This is a list of the winners of the BAFTA Award for Best Direction.  They are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Italian-American director Martin Scorsese has had the most nominations, eight so far.

2010s
 2011 - Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist 
 Tomas Alfredson – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
 Lynne Ramsay – We Need to Talk About Kevin
 Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
 Martin Scorsese – Hugo

 2010 - David Fincher – The Social Network 
 Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
 Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
 Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
 Christopher Nolan – Inception

2000s
 2009 - Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
 James Cameron – Avatar
 Neill Blomkamp – District 9
 Lone Scherfig – An Education
 Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

 2008 - Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire 
 Clint Eastwood – Changeling
 David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
 Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
 Stephen Daldry – The Reader

 2007 - Ethan and Joel Coen - No Country For Old Men 
 Joe Wright - Atonement
 Paul Greengrass - The Bourne Ultimatum
 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
 Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood

 2006 - Paul Greengrass - United 93
 Martin Scorsese - The Departed
 Stephen Frears - The Queen
 Alejandro González Iñárritu - Babel
 Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris - Little Miss Sunshine

 2005 - Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
 George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck
 Paul Haggis - Crash
 Fernando Meirelles - The Constant Gardener
 Bennett Miller - Capote

 2004 - Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
 Martin Scorsese - The Aviator
 Marc Forster - Finding Neverland
 Michael Mann - Collateral
 Michel Gondry - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

 2003 - Peter Weir - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
 Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
 Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation
 Anthony Minghella - Cold Mountain
 Tim Burton - Big Fish

 2002 - Roman Polanski - The Pianist
 Rob Marshall - Chicago
 Stephen Daldry - The Hours
 Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
 Martin Scorsese - Gangs of New York

 2001 - Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
 Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind
 Baz Luhrmann - Moulin Rouge!
 Robert Altman - Gosford Park
 Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

 2000 - Ang Lee - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
 Steven Soderbergh - Traffic
 Steven Soderbergh - Erin Brockovich
 Ridley Scott - Gladiator
 Stephen Daldry - Billy Elliot

1990s
 1999 - Pedro Almodóvar - Todo sobre mi madre
 Sam Mendes - American Beauty
 M. Night Shyamalan - The Sixth Sense
 Anthony Minghella - The Talented Mr. Ripley
 Neil Jordan - The End of the Affair

 1998 - Peter Weir - The Truman Show
 John Madden - Shakespeare in Love
 Shekhar Kapur - Elizabeth
 Steven Spielberg - Saving Private Ryan

 1997 - Baz Luhrmann - Romeo + Juliet
 James Cameron - Titanic
 Curtis Hanson - L.A. Confidential
 Peter Cattaneo - The Full Monty

 1996 - Joel Coen - Fargo
 Anthony Minghella - The English Patient
 Scott Hicks - Shine
 Mike Leigh - Secrets & Lies

 1995 - Michael Radford - Il Postino
 Mel Gibson - Braveheart
 Ang Lee - Sense and Sensibility
 Nicholas Hytner - The Madness of King George

 1994 - Mike Newell - Four Weddings and a Funeral
 Robert Zemeckis - Forrest Gump
 Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction
 Krzysztof Kieslowski - Trois couleurs: Rouge

 1993 - Steven Spielberg - Schindler's List
 Jane Campion - The Piano
 James Ivory - The Remains of the Day
 Richard Attenborough - Shadowlands

 1992 - Robert Altman - The Player
 Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven
 Neil Jordan - The Crying Game
 James Ivory - Howards End

 1991 - Alan Parker - The Commitments
 Jonathan Demme - The Silence of the Lambs
 Ridley Scott - Thelma & Louise
 Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves

 1990 - Martin Scorsese - GoodFellas
 Woody Allen - Crimes and Misdemeanors
 Bruce Beresford - Driving Miss Daisy 
 Giuseppe Tornatore - Nuovo cinema Paradiso

1980s
 1989 - Kenneth Branagh - Henry V
 Stephen Frears - Dangerous Liaisons
 Peter Weir - Dead Poets Society
 Alan Parker - Mississippi Burning

 1988 - Louis Malle - Au revoir les enfants
 Bernardo Bertolucci - The Last Emperor
 Charles Crichton - A Fish Called Wanda
 Gabriel Axel - Babettes gæstebud

 1987 - Oliver Stone - Platoon
 Claude Berri - Jean de Florette
 John Boorman - Hope and Glory
 Richard Attenborough - Cry Freedom

 1986 - Woody Allen - Hannah and Her Sisters
 Roland Joffé - The Mission
 Neil Jordan - Mona Lisa
 James Ivory - A Room with a View

 1985 - -

 1984 - Wim Wenders - Paris, Texas
 Sergio Leone - Once Upon a Time in America
 Roland Joffé - The Killing Fields
 Peter Yates - The Dresser

 1983 - Bill Forsyth - Local Hero
 Sydney Pollack - Tootsie
 Martin Scorsese - The King of Comedy
 James Ivory - Heat and Dust

 1982 - Richard Attenborough - Gandhi
 Steven Spielberg - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
 Costa-Gavras - Missing
 Mark Rydell - On Golden Pond

 1981 - Louis Malle - Atlantic City
 Hugh Hudson - Chariots of Fire
 Karel Reisz - The French Lieutenant's Woman
 Bill Forsyth - Gregory's Girl

 1980 - Akira Kurosawa - Kagemusha
 David Lynch - The Elephant Man
 Alan Parker - Fame
 Robert Benton - Kramer vs. Kramer

1970s
 1979 - Francis Ford Coppola - Apocalypse Now
 Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter
 Woody Allen - Manhattan
 John Schlesinger - Yanks

 1978 - Alan Parker - Midnight Express
 Steven Spielberg - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
 Fred Zinnemann - Julia
 Robert Altman - A Wedding

 1977 - Woody Allen - Annie Hall
 John G. Avildsen - Rocky
 Sidney Lumet - Network
 Richard Attenborough - A Bridge Too Far

 1976 - Milos Forman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
 Alan J. Pakula - All the President's Men
 Martin Scorsese - Taxi Driver
 Alan Parker - Bugsy Malone

 1975 - Stanley Kubrick - Barry Lyndon
 Steven Spielberg - Jaws
 Sidney Lumet - Dog Day Afternoon
 Martin Scorsese - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

 1974 - Roman Polanski - Chinatown
 Francis Ford Coppola - The Conversation
 Louis Malle - Lacombe Lucien
 Sidney Lumet - Murder on the Orient Express
 Sidney Lumet - Serpico

 1973 - François Truffaut - Day for Night
 Luis Buñuel - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
 Fred Zinnemann - The Day of the Jackal
 Nicolas Roeg - Don't Look Now

 1972 - Bob Fosse - Cabaret
 Stanley Kubrick - A Clockwork Orange
 William Friedkin - The French Connection
 Peter Bogdanovich - The Last Picture Show

 1971 - John Schlesinger - Sunday Bloody Sunday
 Joseph Losey - The Go-Between
 Luchino Visconti - Death in Venice
 Milos Forman - Taking Off

 1970 - George Roy Hill - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
 Ken Loach - Kes
 Robert Altman - MASH
 David Lean - Ryan's Daughter

1960s
 1969 - John Schlesinger - Midnight Cowboy
 Peter Yates - Bullitt
 Richard Attenborough - Oh! What a Lovely War
 Ken Russell - Women in Love

 1968 - Mike Nichols - The Graduate
 Carol Reed - Oliver!
 Lindsay Anderson - If....
 Franco Zeffirelli - Romeo and Juliet

BAFTA Awards