National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director

Winners
Names and titles in bold indicate directors that won the Academy Award for Best Director. Names and titles with an asterisk (*) indicate films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, but did not win.
 * 1966 - Michelangelo Antonioni*, Blowup
 * 1967 - Ingmar Bergman, Persona
 * 1968 - Ingmar Bergman, Hour of the Wolf / Shame
 * 1969 - François Truffaut, Stolen Kisses
 * 1970 - Ingmar Bergman, The Passion of Anna
 * 1971 - Bernardo Bertolucci, The Conformist
 * 1972 - Luis Buñuel, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
 * 1973 - François Truffaut*, Day for Night
 * 1974 - Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II
 * 1975 - Robert Altman*, Nashville
 * 1976 - Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
 * 1977 - Luis Buñuel, That Obscure Object of Desire
 * 1978 - Terrence Malick, Days of Heaven
 * 1979 - Woody Allen, Manhattan / Robert Benton, Kramer vs. Kramer
 * 1980 - Martin Scorsese*, Raging Bull
 * 1981 - Louis Malle*, Atlantic City
 * 1982 - Steven Spielberg*, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
 * 1983 - Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, The Night of the Shooting Stars
 * 1984 - Robert Bresson, L'Argent
 * 1985 - John Huston*, Prizzi's Honor
 * 1986 - David Lynch*, Blue Velvet
 * 1987 - John Boorman*, Hope and Glory
 * 1988 - Philip Kaufman, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
 * 1989 - Gus Van Sant, Drugstore Cowboy
 * '1990' - Martin Scorsese*, Goodfellas
 * '1991' - David Cronenberg, Naked Lunch
 * '1992' - Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
 * '1993' - Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List
 * 1994 - Quentin Tarantino*, Pulp Fiction
 * 1995 - Mike Figgis*, Leaving Las Vegas
 * 1996 - Lars von Trier, Breaking the Waves
 * 1997 - Curtis Hanson*, L.A. Confidential
 * 1998 - Steven Soderbergh, Out of Sight
 * 1999 - Mike Leigh, Topsy-Turvy
 * 2000' - Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich'* ''/ Traffic
 * 2001 - Robert Altman*, Gosford Park
 * '2002' - Roman Polanski, The Pianist
 * 2003 - Clint Eastwood, Mystic River
 * 2004 - Zhang Yimou, Hero / House of Flying Daggers
 * 2005 - David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
 * 2006 - Paul Greengrass*, United 93
 * 2007 - Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
 * 2008 - Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
 * 2009 - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
 * 2010 - David Fincher*, The Social Network
 * 2011 - Terrence Malick*, The Tree of Life
 * 2012 - Michael Haneke*, Amour
 * 2013 - Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
 * 2014 - Richard Linklater*, Boyhood
 * 2015 - Todd Haynes, Carol
 * 2016 - Barry Jenkins*, Moonlight
 * 2017 - Greta Gerwig*, Lady Bird
 * 2018 - Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Most wins

 * 3 - Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese
 * 2 - Robert Altman, Luis Buñuel, David Cronenberg, Clint Eastwood, Mike Leigh, Terrence Malick, Steven Spielberg, François Truffaut