chandor | Margin Call |
| 2011 (1st) | Lars von Trier | Melancholia |
| 2011 (1st) | Woody Allen | Midnight in Paris |
| 2011 (1st) | Terrence Malick | The Tree of Life |
| 2011 (1st) | Lynne Ramsay | We Need to Talk About Kevin |
| 2012 (2nd) |
| 2012 (2nd) | David O. Russell | Silver Linings Playbook |
| 2012 (2nd) | Ben Affleck | Argo |
| 2012 (2nd) | Ang Lee | Life of Pi |
| 2012 (2nd) | Steven Spielberg | Lincoln |
| 2012 (2nd) | Ben Lewin | The Sessions |
| 2012 (2nd) | Kathryn Bigelow | Zero Dark Thirty |
| 2013 (3rd) |
| 2013 (3rd) | Alfonso Cuarón | Gravity |
| 2013 (3rd) | Steve McQueen | 12 Years a Slave |
| 2013 (3rd) | David O. Russell | American Hustle |
| 2013 (3rd) | Paul Greengrass | Captain Phillips |
| 2013 (3rd) | Baz Luhrmann | The Great Gatsby |
| 2014 (4th) |
| 2014 (4th) | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) |
| 2014 (4th) | Richard Linklater | Boyhood |
| 2014 (4th) | Wes Anderson | The Grand Budapest Hotel |
| 2014 (4th) | Morten Tyldum | The Imitation Game |
| 2014 (4th) | Damien Chazelle | Whiplash |
| 2015 (5th) |
| 2015 (5th) | George Miller | Mad Max: Fury Road |
| 2015 (5th) | Adam McKay | The Big Short |
| 2015 (5th) | Todd Haynes | Carol |
| 2015 (5th) | Ridley Scott | The Martian |
| 2015 (5th) | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | The Revenant |
| 2016 (6th) |
| 2016 (6th) | Mel Gibson | Hacksaw Ridge |
| 2016 (6th) | Denis Villeneuve | Arrival |
| 2016 (6th) | Damien Chazelle | La La Land |
| 2016 (6th) | Garth Davis | Lion |
| 2016 (6th) | Kenneth Lonergan | Manchester by the Sea |
| 2017 (7th) |
| 2017 (7th) | Christopher Nolan | Dunkirk |
| 2017 (7th) | Luca Guadagnino | Call Me by Your Name |
| 2017 (7th) | Craig Gillespie | I, Tonya |
| 2017 (7th) | Greta Gerwig | Lady Bird |
| 2017 (7th) | Guillermo del Toro | The Shape of Water |
| 2018 (8th) |
| 2018 (8th) | Alfonso Cuarón | Roma |
| 2018 (8th) | Bradley Cooper | A Star Is Born |
| 2018 (8th) | Spike Lee | BlacKkKlansman |
| 2018 (8th) | Yorgos Lanthimos | The Favourite |
| 2018 (8th) | Warwick Thornton | Sweet Country |
| 2019 (9th) |
| 2019 (9th) | Quentin Tarantino | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |
| 2019 (9th) | Sam Mendes | 1917 |
| 2019 (9th) | Martin Scorsese | The Irishman |
| 2019 (9th) | Todd Phillips | Joker |
| 2019 (9th) | Bong Joon-ho | Parasite |

### 2020s

| Year | Director | Film title |
| 2020 (10th) |
| 2020 (10th) | Chloé Zhao | Nomadland |
| 2020 (10th) | David Fincher | Mank |
| 2020 (10th) | Emerald Fennell | Promising Young Woman |
| 2020 (10th) | Pete Docter | Soul |
| 2020 (10th) | Aaron Sorkin | The Trial of the Chicago 7 |
| 2021 (11th) |
| 2021 (11th) | Denis Villeneuve | Dune |
| 2021 (11th) | Kenneth Branagh | Belfast |
| 2021 (11th) | Paul Thomas Anderson | Licorice Pizza |
| 2021 (11th) | Justin Kurzel | Nitram |
| 2021 (11th) | Jane Campion | The Power of the Dog |
| 2022 (12th) |
| 2022 (12th) | Baz Luhrmann | Elvis |
| 2022 (12th) | James Cameron | Avatar: The Way of Water |
| 2022 (12th) | Martin McDonagh | The Banshees of Inisherin |
| 2022 (12th) | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert | Everything Everywhere All at Once |
| 2022 (12th) | Steven Spielberg | The Fabelmans |
| 2023 (13th) |
| 2023 (13th) | Christopher Nolan | Oppenheimer |
| 2023 (13th) | Bradley Cooper | Maestro |
| 2023 (13th) | Greta Gerwig | Barbie |
| 2023 (13th) | Yorgos Lanthimos | Poor Things |
| 2023 (13th) | Martin Scorsese | Killers of the Flower Moon |
| 2024 (14th) |
| 2024 (14th) | Michael Gracey | Better Man |
| 2024 (14th) | Jacques Audiard | Emilia Pérez |
| 2024 (14th) | Brady Corbet | The Brutalist |
| 2024 (14th) | George Miller | Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga |
| 2024 (14th) | Denis Villeneuve | Dune: Part Two |