# National Board of Review: Top Five International Films

The Top Five International Films (known as Top Five Foreign Language Films prior to 2022) is one of the awards presented annually by the National Board of Review. This category is one of the few awards that is not presented individually but instead as a list of usually five films. The category was first presented in 1929 and its one of two categories for foreign language films alongside the Best Foreign Language Film award.
Initially it was awarded as just as Top Foreign Films therefore including foreign films in English but in 1990 it was modified to only reward films in a foreign language changing the name from Top Foreign Films to Top Foreign Language Films before being changed again to Top International Films in 2022. From 1940 to 1949 the list was not presented at all.

## Winners
### 1920s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1929 | Arsenal | Alexander Dovzhenko | Soviet Union |
| 1929 | October: Ten Days That Shook the World | Grigori Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein | Soviet Union |
| 1929 | The Passion of Joan of Arc | Carl Theodor Dreyer | France |
| 1929 | Piccadilly | E. A. Dupont | United Kingdom |
| 1929 | Homecoming | Joe May | Germany |

### 1930s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1930 | High Treason | Maurice Elvey | United Kingdom |
| 1930 | Two Hearts in Waltz Time | Géza von Bolváry | Germany |
| 1930 | Old and New | Grigori Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein | Soviet Union |
| 1930 | Soil | Alexander Dovzhenko | Soviet Union |
| 1930 | Storm Over Asia | Vsevolod Pudovkin | Soviet Union |
| 1931 | The Threepenny Opera | G. W. Pabst | Germany |
| 1931 | The Song of Life | Alexis Granowsky | Germany |
| 1931 | Under the Roofs of Paris | René Clair | France |
| 1931 | Westfront 1918 | Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Germany |
| 1932 | À Nous la Liberté | René Clair | France |
| 1932 | Der Andere | Robert Wiene | Germany |
| 1932 | Der Raub der Mona Lisa | Géza von Bolváry | Germany |
| 1932 | Zwei Menschen | Erich Waschneck | Germany |
| 1932 | The Battle of Gallipolli | Anthony Asquith and Geoffrey Barkas | United Kingdom |
| 1932 | Reserved for Ladies | Alexander Korda | United Kingdom |
| 1932 | Kameradschaft | G. W. Pabst | Germany, France |
| 1932 | Golden Mountains | Sergei Yutkevich | Soviet Union |
| 1932 | Road to Life | Nikolai Ekk | Soviet Union |
| 1932 | Mädchen in Uniform | Leontine Sagan | Germany |
| 1933 | Ivan | Alexander Dovzhenko | Soviet Union |
| 1933 | Hertha's Erwachen | Gerhard Lamprecht | Germany |
| 1933 | M | Fritz Lang | Germany |
| 1933 | Morgenrot | Vernon Sewell and Gustav Ucicky | Germany |
| 1933 | Niemandsland | Victor Trivas | Germany |
| 1933 | The Private Life of Henry VIII | Alexander Korda | United Kingdom |
| 1933 | Rome Express | Walter Forde | United Kingdom |
| 1933 | Poil de Carotte | Julien Duvivier | France |
| 1933 | Quatorze Juillet | René Clair | France |
| 1933 | The Blood of a Poet | Jean Cocteau | France |
| 1934 | Man of Aran | Robert J. Flaherty | Ireland |
| 1934 | The Blue Light | Leni Riefenstahl | Germany |
| 1934 | Catherine the Great | Paul Czinner | United Kingdom |
| 1934 | The Constant Nymph | Basil Dean | United Kingdom |
| 1934 | Madame Bovary | Jean Renoir | France |
| 1935 | Chapaev | Georgi Vasilyev and Sergei Vasilyev | Soviet Union |
| 1935 | The New Gulliver | Aleksandr Ptushko | Soviet Union |
| 1935 | The Youth of Maxim | Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg | Soviet Union |
| 1935 | Crime and Punishment | Pierre Chenal | France |
| 1935 | Le Dernier Milliardaire | René Clair | France |
| 1935 | Maria Chapdelaine | Julien Duvivier | France |
| 1935 | La Maternelle | Jean Benoît-Lévy and Marie Epstein | France |
| 1935 | The Man Who Knew Too Much | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom |
| 1935 | Thunder in the East | Nicolas Farkas | United Kingdom |
| 1935 | Peasants | Konstantin Kostich | Czechoslovakia, Romania |
| 1936 | The New Earth | Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami | Japan, Germany |
| 1936 | We are from Kronstadt | Efim Dzigan | Soviet Union |
| 1936 | Son of Mongolia | Ilya Trauberg | Soviet Union |
| 1936 | The Yellow Cruise | Léon Poirier and André Sauvage | France |
| 1936 | Carnival in Flanders | Jacques Feyder | France |
| 1936 | Les Misérables | Raymond Bernard | France |
| 1936 | The Ghost Goes West | René Clair | United Kingdom |
| 1936 | Rembrandt | Alexander Korda | United Kingdom |
| 1936 | Nine Days a Queen | Robert Stevenson | United Kingdom |
| 1936 | The Secret Agent | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom |
| 1937 | Baltic Deputy | Iosif Kheifits and Aleksandr Zarkhi | Soviet Union |
| 1937 | Elephant Boy | Robert J. Flaherty and Zoltan Korda | United Kingdom |
| 1937 | The Eternal Mask | Werner Hochbaum | Austria, Switzerland |
| 1937 | Golgotha | Julien Duvivier | France |
| 1937 | The Lower Depths | Jean Renoir | France |
| 1937 | Mayerling | Anatole Litvak | France |
| 1937 | Jánošík | Martin Frič | Czechoslovakia |
| 1937 | The Spanish Earth | Joris Ivens | United States |
| 1937 | The Wedding of Palo | Friedrich Dalsheim | Denmark |
| 1938 | Ballerina | Jean Benoit-Lévy and Marie Epstein | France |
| 1938 | Generals Without Buttons | Yves Robert | France |
| 1938 | Grand Illusion | Jean Renoir | France |
| 1938 | Un Carnet de Bal | Julien Duvivier | France |
| 1938 | Peter the First | Vladimir Petrov | Soviet Union |
| 1938 | Professor Mamlock | Herbert Rappaport and Adolf Minkin | Soviet Union |
| 1939 | The End of the Day | Julien Duvivier | France |
| 1939 | Harvest | Marcel Pagnol | France |
| 1939 | Port of Shadows | Marcel Carné | France |
| 1939 | Alexander Nevsky | Sergei Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev | Soviet Union |
| 1939 | Robert Koch | Hans Steinhoff | Germany |

### 1950s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1950 | Kind Hearts and Coronets | Robert Hamer | United Kingdom |
| 1950 | Tight Little Island | Alexander Mackendrick | United Kingdom |
| 1950 | The Third Man | Carol Reed | United Kingdom |
| 1950 | Paris 1900 | Nicole Védrès | France |
| 1950 | The Titan: Story of Michelangelo | Richard Lyford | Germany |
| 1951 | The Browning Version | Anthony Asquith | United Kingdom |
| 1951 | Kon-Tiki | Thor Heyerdahl | Norway, Sweden |
| 1951 | Miracle in Milan | Vittorio De Sica | Italy |
| 1951 | Rashomon | Akira Kurosawa | Japan |
| 1951 | The River | Jean Renoir | United States |
| 1952 | Beauty and the Devil | René Clair | France, Italy |
| 1952 | Breaking the Sound Barrier | David Lean | United Kingdom |
| 1952 | Ivory Hunter | Harry Watt | United Kingdom |
| 1952 | The Man in the White Suit | Alexander Mackendrick | United Kingdom |
| 1952 | Forbidden Games | René Clément | France |
| 1953 | Strange Deception | Curzio Malaparte | Italy |
| 1953 | The Conquest of Everest | George Lowe | United Kingdom |
| 1953 | Moulin Rouge | John Hutson | United Kingdom |
| 1953 | A Queen is Crowned | Michael Waldman | United Kingdom |
| 1953 | The Little World of Don Camillo | Julien Duvivier | Italy, France |
| 1954 | The Detective | Robert Hamer | United Kingdom |
| 1954 | Genevieve | Henry Cornelius | United Kingdom |
| 1954 | The Heart of the Matter | George More O'Ferrall | United Kingdom |
| 1954 | The Little Kidnappers | Philip Leacock | United Kingdom |
| 1954 | Beauties of the Night | René Clair | France, Italy |
| 1954 | Diary of a Country Priest | Robert Bresson | France |
| 1954 | Monsieur Hulot's Holiday | Jacques Tati | France |
| 1954 | Bread, Love and Dreams | Luigi Comencini | Italy |
| 1954 | Gate of Hell | Teinosuke Kinugasa | Japan |
| 1954 | Romeo and Juliet | Renato Castellani | United Kingdom, Italy |
| 1955 | Diabolique | Henri-Georges Clouzot | France |
| 1955 | The Divided Heart | Charles Crichton | United Kingdom |
| 1955 | The Prisoner | Peter Glenville | United Kingdom |
| 1955 | The Great Adventure | Arne Sucksdorff | Sweden |
| 1955 | The End of the Affair | Edward Dmytryk | United Kingdom, United States |
| 1956 | Rififi | Jules Dassin | France |
| 1956 | The Silent World | Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle | France |
| 1956 | War and Peace | King Vidor | United States, Italy |
| 1956 | Richard III | Laurence Olivier | United Kingdom |
| 1956 | La Strada | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1957 | Gervaise | René Clément | France |
| 1957 | A Man Escaped | Robert Bresson | France |
| 1957 | The Red Balloon | Albert Lamorisse | France |
| 1957 | Ordet | Carl Theodor Dreyer | Denmark |
| 1957 | Torero! | Carlos Velo | Mexico |
| 1958 | The Horse's Mouth | Ronald Neame | United Kingdom |
| 1958 | A Night to Remember | Roy Ward Baker | United Kingdom |
| 1958 | Mon Oncle | Jacques Tati | France |
| 1958 | Rouge et Noir | Claude Autant-Lara | France |
| 1958 | Pather Panchali | Satyajit Ray | India |
| 1959 | Wild Strawberries | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1959 | The Roof | Vittorio De Sica | Italy |
| 1959 | Aparajito | Satyajit Ray | India |
| 1959 | Look Back in Anger | Tony Richardson | United Kingdom |
| 1959 | Room at the Top | Jack Clayton | United Kingdom |

### 1960s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1960 | The Angry Silence | Guy Green | United Kingdom |
| 1960 | I'm All Right Jack | John Boulting | United Kingdom |
| 1960 | General Della Rovere | Roberto Rossellini | Italy |
| 1960 | Hiroshima Mon Amour | Alain Resnais | France |
| 1960 | The World of Apu | Satyajit Ray | India |
| 1961 | The Bridge | Bernhard Wicki | West Germany |
| 1961 | La Dolce Vita | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1961 | Two Women | Vittorio De Sica | Italy |
| 1961 | Saturday Night and Sunday Morning | Karel Reisz | United Kingdom |
| 1961 | A Summer to Remember | Igor Talankin and Georgiy Daneliya | Soviet Union |
| 1962 | Barabbas | Richard Fleischer | Italy |
| 1962 | Divorce Italian Style | Pietro Germi | Italy |
| 1962 | Through a Glass Darkly | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1962 | The Naked Island | Kaneto Shindo | Japan |
| 1962 | Sundays and Cybele | Serge Bourguignon | France |
| 1963 | Winter Light | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1963 | Any Number Can Win | Henri Verneuil | France |
| 1963 | 8½ | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1963 | The Four Days of Naples | Nanni Loy | Italy |
| 1963 | The Leopard | Luchino Visconti | Italy |
| 1964 | Anatomy of a Marriage | André Cayatte | France |
| 1964 | World Without Sun | Jacques-Yves Cousteau | France |
| 1964 | The Organizer | Mario Monicelli | Italy |
| 1964 | Seduced and Abandoned | Pietro Germi | Italy |
| 1964 | Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow | Vittorio De Sica | Italy |
| 1965 | La Bohème | Franco Zeffirelli | West Germany |
| 1965 | Gertrud | Carl Theodor Dreyer | Denmark |
| 1965 | Juliet of the Spirits | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1965 | La Tía Tula | Miguel Picazo | Spain |
| 1965 | The Overcoat | Aleksey Batalov | Soviet Union |
| 1966 | The Gospel According to St. Matthew | Pier Paolo Pasolini | Italy |
| 1966 | A Man and a Woman | Claude Lelouch | France |
| 1966 | The Shameless Old Lady | René Allio | France |
| 1966 | The Sleeping Car Murders | Costa-Gavras | France |
| 1966 | Hamlet | Grigori Kozintsev and Iosif Shapiro | Soviet Union |
| 1967 | Africa Addio | Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi | Italy |
| 1967 | Elvira Madigan | Bo Widerberg | Sweden |
| 1967 | Persona | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1967 | The Great British Train Robbery | John Olden and Claus Peter Witt | West Germany |
| 1967 | The Hunt | Carlos Saura | Spain |
| 1968 | Hagbard and Signe | Gabriel Axel | Denmark, Sweden, Iceland |
| 1968 | The Bride Wore Black | François Truffaut | France |
| 1968 | The Two of Us | Claude Berri | France |
| 1968 | Hunger | Henning Carlsen | Denmark, Norway, Sweden |
| 1968 | War and Peace | Sergei Bondarchuk | Soviet Union |
| 1969 | Ådalen 31 | Bo Widerberg | Sweden |
| 1969 | Shame | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1969 | The Damned | Luchino Visconti | Italy |
| 1969 | La Femme Infidèle | Claude Chabrol | France |
| 1969 | Stolen Kisses | François Truffaut | France |

### 1970s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1970 | The Confession | Costa-Gavras | France, Italy |
| 1970 | This Man Must Die | Claude Chabrol | France, Italy |
| 1970 | The Passion of Anna | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1970 | My Night at Maud's | Éric Rohmer | France |
| 1970 | The Wild Child | François Truffaut | France |
| 1971 | The Conformist | Bernardo Bertolucci | Italy, France, West Germany |
| 1971 | The Clowns | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1971 | The Garden of the Finzi-Continis | Vittorio De Sica | Italy |
| 1971 | Bed and Board | François Truffaut | France, Italy |
| 1971 | Claire's Knee | Éric Rohmer | France |
| 1972 | The Emigrants | Jan Troell | Sweden |
| 1972 | Chloe in the Afternoon | Éric Rohmer | France |
| 1972 | The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie | Luis Buñuel | France |
| 1972 | The Sorrow and the Pity | Marcel Ophuls | France |
| 1972 | Uncle Vanya | Andrey Konchalovskiy | Soviet Union |
| 1973 | Alfredo, Alfredo | Pietro Germi | Italy |
| 1973 | Cries and Whispers | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1973 | The New Land | Jan Troell | Sweden |
| 1973 | Day for Night | François Truffaut | France |
| 1973 | The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe | Yves Robert | France |
| 1973 | Trafic | Jacques Tati | Italy, France |
| 1974 | The Pedestrian | Maximilian Schell | Germany |
| 1974 | Amarcord | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1974 | Lacombe, Lucien | Louis Malle | France |
| 1974 | The Phantom of Liberty | Luis Buñuel | Italy, France |
| 1974 | Scenes from a Marriage | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1975 | Swept Away | Lina Wertmüller | Italy |
| 1975 | A Brief Vacation | Vittorio De Sica | Italy |
| 1975 | The Story of Adele H. | François Truffaut | France |
| 1975 | Special Section | Costa-Gavras | France |
| 1975 | Stavisky | Alain Resnais | France |
| 1976 | Face to Face | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1976 | The Clockmaker | Bertrand Tavernier | France |
| 1976 | Cousin Cousine | Jean-Charles Tacchella | France |
| 1976 | Small Change | François Truffaut | France |
| 1976 | The Marquise of O | Éric Rohmer | West Germany |
| 1977 | The Man Who Loved Women | François Truffaut | France |
| 1977 | The American Friend | Wim Wenders | West Germany |
| 1977 | Cría Cuervos | Carlos Saura | Spain |
| 1977 | A Special Day | Ettore Scola | Italy |
| 1977 | That Obscure Object of Desire | Luis Buñuel | France, Spain |
| 1978 | Autumn Sonata | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1978 | Dear Detective | Philippe de Broca | France |
| 1978 | Madame Rosa | Moshé Mizrahi | France |
| 1978 | Bread and Chocolate | Franco Brusati | Italy |
| 1978 | A Slave of Love | Nikita Mikhalkov | Soviet Union |
| 1979 | La Cage aux Folles | Édouard Molinaro | France, Italy |
| 1979 | The Marriage of Maria Braun | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | West Germany |
| 1979 | Nosferatu the Vampyre | Werner Herzog | West Germany |
| 1979 | Peppermint Soda | Diane Kurys | France |
| 1979 | The Tree of Wooden Clogs | Ermanno Olmi | Italy |

### 1980s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1980 | Eboli | Francesco Rosi | Italy |
| 1980 | From the Life of the Marionettes | Ingmar Bergman | West Germany, Sweden |
| 1980 | Kagemusha | Akira Kurosawa | Japan |
| 1980 | Knife in the Head | Reinhard Hauff | West Germany |
| 1980 | The Tin Drum | Volker Schlöndorff | West Germany |
| 1981 | The Boat Is Full | Markus Imhoof | Switzerland |
| 1981 | Contract | Krzysztof Zanussi | Poland |
| 1981 | The Last Metro | François Truffaut | France |
| 1981 | Oblomov | Nikita Mikhalkov | Soviet Union |
| 1981 | Pixote | Héctor Babenco | Brazil |
| 1982 | Das Boot | Wolfgang Petersen | West Germany |
| 1982 | Mephisto | István Szabó | Hungary |
| 1982 | Siberiade | Andrei Konchalovsky | Soviet Union |
| 1982 | Three Brothers | Francesco Rosi | Italy |
| 1982 | Yol | Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney | Turkey |
| 1983 | The Boat People | Ann Hui | Hong Kong |
| 1983 | That Night in Varennes | Ettore Scola | Italy, France |
| 1983 | Fanny and Alexander | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden |
| 1983 | The Return of Martin Guerre | Daniel Vigne | France |
| 1983 | La Traviata | Franco Zeffirelli | Italy |
| 1984 | A Love in Germany | Andrzej Wajda | West Germany |
| 1984 | The Basileus Quartet | Gabriele Ferzetti | Italy |
| 1984 | A Sunday in the Country | Bertrand Tavernier | France |
| 1984 | The Fourth Man | Paul Verhoeven | Netherlands |
| 1984 | Carmen | Francesco Rosi | France, Italy |
| 1985 | The Home and the World | Satyajit Ray | India |
| 1985 | La Chèvre | Francis Veber | France |
| 1985 | The Official Story | Luis Puenzo | Argentina |
| 1985 | Ran | Akira Kurosawa | Japan |
| 1985 | When Father Was Away on Business | Emir Kusturica | Yugoslavia |
| 1986 | Ginger and Fred | Federico Fellini | Italy |
| 1986 | Men... | Doris Dörrie | West Germany |
| 1986 | Ménage | Bertrand Blier | France |
| 1986 | Miss Mary | María Luisa Bemberg | Argentina |
| 1986 | Otello | Franco Zeffirelli | Italy, Netherlands |
| 1987 | Au Revoir les Enfants | Louis Malle | France |
| 1987 | Dark Eyes | Nikita Mikhalkov | Soviet Union |
| 1987 | Jean de Florette and Manon of the Springs | Claude Berri | France |
| 1987 | My Life as a Dog | Lasse Hallström | Sweden |
| 1987 | Tampopo | Juzo Itami | Japan |
| 1988 | Le Grand Chemin | Jean-Loup Hubert | France |
| 1988 | Pelle the Conqueror | Bille August | Denmark, Sweden |
| 1988 | Salaam Bombay! | Mira Nair | India |
| 1988 | A Taxing Woman | Juzo Itami | Japan |
| 1988 | Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 1989 | Camille Claudel | Bruno Nuytten | France |
| 1989 | Chocolat | Claire Denis | France |
| 1989 | La Lectrice | Michel Deville | France |
| 1989 | The Little Thief | Claude Miller | France |
| 1989 | The Story of Women | Claude Chabrol | France |

### 1990s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 1990 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Jean-Paul Rappeneau | France |
| 1990 | Monsieur Hire | Patrice Leconte | France |
| 1990 | Jesus of Montreal | Denys Arcand | Canada |
| 1990 | The Nasty Girl | Michael Verhoeven | Germany |
| 1990 | Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 1991 | Europa Europa | Agnieszka Holland | Germany |
| 1991 | The Vanishing | George Sluizer | Netherlands |
| 1991 | La Femme Nikita | Luc Besson | France |
| 1991 | My Father's Glory | Yves Robert | France |
| 1991 | Toto the Hero | Jaco Van Dormael | Belgium |
| 1992 | Indochine | Régis Wargnier | France |
| 1992 | Tous les Matins du Monde | Alain Corneau | France |
| 1992 | Raise the Red Lantern | Zhang Yimou | China |
| 1992 | Mediterraneo | Gabriele Salvatores | Italy |
| 1992 | Like Water for Chocolate | Alfonso Arau | Mexico |
| 1993 | The Accompanist | Claude Miller | France |
| 1993 | Un Cœur en Hiver | Claude Sautet | France |
| 1993 | Farewell My Concubine | Chen Kaige | China |
| 1993 | The Story of Qiu Ju | Zhang Yimou | China |
| 1993 | El Mariachi | Robert Rodriguez | United States |
| 1994 | Eat Drink Man Woman | Ang Lee | Taiwan |
| 1994 | Queen Margot | Patrice Chéreau | France |
| 1994 | Strawberry and Chocolate | Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío | Cuba |
| 1994 | Three Colours: Red | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Switzerland, France |
| 1994 | To Live | Zhang Yimou | China |
| 1995 | Farinelli | Gérard Corbiau | Belgium |
| 1995 | Lamerica | Gianni Amelio | Italy |
| 1995 | Il Postino: The Postman | Michael Radford | Italy |
| 1995 | Les Misérables | Claude Lelouch | France |
| 1995 | Shanghai Triad | Zhang Yimou | China |
| 1996 | Bitter Sugar | Leon Ichaso | Dominican Republic, United States |
| 1996 | La Cérémonie | Claude Chabrol | France |
| 1996 | Ridicule | Patrice Leconte | France |
| 1996 | Les Voleurs | André Téchiné | France |
| 1996 | Kolya | Jan Svěrák | Czech Republic |
| 1997 | Beaumarchais | Édouard Molinaro | France |
| 1997 | Ponette | Jacques Doillon | France |
| 1997 | Ma Vie en Rose | Alain Berliner | Belgium |
| 1997 | La Promesse | Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne | Belgium |
| 1997 | Shall We Dance? | Masayuki Suo | Japan |
| 1998 | Beyond Silence | Caroline Link | Germany |
| 1998 | Central Station | Walter Salles | Brazil |
| 1998 | Life Is Beautiful | Roberto Benigni | Italy |
| 1998 | Men with Guns | John Sayles | United States |
| 1998 | The Thief | Pavel Chukhray | Russia |
| 1999 | All About My Mother | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 1999 | Cabaret Balkan | Goran Paskaljević | Yugoslavia |
| 1999 | The Emperor and the Assassin | Chen Kaige | China |
| 1999 | East/West | Régis Wargnier | France |
| 1999 | Run Lola Run | Tom Tykwer | Germany |

### 2000s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 2000 | Butterfly | José Luis Cuerda | Spain |
| 2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Ang Lee | Taiwan |
| 2000 | Girl on the Bridge | Patrice Leconte | France |
| 2000 | Malèna | Giuseppe Tornatore | Italy |
| 2000 | A Time for Drunken Horses | Bahman Ghobadi | Iran |
| 2001 | Amores Perros | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Mexico |
| 2001 | Amélie | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | France |
| 2001 | Behind the Sun | Walter Salles | Brazil |
| 2001 | Dark Blue World | Jan Svěrák | Czech Republic |
| 2001 | No Man's Land | Danis Tanović | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 2002 | 8 Women | François Ozon | France |
| 2002 | The Crime of Padre Amaro | Carlos Carrera | Mexico |
| 2002 | City of God | Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund | Brazil |
| 2002 | Talk to Her | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 2002 | Y tu Mamá También | Alfonso Cuarón | Mexico |
| 2003 | Autumn Spring | Vladimír Michálek | Czech Republic |
| 2003 | The Barbarian Invasions | Denys Arcand | Canada, France |
| 2003 | Best of Youth | Marco Tullio Giordana | Italy |
| 2003 | Man on the Train | Patrice Leconte | France |
| 2003 | Monsieur Ibrahim | François Dupeyron | France |
| 2004 | Bad Education | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 2004 | The Sea Inside | Alejandro Amenábar | Spain |
| 2004 | Maria Full of Grace | Joshua Marston | Colombia |
| 2004 | The Chorus | Christophe Barratier | France |
| 2004 | The Motorcycle Diaries | Walter Salles | Argentina, Brazil, United States, Chile, Peru, United Kingdom, Germany, France |
| 2005 | 2046 | Wong Kar-wai | Hong Kong |
| 2005 | Downfall | Oliver Hirschbiegel | Germany, Austria, Italy |
| 2005 | Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress | Dai Sijie | China, France |
| 2005 | Walk on Water | Eytan Fox | Israel |
| 2005 | Paradise Now | Hany Abu-Assad | Palestine |
| 2006 | Curse of the Golden Flower | Zhang Yimou | China |
| 2006 | Pan's Labyrinth | Guillermo del Toro | Spain, Mexico |
| 2006 | Days of Glory | Rachid Bouchareb | France |
| 2006 | Water | Deepa Mehta | India |
| 2006 | Volver | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 2007 | 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days | Cristian Mungiu | Romania |
| 2007 | The Band's Visit | Eran Kolirin | Israel, France, United States |
| 2007 | The Counterfeiters | Stefan Ruzowitzky | Austria, Germany |
| 2007 | La Vie en rose | Olivier Dahan | France, Czech Republic |
| 2007 | Lust, Caution | Ang Lee | Taiwan |
| 2008 | The Edge of Heaven | Fatih Akın | Germany, Turkey |
| 2008 | Let the Right One In | Tomas Alfredson | Sweden |
| 2008 | Roman de Gare | Claude Lelouch | France |
| 2008 | A Secret | Claude Miller | France |
| 2008 | Waltz with Bashir | Ari Folman | Israel |
| 2009 | The Maid | Sebastián Silva | Chile |
| 2009 | Revanche | Götz Spielmann | Austria |
| 2009 | The Song of Sparrows | Majid Majidi | Iran |
| 2009 | Three Monkeys | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey |
| 2009 | The White Ribbon | Michael Haneke | Germany |

### 2010s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 2010 | I Am Love | Luca Guadagnino | Italy |
| 2010 | Incendies | Denis Villeneuve | Canada |
| 2010 | Life, Above All | Oliver Schmitz | South Africa |
| 2010 | Soul Kitchen | Fatih Akın | Germany |
| 2010 | White Material | Claire Denis | France |
| 2011 | 13 Assassins | Takashi Miike | Japan |
| 2011 | Elite Squad: The Enemy Within | José Padilha | Brazil |
| 2011 | Footnote | Joseph Cedar | Israel |
| 2011 | Le Havre | Aki Kaurismäki | France |
| 2011 | Point Blank | Fred Cavayé | France |
| 2012 | Barbara | Christian Petzold | Germany |
| 2012 | The Intouchables | Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano | France |
| 2012 | The Kid with a Bike | Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne | Belgium |
| 2012 | No | Pablo Larraín | Chile |
| 2012 | War Witch | Kim Nguyen | Canada |
| 2013 | Beyond the Hills | Cristian Mungiu | Romania |
| 2013 | Gloria | Sebastián Lelio | Chile |
| 2013 | The Grandmaster | Wong Kar-wai | Hong Kong, China |
| 2013 | A Hijacking | Tobias Lindholm | Denmark |
| 2013 | The Hunt | Thomas Vinterberg | Denmark |
| 2014 | Force Majeure | Ruben Östlund | Sweden |
| 2014 | We Are the Best! | Lukas Moodysson | Sweden |
| 2014 | Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem | Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz | Israel |
| 2014 | Leviathan | Andrey Zvyagintsev | Russia |
| 2014 | Two Days, One Night | Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne | Belgium |
| 2015 | Goodnight Mommy | Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala | Austria |
| 2015 | Mediterranea | Jonas Carpignano | Italy |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Christian Petzold | Germany |
| 2015 | The Second Mother | Anna Muylaert | Brazil |
| 2015 | The Tribe | Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy | Ukraine |
| 2016 | Elle | Paul Verhoeven | France |
| 2016 | The Handmaiden | Park Chan-wook | South Korea |
| 2016 | Neruda | Pablo Larraín | Chile |
| 2016 | Julieta | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 2016 | Land of Mine | Martin Zandvliet | Denmark |
| 2017 | A Fantastic Woman | Sebastián Lelio | Chile |
| 2017 | Frantz | François Ozon | France |
| 2017 | Loveless | Andrey Zvyagintsev | Russia |
| 2017 | The Square | Ruben Östlund | Sweden |
| 2017 | Summer 1993 | Carla Simón | Spain |
| 2018 | Burning | Lee Chang-dong | South Korea |
| 2018 | Custody | Xavier Legrand | France |
| 2018 | The Guilty | Gustav Möller | Denmark |
| 2018 | Happy as Lazzaro | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy |
| 2018 | Shoplifters | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan |
| 2019 | Atlantics | Mati Diop | France, Senegal |
| 2019 | The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão | Karim Aïnouz | Brazil |
| 2019 | Pain and Glory | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| 2019 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire | Céline Sciamma | France |
| 2019 | Transit | Christian Petzold | Germany |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 2020 | Apples | Christos Nikou | Greece |
| 2020 | Collective | Alexander Nanau | Romania |
| 2020 | Dear Comrades! | Andrei Konchalovsky | Russia |
| 2020 | The Mole Agent | Maite Alberdi | Chile |
| 2020 | Night of the Kings | Philippe Lacôte | Ivory Coast |
| 2021 | Benedetta | Paul Verhoeven | France |
| 2021 | Lamb | Valdimar Johannsson | Iceland |
| 2021 | Lingui, The Sacred Bonds | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Chad |
| 2021 | Titane | Julia Ducournau | France |
| 2021 | The Worst Person in the World | Joachim Trier | Norway |
| 2022 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Edward Berger | Germany |
| 2022 | Argentina, 1985 | Santiago Mitre | Argentina |
| 2022 | Decision to Leave | Park Chan-wook | South Korea |
| 2022 | EO | Jerzy Skolimowski | Poland |
| 2022 | Saint Omer | Alice Diop | France |
| 2023 | La chimera | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy, France, Switzerland |
| 2023 | Fallen Leaves | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland, Germany |
| 2023 | The Teachers' Lounge | İlker Çatak | Germany |
| 2023 | Tótem | Lila Avilés | Mexico, Denmark, France |
| 2023 | The Zone of Interest | Jonathan Glazer | United Kingdom, Poland, United States |
| 2024 | All We Imagine as Light | Payal Kapadia | France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy |
| 2024 | The Girl with the Needle | Magnus von Horn | Denmark, Poland, Sweden |
| 2024 | I'm Still Here | Walter Salles | Brazil, France |
| 2024 | Santosh | Sandhya Suri | United Kingdom, India, Germany, France |
| 2024 | Universal Language | Matthew Rankin | Canada |