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Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director
Award presented annually by the Cannes Film Festival
Award presented annually by the Cannes Film Festival
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Best Director Award |
| subheader | fr |
| awarded_for | Best Achievement in Direction |
| presenter | Cannes Film Festival |
| country | France |
| image | Kleber Mendonça Filho-6484.jpg |
| caption | The 2025 recipient: Kleber Mendonça Filho |
| year | [1946](1946-cannes-film-festival) |
| holder | Kleber Mendonça Filho |
| *The Secret Agent* ([2025](2025-cannes-film-festival)) | |
| website |
The Secret Agent (2025)
The Best Director Award () is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at the festival.
At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, René Clément was the first winner of this award for his work on The Battle of the Rails, and Kleber Mendonça Filho is the most recent winner in this category for his work on The Secret Agent at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in 2025.
History
The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 12 occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1960, 1962–64, 1971, 1973–74, 1977, and 1980).
The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France.
Also, the jury vote was tied, and the prize was shared by two directors on seven occasions (1955, 1969, 1975, 1983, 2001–02, and 2016). Joel Coen of the Coen brothers has received the most awards in this category, with three. One directing team has shared the award: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for Young Ahmed (2019). Yuliya Solntseva became the first woman to win the award, for Chronicle of Flaming Years (1961).
The winner of the Best Director Award rarely wins the Palme d'Or, the main prize given at the festival, which is also awarded to the director of the winning film. This happened only twice: Joel Coen won both awards for Barton Fink in 1991; and Gus Van Sant won for Elephant in 2003.
Winners
1940s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [1946](1946-cannes-film-festival) | [1949](1949-cannes-film-festival) |
|---|
1950s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [1951](1951-cannes-film-festival) | [1952](1952-cannes-film-festival) | [1955](1955-cannes-film-festival) | [1956](1956-cannes-film-festival) | [1957](1957-cannes-film-festival) | [1958](1958-cannes-film-festival) | [1959](1959-cannes-film-festival) |
|---|
1960s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [1961](1961-cannes-film-festival) | [1965](1965-cannes-film-festival) | [1966](1966-cannes-film-festival) | [1967](1967-cannes-film-festival) | [1969](1969-cannes-film-festival) |
|---|
1970s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [1970](1970-cannes-film-festival) | [1972](1972-cannes-film-festival) | [1975](1975-cannes-film-festival) | [1976](1976-cannes-film-festival) | [1978](1978-cannes-film-festival) | [1979](1979-cannes-film-festival) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costa-Gavras |
1980s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [1982](1982-cannes-film-festival) | [1983](1983-cannes-film-festival) | [1984](1984-cannes-film-festival) | [1985](1985-cannes-film-festival) | [1986](1986-cannes-film-festival) | [1987](1987-cannes-film-festival) | [1988](1988-cannes-film-festival) | [1989](1989-cannes-film-festival) |
|---|
1990s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [1990](1990-cannes-film-festival) | [1991](1991-cannes-film-festival) | [1992](1992-cannes-film-festival) | [1993](1993-cannes-film-festival) | [1994](1994-cannes-film-festival) | [1995](1995-cannes-film-festival) | [1996](1996-cannes-film-festival) | [1997](1997-cannes-film-festival) | [1998](1998-cannes-film-festival) | [1999](1999-cannes-film-festival) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{sortname | Wong | Kar-wai | Wong, Kar-wai}} |
2000s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [2000](2000-cannes-film-festival) | [2001](2001-cannes-film-festival) | [2002](2002-cannes-film-festival) | [2003](2003-cannes-film-festival) | [2004](2004-cannes-film-festival) | [2005](2005-cannes-film-festival) | [2006](2006-cannes-film-festival) | [2007](2007-cannes-film-festival) | [2008](2008-cannes-film-festival) | [2009](2009-cannes-film-festival) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{sortname | Im | Kwon-taek | Im, Kwon-taek}} |
2010s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | [2010](2010-cannes-film-festival) | [2011](2011-cannes-film-festival) | [2012](2012-cannes-film-festival) | [2013](2013-cannes-film-festival) | [2014](2014-cannes-film-festival) | [2015](2015-cannes-film-festival) | [2016](2016-cannes-film-festival) | [2017](2017-cannes-film-festival) | [2018](2018-cannes-film-festival) | [2019](2019-cannes-film-festival) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{sortname | Hou | Hsiao-hsien | Hou, Hsiao-hsien}} |
2020s
| Year | Director | English Title | Original Title | Ref. | [2021](2021-cannes-film-festival) | [2022](2022-cannes-film-festival) | [2023](2023-cannes-film-festival) | [2024](2024-cannes-film-festival) | [2025](2025-cannes-film-festival) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 헤어질 결심 | |||||||||
| *La Passion de Dodin Bouffant* | |||||||||
| Miguel Gomes | *Grand Tour* | ||||||||
| Kleber Mendonça Filho | *The Secret Agent* | *O Agente Secreto* |
Multiple winners
The following individuals received two or more Best Director awards:
| Number of Wins | Directors | Nationality | Films | 3 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joel Coen | United States | *Barton Fink* (1991), | |||
| *Fargo* (1996), | |||||
| *The Man Who Wasn't There* (2001) | |||||
| René Clément | France | *The Battle of the Rails* (1946), | |||
| *The Walls of Malapaga* (1949) | |||||
| Robert Bresson | *A Man Escaped* (1957), | ||||
| *L'Argent* (1983) | |||||
| Sergei Yutkevich | Soviet Union | *Othello* (1956), | |||
| *Lenin in Poland* (1966) | |||||
| John Boorman | United Kingdom | *Leo the Last* (1970), | |||
| *The General* (1998) |
References
References
- [https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30894984 Coen brothers to jointly head Cannes jury - BBC News]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/26/movies/cannes-film-festival-van-sant-s-elephant-receives-palme-d-or.html CANNES FILM FESTIVAL; Van Sant's 'Elephant' Receives Palme d'Or - New York Times]
- [https://www.vogue.com/article/who-won-who-lost-2016-cannes-film-festival Who Won and Who Lost at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Vogue]
- [https://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/cannes-sofia-coppola-best-director-beguiled-1201833491/ Cannes 2017: Sofia Coppola Wins Best Director and Makes History. IndieWire]
- [https://www.forbes.com/sites/sheenascott/2021/07/17/cannes-film-festival-2021-the-list-of-winners/?sh=3729535a38db Cannes Film Festival 2021: The List Of Winners - Forbes]
- Tartaglione, Nancy. (28 May 2022). "Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced – Live".
- Tartaglione, Nancy. (28 May 2022). "Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced – Live".
- "Filme brasileiro 'O Agente Secreto' vence dois prêmios no Festival de Cannes".
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