BAFTA Award for Best Direction

The BAFTA Award for Best Direction, formerly known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction, is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a film director for a specific film.

BAFTA Award for Best Direction
The 2024 recipient: Brady Corbet
Awarded for	Excellence in film directing
Location	London
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
First award	1968
Currently held by	Brady Corbet for The Brutalist (2024)
Website	http://www.bafta.org/

BAFTA is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, and video games (and formerly also for children's film and television). Since 1968, selected films have been awarded with the BAFTA award for Best Direction at an annual ceremony.

In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a gold background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the remaining nominees. The winner is also the first name listed in each category.

History

The award was originally known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction,^[when?] in honour of British director David Lean.^{[citation needed]}

There are no records showing any nominations, or a winner, for this award at the 39th British Academy Film Awards, presented in 1986 for films released in 1985.^[1]

Winners and nominees

Mike Nichols won for The Graduate (1967)

  indicates the winner

Bob Fosse won for Cabaret (1972)

François Truffaut won for Day for Night (1973)

Roman Polanski won twice for Chinatown (1974) and The Pianist (2002)

Stanley Kubrick won for Barry Lyndon (1975)

Woody Allen won twice for Annie Hall (1977) & Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Francis Ford Coppola won for Apocalypse Now (1979)

Akira Kurosawa won for Kagemusha (1980)

Kenneth Branagh won for Henry V (1989)

Martin Scorsese won for Goodfellas (1990)

Robert Altman won for The Player (1992)

Steven Spielberg won for Schindler's List (1993)

Joel Coen won for Fargo (1996) and No Country for Old Men (2007)

Peter Weir won twice for The Truman Show (1998) and Master and Commander (2003)

Pedro Almodóvar won for All About My Mother (1999)

Ang Lee won twice for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) & Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Peter Jackson won for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Mike Leigh won for Vera Drake (2004)

Danny Boyle won for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Kathryn Bigelow won for The Hurt Locker (2009)

David Fincher won for The Social Network (2010)

Alfonso Cuarón won twice for Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018)

Richard Linklater won for Boyhood (2014)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu won for The Revenant (2015)

Damien Chazelle won for La La Land (2016)

Guillermo del Toro won for The Shape of Water (2017)

Sam Mendes won for 1917 (2019)

Chloe Zhao won for Nomadland (2020)

Jane Campion won for The Power of the Dog (2021)

Edward Berger won for All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Christopher Nolan won for Oppenheimer (2023)

Brady Corbet won for The Brutalist (2024)

1960s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
1968 (22nd)	Mike Nichols	The Graduate
	Lindsay Anderson	if....
	Carol Reed	Oliver!
	Franco Zeffirelli	Romeo and Juliet
1969 (23rd)	John Schlesinger	Midnight Cowboy
	Richard Attenborough	Oh! What a Lovely War
	Ken Russell	Women in Love
	Peter Yates	Bullitt

1970s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
1970 (24th)	George Roy Hill	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
	Robert Altman	M*A*S*H
	David Lean	Ryan's Daughter
	Ken Loach	Kes
1971 (25th)	John Schlesinger	Sunday Bloody Sunday
	Miloš Forman	Taking Off
	Joseph Losey	The Go-Between
	Luchino Visconti	Death in Venice
1972 (26th)	Bob Fosse	Cabaret
	Peter Bogdanovich	The Last Picture Show
	William Friedkin	The French Connection
	Stanley Kubrick	A Clockwork Orange
1973 (27th)	François Truffaut	Day for Night
	Luis Buñuel	The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
	Nicolas Roeg	Don't Look Now
	Fred Zinnemann	The Day of the Jackal
1974 (28th)	Roman Polanski	Chinatown
	Francis Ford Coppola	The Conversation
	Sidney Lumet [A]	Murder on the Orient Express / Serpico
	Louis Malle	Lacombe Lucien
1975 (29th)	Stanley Kubrick	Barry Lyndon
	Sidney Lumet	Dog Day Afternoon
	Martin Scorsese	Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
	Steven Spielberg	Jaws
1976 (30th)	Miloš Forman	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
	Alan J. Pakula	All the President's Men
	Alan Parker	Bugsy Malone
	Martin Scorsese	Taxi Driver
1977 (31st)	Woody Allen	Annie Hall
	Richard Attenborough	A Bridge Too Far
	John G. Avildsen	Rocky
	Sidney Lumet	Network
1978 (32nd)	Alan Parker	Midnight Express
	Robert Altman	A Wedding
	Steven Spielberg	Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Fred Zinnemann	Julia
1979 (33rd)	Francis Ford Coppola	Apocalypse Now
	Woody Allen	Manhattan
	Michael Cimino	The Deer Hunter
	John Schlesinger	Yanks

1980s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
1980 (34th)	Akira Kurosawa	Kagemusha
	Robert Benton	Kramer vs. Kramer
	David Lynch	The Elephant Man
	Alan Parker	Fame
1981 (35th)	Louis Malle	Atlantic City
	Bill Forsyth	Gregory's Girl
	Hugh Hudson	Chariots of Fire
	Karel Reisz	The French Lieutenant's Woman
1982 (36th)	Richard Attenborough	Gandhi
	Costa-Gavras	Missing
	Mark Rydell	On Golden Pond
	Steven Spielberg	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1983 (37th)	Bill Forsyth	Local Hero
	James Ivory	Heat and Dust
	Sydney Pollack	Tootsie
	Martin Scorsese	The King of Comedy
1984 (38th)	Wim Wenders	Paris, Texas
	Roland Joffé	The Killing Fields
	Sergio Leone	Once Upon a Time in America
	Peter Yates	The Dresser
1985 (39th)	Not awarded
1986 (40th)	Woody Allen	Hannah and Her Sisters
	Roland Joffé	The Mission
	Neil Jordan	Mona Lisa
	James Ivory	A Room with a View
1987 (41st)	Oliver Stone	Platoon
	Richard Attenborough	Cry Freedom
	Claude Berri	Jean de Florette
	John Boorman	Hope and Glory
1988 (42nd)	Louis Malle	Au revoir les enfants
	Gabriel Axel	Babette's Feast
	Bernardo Bertolucci	The Last Emperor
	Charles Crichton	A Fish Called Wanda
1989 (43rd)	Kenneth Branagh	Henry V
	Stephen Frears	Dangerous Liaisons
	Alan Parker	Mississippi Burning
	Peter Weir	Dead Poets Society

1990s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
1990 (44th)	Martin Scorsese	Goodfellas
	Woody Allen	Crimes and Misdemeanors
	Bruce Beresford	Driving Miss Daisy
	Giuseppe Tornatore	Cinema Paradiso
1991 (45th)	Alan Parker	The Commitments
	Kevin Costner	Dances with Wolves
	Jonathan Demme	The Silence of the Lambs
	Ridley Scott	Thelma & Louise
1992 (46th)	Robert Altman	The Player
	Clint Eastwood	Unforgiven
	James Ivory	Howards End
	Neil Jordan	The Crying Game
1993 (47th)	Steven Spielberg	Schindler's List
	Richard Attenborough	Shadowlands
	Jane Campion	The Piano
	James Ivory	The Remains of the Day
1994 (48th)	Mike Newell	Four Weddings and a Funeral
	Krzysztof Kieślowski	Three Colours: Red
	Quentin Tarantino	Pulp Fiction
	Robert Zemeckis	Forrest Gump
1995 (49th)	Michael Radford	Il Postino: The Postman
	Mel Gibson	Braveheart
	Nicholas Hytner	The Madness of King George
	Ang Lee	Sense and Sensibility
1996 (50th)	Joel Coen	Fargo
	Scott Hicks	Shine
	Mike Leigh	Secrets & Lies
	Anthony Minghella	The English Patient
1997 (51st)	Baz Luhrmann	Romeo + Juliet
	James Cameron	Titanic
	Peter Cattaneo	The Full Monty
	Curtis Hanson	L.A. Confidential
1998 (52nd)	Peter Weir	The Truman Show
	Shekhar Kapur	Elizabeth
	John Madden	Shakespeare in Love
	Steven Spielberg	Saving Private Ryan
1999 (53rd)	Pedro Almodóvar	All About My Mother	[2]
	Neil Jordan	The End of the Affair
	Sam Mendes	American Beauty
	Anthony Minghella	The Talented Mr. Ripley
	M. Night Shyamalan	The Sixth Sense

2000s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
2000 (54th)	Ang Lee	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	[3][4]
	Stephen Daldry	Billy Elliot
	Ridley Scott	Gladiator
	Steven Soderbergh	Erin Brockovich
		Traffic
2001 (55th)	Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	[5]
	Robert Altman	Gosford Park
	Ron Howard	A Beautiful Mind
	Jean-Pierre Jeunet	Amélie
	Baz Luhrmann	Moulin Rouge!
2002 (56th)	Roman Polanski	The Pianist	[6]
	Stephen Daldry	The Hours
	Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
	Rob Marshall	Chicago
	Martin Scorsese	Gangs of New York
2003 (57th)	Peter Weir	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	[7]
	Tim Burton	Big Fish
	Sofia Coppola	Lost in Translation
	Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
	Anthony Minghella	Cold Mountain
2004 (58th)	Mike Leigh	Vera Drake	[8]
	Marc Forster	Finding Neverland
	Michel Gondry	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
	Michael Mann	Collateral
	Martin Scorsese	The Aviator
2005 (59th)	Ang Lee	Brokeback Mountain	[9]
	George Clooney	Good Night, and Good Luck
	Paul Haggis	Crash
	Fernando Meirelles	The Constant Gardener
	Bennett Miller	Capote
2006 (60th)	Paul Greengrass	United 93	[10]
	Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris	Little Miss Sunshine
	Stephen Frears	The Queen
	Alejandro González Iñárritu	Babel
	Martin Scorsese	The Departed
2007 (61st)	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen	No Country for Old Men	[11]
	Paul Thomas Anderson	There Will Be Blood
	Paul Greengrass	The Bourne Ultimatum
	Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck	The Lives of Others
	Joe Wright	Atonement
2008 (62nd)	Danny Boyle	Slumdog Millionaire	[12]
	Stephen Daldry	The Reader
	Clint Eastwood	Changeling
	David Fincher	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
	Ron Howard	Frost/Nixon
2009 (63rd)	Kathryn Bigelow	The Hurt Locker	[13]
	Neill Blomkamp	District 9
	James Cameron	Avatar
	Lone Scherfig	An Education
	Quentin Tarantino	Inglourious Basterds

2010s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
2010 (64th)	David Fincher	The Social Network	[14]
	Darren Aronofsky	Black Swan
	Danny Boyle	127 Hours
	Tom Hooper	The King's Speech
	Christopher Nolan	Inception
2011 (65th)	Michel Hazanavicius	The Artist	[15]
	Tomas Alfredson	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
	Lynne Ramsay	We Need to Talk About Kevin
	Nicolas Winding Refn	Drive
	Martin Scorsese	Hugo
2012 (66th)	Ben Affleck	Argo	[16]
	Kathryn Bigelow	Zero Dark Thirty
	Michael Haneke	Amour
	Ang Lee	Life of Pi
	Quentin Tarantino	Django Unchained
2013 (67th)	Alfonso Cuarón	Gravity	[17]
	Paul Greengrass	Captain Phillips
	Steve McQueen	12 Years a Slave
	David O. Russell	American Hustle
	Martin Scorsese	The Wolf of Wall Street
2014 (68th)	Richard Linklater	Boyhood	[18] [19]
	Wes Anderson	The Grand Budapest Hotel
	Damien Chazelle	Whiplash
	Alejandro G. Iñárritu	Birdman
	James Marsh	The Theory of Everything
2015 (69th)	Alejandro G. Iñárritu	The Revenant	[20] [21]
	Todd Haynes	Carol
	Adam McKay	The Big Short
	Ridley Scott	The Martian
	Steven Spielberg	Bridge of Spies
2016 (70th)	Damien Chazelle	La La Land	[22] [23]
	Tom Ford	Nocturnal Animals
	Ken Loach	I, Daniel Blake
	Kenneth Lonergan	Manchester by the Sea
	Denis Villeneuve	Arrival
2017 (71st)	Guillermo del Toro	The Shape of Water
	Luca Guadagnino	Call Me by Your Name
	Martin McDonagh	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
	Christopher Nolan	Dunkirk
	Denis Villeneuve	Blade Runner 2049
2018 (72nd)	Alfonso Cuarón	Roma	[25] [26]
	Bradley Cooper	A Star Is Born
	Yorgos Lanthimos	The Favourite
	Spike Lee	BlacKkKlansman
	Paweł Pawlikowski	Cold War
2019 (73rd)	Sam Mendes	1917	[27] [28]
	Bong Joon-ho	Parasite
	Todd Phillips	Joker
	Martin Scorsese	The Irishman
	Quentin Tarantino	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

2020s

Year	Director(s)	Film	Ref.
2020 (74th)	Chloé Zhao	Nomadland	[29]
	Lee Isaac Chung	Minari
	Sarah Gavron	Rocks
	Shannon Murphy	Babyteeth
	Thomas Vinterberg	Another Round
	Jasmila Žbanić	Quo Vadis, Aida?
2021 (75th)	Jane Campion	The Power of the Dog	[30]
	Paul Thomas Anderson	Licorice Pizza
	Audrey Diwan	Happening
	Julia Ducournau	Titane
	Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Drive My Car
	Aleem Khan	After Love
2022 (76th)	Edward Berger	All Quiet on the Western Front	[31]
	Park Chan-wook	Decision to Leave
	Todd Field	Tár
	Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert	Everything Everywhere All at Once
	Martin McDonagh	The Banshees of Inisherin
	Gina Prince-Bythewood	The Woman King
2023 (77th)	Christopher Nolan	Oppenheimer	[32]
	Bradley Cooper	Maestro
	Jonathan Glazer	The Zone of Interest
	Andrew Haigh	All of Us Strangers
	Alexander Payne	The Holdovers
	Justine Triet	Anatomy of a Fall
2024 (78th)	Brady Corbet	The Brutalist	[33]
	Jacques Audiard	Emilia Pérez
	Sean Baker	Anora
	Edward Berger	Conclave
	Coralie Fargeat	The Substance
	Denis Villeneuve	Dune: Part Two

Multiple wins and nominations

Multiple nominations

10 nominations Martin Scorsese 6 nominations Steven Spielberg 5 nominations Richard Attenborough Alan Parker 4 nominations Woody Allen Robert Altman James Ivory Ang Lee Quentin Tarantino

3 nominations Stephen Daldry Alejandro González Iñárritu Paul Greengrass Peter Jackson Neil Jordan Sidney Lumet Louis Malle Anthony Minghella Christopher Nolan John Schlesinger Ridley Scott Denis Villeneuve Peter Weir 2 nominations Paul Thomas Anderson Edward Berger Kathryn Bigelow Danny Boyle James Cameron Jane Campion Damien Chazelle Joel Coen Bradley Cooper

Francis Ford Coppola Alfonso Cuarón Clint Eastwood David Fincher Miloš Forman Bill Forsyth Stephen Frears Ron Howard Roland Joffé Stanley Kubrick Mike Leigh Ken Loach Baz Luhrmann Martin McDonagh Sam Mendes Roman Polanski Steven Soderbergh Peter Yates Fred Zinnemann

Multiple wins

2 wins Woody Allen Joel Coen Alfonso Cuarón Ang Lee

Louis Malle Alan Parker Roman Polanski John Schlesinger Peter Weir

See also

• Academy Award for Best Director
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director
• Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film
• Golden Globe Award for Best Director
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Director

Notes

A¹ : According to the BAFTAs database, Sidney Lumet received a single joint award for two different films.^[34]