New York Film Critics Circle Award / Best Director

Winner of the New York Film Critics Circle in the category Best Director ( Best Director ).

The most successful in this category were the American filmmakers John Ford and Fred Zinnemann , who each won the award four times. The film critics association was able to present the Oscar winner 24 times in advance, most recently in 2018 with the victory of the Mexican Alfonso Cuarón ( Roma ) . In 1993, 2003 and 2009 the New Zealander Jane Campion ( Das Piano ) and the US-Americans Sofia Coppola ( Lost in Translation ) and Kathryn Bigelow ( Tödliches Kommando - The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty ) were honored as female filmmakers.

The annual figures in the table indicate the film years assessed; the awards were given in the following year.

year	Award winners	Movie title	German title
1935	John Ford *	The Informer	The traitor
1936	Rouben Mamoulian	The gay desperado	not known
1937	Gregory La Cava	Stage door	Stage entrance
1938	Alfred Hitchcock	The Lady Vanishes	A lady disappears
1939	John Ford	Stagecoach	Ringo
1940	John Ford *	The Grapes of Wrath The Long Voyage Home	Fruits of Wrath The Long Road to Cardiff
1941	John Ford *	How Green Was My Valley	Breaking weather
1942	John Farrow	Wake Island	not known
1943	George Stevens	The More the Merrier	Always more, always happier
1944	Leo McCarey *	Going my way	The way to luck
1945	Billy Wilder	The Lost Weekend	The lost weekend
1946	William Wyler *	The Best Years of Our Lives	The best years of our life
1947	Elia Kazan *	Boomerang! Gentleman's Agreement	Boomerang taboo of the righteous
1948	John Huston *	The Treasure of Sierra Madre	The treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949	Carol Reed	The Fallen Idol	Little heart in need
1950	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	All about Eve	Everything about Eva
1951	Elia Kazan	A Streetcar Named Desire	End of the line longing
1952	Fred Zinnemann	High noon	Twelve noon
1953	Fred Zinnemann *	From Here to Eternity	Damn to all eternity
1954	Elia Kazan *	On the waterfront	The fist on the neck
1955	David Lean	Summertime	Dream of my life
1956	John Huston	Moby Dick	Moby Dick
1957	David Lean *	The Bridge on the River Kwai	The bridge on the Kwai
1958	Stanley Kramer	The Defiant Ones	Escape in chains
1959	Fred Zinnemann	The Nun's Story	Story of a nun
1960	Jack Cardiff	Sons and Lovers	Sons and lovers
	Billy Wilder *	The apartment	The apartment
1961	Robert Rossen	The Hustler	Sharks of the big city
1962	Prize not awarded
1963	Tony Richardson *	Tom Jones	Tom Jones - Between the bed and the gallows
1964	Stanley Kubrick	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb	Dr. Strange or: How I Learned to Love the Bomb
1965	John Schlesinger	Darling	Darling
1966	Fred Zinnemann *	A Man for All Seasons	A man for every season
1967	Mike Nichols *	The Graduate	The matriculation examination
1968	Paul Newman	Rachel, Rachel	The love of a summer
1969	Costa Gavras	Z	Z
1970	Bob Rafelson	Five easy pieces	Five Easy Pieces - A man is looking for himself
1971	Stanley Kubrick	A clockwork orange	Clockwork Orange
1972	Ingmar Bergman	Viscningar and rop	Screams and whispers
1973	François Truffaut	La nuit américaine	The American night
1974	Federico Fellini	Amarcord	Amarcord
1975	Robert Altman	Nashville	Nashville
1976	Alan J. Pakula	All the President's Men	The incorruptible
1977	Woody Allen *	Annie Hall	The city neurotic
1978	Terrence Malick	Days of Heaven	In the embers of the south
1979	Woody Allen	Manhattan	Manhattan
1980	Jonathan Demme	Melvin and Howard	Melvin and Howard
1981	Sidney Lumet	Prince of the City	Prince of the City
1982	Sydney Pollack	Tootsie	Tootsie
1983	Ingmar Bergman	Fanny and Alexander	Fanny and Alexander
1984	David Lean	A Passage to India	Trip to India
1985	John Huston	Prizzi's Honor	The honor of the Prizzis
1986	Woody Allen	Hannah and Her Sisters	Hannah and her sisters
1987	James L. Brooks	Broadcast News	News Fever - Broadcast News
1988	Chris Menges	A World Apart	Two worlds
1989	Paul Mazursky	Enemies: A Love Story	Enemies - the story of a love
1990	Martin Scorsese	Goodfellas	Good Fellas - Three decades in the Mafia
1991	Jonathan Demme *	The Silence of the Lambs	The silence of the Lambs
1992	Robert Altman	The Player	The Player
1993	Jane Campion	The piano	The piano
1994	Quentin Tarantino	pulp Fiction	pulp Fiction
1995	Ang Lee	Sense & Sensibility	Sense and sensuality
1996	Lars from Trier	Breaking the waves	Breaking the waves
1997	Curtis Hanson	LA Confidential	LA Confidential
1998	Terrence Malick	The Thin Red Line	The fine line
1999	Mike Leigh	Topsy turvy	Topsy-Turvy - turned upside down
2000	Steven Soderbergh *	Traffic Erin Brockovich	Traffic - power of the cartel Erin Brockovich
2001	Robert Altman	Gosford Park	Gosford Park
2002	Todd Haynes	Far from Heaven	So far from heaven
2003	Sofia Coppola	Lost in Translation	Lost in Translation
2004	Clint Eastwood *	Million dollar baby	Million dollar baby
2005	Ang Lee *	Brokeback Mountain	Brokeback Mountain
2006	Martin Scorsese *	The Departed	Departed - Among enemies
2007	Ethan and Joel Coen *	No Country for Old Men	No Country for Old Men
2008	Mike Leigh	Happy-Go-Lucky	Happy-Go-Lucky
2009	Kathryn Bigelow *	The Hurt Locker	Deadly Command - The Hurt Locker
2010	David Fincher	The social network	The social network
2011	Michel Hazanavicius *	The Artist	The Artist
2012	Kathryn Bigelow	Zero Dark Thirty	Zero Dark Thirty
2013	Steve McQueen	12 years a slave	12 years a slave
2014	Richard Linklater	Boyhood	Boyhood
2015	Todd Haynes	Carol	Carol
2016	Barry Jenkins	Moonlight	Moonlight
2017	Sean Baker	The Florida Project	The Florida Project
2018	Alfonso Cuarón *	Roma	Roma
2019	Benny Safdie Josh Safdie	Uncut Gems	The black diamond

* = Directors who for their film later the Oscar as Best Director of the Year won