He returned to directing after twenty years with "The Thin Red Line" (1998), for which he was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay and was awarded the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, followed by "The New World" (2005) and "The Tree of Life" (2011), the latter for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Director and the Palme d'Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.