National Society of Film Critics Award / Best Foreign Language Film
Winner of the National Society of Film Critics in the category Best Foreign Language Film (Best Foreign-Language Film) . The awards are presented every year at the beginning of January for the best film productions and filmmakers of the previous calendar year, provided that no foreign language film can assert itself in the Best Film category .
The most successful in this category were the French Olivier Assayas , the Finn Aki Kaurismäki , the Pole Krzysztof Kieślowski , the Chinese Zhang Yimou , the Romanian Cristian Mungiu and the Mexican Alfonso Cuarón , who have each received two awards in the past. French film productions (including co-productions) have received four awards so far, while 2006 and 2017 were the only German films against the wall by Fatih Akin and Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade to be on the list of winners.
At the last award ceremony in 2019, Alfonso Cuarón's film Roma won ten points ahead of Cold War - The Latitude of Love (34 points) and Burning and Shoplifters - Family Ties (30 points each).
| year | Award winners | German title | Director |
| 1991 | Ariel | Ariel | Aki Kaurismäki |
| 1992 | La Double vie de Véronique | The two lives of Veronica | Krzysztof Kieślowski |
| 1993 | 大紅 燈籠 高 高掛 (Dà hóngdēng lóng gāo gāo guà) | Red lantern | Zhang Yimou |
| 1994 | 秋菊 打官司 (Qiū Jú dá guān si) | The story of the Qiu Ju | Zhang Yimou |
| 1995 | Trois couleurs: rouge | Three colors: red | Krzysztof Kieślowski |
| 1996 | Les roseaux sauvages | Wild hearts | André Téchiné |
| 1997 | La Cérémonie | Beasts | Claude Chabrol |
| 1998 | La Promesse | The promise |
Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne |
| 1999 | Prize not awarded | ||
| 2000 | Conte d'automne | Autumn story | Eric Rohmer |
| 2001 | Prize not awarded 1 | ||
| 2002 | 花樣 年華 (Huāyàng niánhuá) | In the mood for love | Wong Kar-Wai |
| 2003 | Y tu mamá también | Y Tu Mamá También - Lust for Life | Alfonso Cuarón |
| 2004 | Bad vailla menneisyyttä | The man without a past | Aki Kaurismäki |
| 2005 | Moolaadé | Moolaadé - Ban of Hope | Ousmane Sembène |
| 2006 | Against the wall | Against the wall | Fatih Akin |
| 2007 | Prize not awarded 2 | ||
| 2008 | June 4, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile | 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days | Cristian Mungiu |
| 2009 | Prize not awarded 3 | ||
| 2010 | L'heure d'été | End of summer | Olivier Assayas |
| 2011 | Carlos | Carlos - the jackal | Olivier Assayas |
| 2012 | (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) جدایی نادر از سیمین | Nader and Simin - A separation | Asghar Farhadi |
| 2013 | Prize not awarded 4 | ||
| 2014 | La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2 | blue is a warm colour | Abdellatif Kechiche |
| 2015 | Prize not awarded 5 | ||
| 2016 | Timbuktu | Timbuktu | Abderrahmane Sissako |
| 2017 | Toni Erdmann | Toni Erdmann | Maren goodbye |
| 2018 | Bacalaureate | not known | Cristian Mungiu |
| 2019 | Roma | Roma | Alfonso Cuarón |
| 2020 | Prize not awarded 6 | ||