New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honour the finest achievements in filmmaking.
In the last three decades (1970s, 1980s, and 1990s), the New York Film Critics have rarely made the same choice as the Academy Awards. Both associations have agreed on the same winner, over the period 1970–1999, on the following: Woody Allen for Annie Hall (1977) and Jonathan Demme for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). It’s notable that from 2000 to 2009, the critics’ group have agreed with the Academy on six occasions: Steven Soderbergh for Traffic (2000), Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby (2004), Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Martin Scorsese for The Departed (2006), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007), and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009).
Winners
Oscar winner denoted by *
1930s
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1935 | John Ford * | The Informer |
| 1936 | Rouben Mamoulian | The Gay Desperado |
| 1937 | Gregory La Cava | Stage Door |
| 1938 | Alfred Hitchcock | The Lady Vanishes |
| 1939 | John Ford | Stagecoach |
1940s
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | John Ford | The Grapes of Wrath * |
| The Long Voyage Home | ||
| 1941 | John Ford * | How Green Was My Valley |
| 1942 | John Farrow | Wake Island |
| 1943 | George Stevens | The More the Merrier |
| 1944 | Leo McCarey * | Going My Way |
| 1945 | Billy Wilder * | The Lost Weekend |
| 1946 | William Wyler * | The Best Years of Our Lives |
| 1947 | Elia Kazan | Boomerang |
| Gentleman's Agreement * | ||
| 1948 | John Huston * | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
| 1949 | Carol Reed | The Fallen Idol |
1950s
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz * | All About Eve |
| 1951 | Elia Kazan | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 1952 | Fred Zinnemann | High Noon |
| 1953 | Fred Zinnemann * | From Here to Eternity |
| 1954 | Elia Kazan * | On the Waterfront |
| 1955 | David Lean | Summertime |
| 1956 | John Huston | Moby Dick |
| 1957 | David Lean * | The Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 1958 | Stanley Kramer | The Defiant Ones |
| 1959 | Fred Zinnemann | The Nun's Story |
1960s
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Jack Cardiff | Sons and Lovers |
| Billy Wilder * | The Apartment | |
| 1961 | Robert Rossen | The Hustler |
| 1962 | No award given (newspaper strike) | |
| 1963 | Tony Richardson * | Tom Jones |
| 1964 | Stanley Kubrick | Dr. Strangelove |
| 1965 | John Schlesinger | Darling |
| 1966 | Fred Zinnemann * | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1967 | Mike Nichols * | The Graduate |
| 1968 | Paul Newman | Rachel, Rachel |
| 1969 | Costa-Gavras | Z |
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | Erin Brockovich |
| Traffic * | ||
| 2001 | Robert Altman | Gosford Park |
| 2002 | Todd Haynes | Far from Heaven |
| 2003 | Sofia Coppola | Lost in Translation |
| 2004 | Clint Eastwood * | Million Dollar Baby |
| 2005 | Ang Lee * | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2006 | Martin Scorsese * | The Departed |
| 2007 | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen * | No Country for Old Men |
| 2008 | Mike Leigh | Happy-Go-Lucky |
| 2009 | Kathryn Bigelow * | The Hurt Locker |
2010s
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | David Fincher | The Social Network |
| 2011 | Michel Hazanavicius * | The Artist |
| 2012 | Kathryn Bigelow | Zero Dark Thirty |
| 2013 | Steve McQueen | 12 Years a Slave |
| 2014 | Richard Linklater | Boyhood |
| 2015 | Todd Haynes | Carol |
| 2016 | Barry Jenkins | Moonlight |