Satellite Award for Best Director

The Satellite Award for Best Director is one of the annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy.

Notes

• "†" indicates the Academy Award winner for Best Director
• "‡" indicates an Academy Award nomination for Best Director
• "±" indicates an Academy Award nomination/win for other categories

Winners and nominees

1990s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film
1996	Joel Coen	Fargo ‡±
	Scott Hicks	Shine ‡
	Mike Leigh	Secrets & Lies ‡
	Anthony Minghella	The English Patient †
	Lars von Trier	Breaking the Waves
1997	James Cameron	Titanic †
	Paul Thomas Anderson	Boogie Nights ±
	Curtis Hanson	L.A. Confidential ‡
	Steven Spielberg	Amistad
	Gus Van Sant	Good Will Hunting ‡
1998	Terrence Malick	The Thin Red Line ‡±
	John Boorman	The General
	Shekhar Kapur	Elizabeth
	Gary Ross	Pleasantville
	Steven Spielberg	Saving Private Ryan †
1999	Michael Mann	The Insider ‡
	Paul Thomas Anderson	Magnolia ±
	Sam Mendes	American Beauty †
	Anthony Minghella	The Talented Mr. Ripley
	Kimberly Peirce	Boys Don't Cry

2000s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film
2000	Steven Soderbergh	Traffic †
	Cameron Crowe	Almost Famous ±
	Philip Kaufman	Quills
	Ang Lee	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long) ‡
	Ridley Scott	Gladiator ‡
	Steven Soderbergh	Erin Brockovich ‡
2001	Baz Luhrmann	Moulin Rouge! ±
	Jonathan Glazer	Sexy Beast
	Scott McGehee and David Siegel	The Deep End
	John Cameron Mitchell	Hedwig and the Angry Inch
	Christopher Nolan	Memento ±
2002	Todd Haynes	Far from Heaven ±
	Stephen Daldry	The Hours ‡
	Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ±
	Phillip Noyce	The Quiet American
	Denzel Washington	Antwone Fisher
2003	Jim Sheridan	In America ±
	Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini	American Splendor ±
	Niki Caro	Whale Rider
	Sofia Coppola	Lost in Translation ‡
	Clint Eastwood	Mystic River ‡
	Catherine Hardwicke	Thirteen
2004	Mel Gibson	The Passion of the Christ
	Taylor Hackford	Ray ‡
	Joshua Marston	Maria Full of Grace (María llena eres de gracia)
	Alexander Payne	Sideways ‡
	Martin Scorsese	The Aviator ‡
2005	Ang Lee	Brokeback Mountain †
	George Clooney	Good Night, and Good Luck ‡±
	James Mangold	Walk the Line
	Rob Marshall	Memoirs of a Geisha
	Bennett Miller	Capote ‡
2006	Bill Condon	Dreamgirls
	Clint Eastwood	Flags of Our Fathers
	Pedro Almodóvar	Volver
	Stephen Frears	The Queen ‡
	Alejandro González Iñárritu	Babel ‡
	Martin Scorsese	The Departed †
2007	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen	No Country for Old Men †
	David Cronenberg	Eastern Promises
	Ang Lee	Lust, Caution
	Sidney Lumet	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
	Sarah Polley	Away from Her ±
2008	Danny Boyle	Slumdog Millionaire †
	Stephen Daldry	The Reader ‡
	Ron Howard	Frost/Nixon ‡
	Tom McCarthy	The Visitor
	Christopher Nolan	The Dark Knight
	Gus Van Sant	Milk ‡
2009	Kathryn Bigelow	The Hurt Locker †
	Neill Blomkamp	District 9 ±
	Jane Campion	Bright Star
	Lee Daniels	Precious ‡
	Rob Marshall	Nine
	Lone Scherfig	An Education

2010s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film
2010	David Fincher	The Social Network ‡
	Ben Affleck	The Town
	Darren Aronofsky	Black Swan ‡
	Danny Boyle	127 Hours
	Lisa Cholodenko	The Kids Are All Right ±
	Debra Granik	Winter's Bone ±
	Tom Hooper	The King's Speech †
	David Michôd	Animal Kingdom
	Christopher Nolan	Inception
	Roman Polanski	The Ghost Writer
2011	Nicolas Winding Refn	Drive
	Woody Allen	Midnight in Paris ‡
	Tomas Alfredson	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
	Michel Hazanavicius	The Artist †
	John Michael McDonagh	The Guard
	Steve McQueen	Shame
	Alexander Payne	The Descendants ‡
	Martin Scorsese	Hugo ‡
	Steven Spielberg	War Horse
	Tate Taylor	The Help
2012	David O. Russell	Silver Linings Playbook ‡
	Ben Affleck	Argo
	Kathryn Bigelow	Zero Dark Thirty ±
	Kim Ki-duk	Pietà
	Ben Lewin	The Sessions
	Steven Spielberg	Lincoln ‡
2013	Steve McQueen	12 Years a Slave ‡±
	Woody Allen	Blue Jasmine ±
	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen	Inside Llewyn Davis
	Alfonso Cuarón	Gravity †
	Paul Greengrass	Captain Phillips
	Ron Howard	Rush
	David O. Russell	American Hustle ‡
	Martin Scorsese	The Wolf of Wall Street ‡
2014	Richard Linklater	Boyhood ‡
	Damien Chazelle	Whiplash ±
	Ava DuVernay	Selma
	David Fincher	Gone Girl
	Alejandro G. Iñárritu	Birdman †±
	Morten Tyldum	The Imitation Game ‡
2015	Tom McCarthy	Spotlight ‡
	Lenny Abrahamson	Room ‡
	Tom Hooper	The Danish Girl
	Alejandro G. Iñárritu	The Revenant †
	Ridley Scott	The Martian
	Steven Spielberg	Bridge of Spies
2016	Kenneth Lonergan	Manchester by the Sea ‡±
	Damien Chazelle	La La Land †
	Tom Ford	Nocturnal Animals
	Mel Gibson	Hacksaw Ridge ‡
	Barry Jenkins	Moonlight ‡±
	Pablo Larraín	Jackie
	Denzel Washington	Fences
2017	Jordan Peele	Get Out ‡±
	Sean Baker	The Florida Project
	Guillermo del Toro	The Shape of Water †
	Greta Gerwig	Lady Bird ‡
	Christopher Nolan	Dunkirk ‡
	Dee Rees	Mudbound ±
2018	Alfonso Cuarón	Roma †
	Bradley Cooper	A Star Is Born ±
	Peter Farrelly	Green Book ±
	Barry Jenkins	If Beale Street Could Talk ±
	Yorgos Lanthimos	The Favourite ‡
	Spike Lee	BlacKkKlansman ‡±