| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) |
| 1901 | Mississippi Masala | 1991 | Mira Nair |
| 1902 | The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | 1978 | Fred Schepisi |
| 1903 | 1941 | 1979 | Steven Spielberg |
| 1904 | Legends of the Fall | 1994 | Edward Zwick |
| 1905 | The Merry Widow | 1934 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 1906 | Robin Hood | 1973 | Wolfgang Reitherman |
| 1907 | Wanda | 1970 | Barbara Loden |
| 1908 | Jour de Fête | 1949 | Jacques Tati |
| 1909 | Beau Geste | 1939 | William A. Wellman |
| 1910 | The Round-up | 1966 | Miklós Jancsó |
| 1911 | Scream 2 | 1997 | Wes Craven |
| 1912 | Queen Margot | 1994 | Patrice Chéreau |
| 1913 | The Sacrifice | 1986 | Andrei Tarkovsky |
| 1914 | The Lost World | 1925 | Harry O. Hoyt |
| 1915 | Lenny | 1974 | Bob Fosse |
| 1916 | Atonement | 2007 | Joe Wright |
| 1917 | An Italian Straw Hat | 1928 | René Clair |
| 1918 | American Psycho | 2000 | Mary Harron |
| 1919 | Big Deal on Madonna Street | 1958 | Mario Monicelli |
| 1920 | The Madness of King George | 1994 | Nicholas Hytner |
| 1921 | Dead Man's Shoes | 2004 | Shane Meadows |
| 1922 | Divided We Fall | 2000 | Jan Hrebejk |
| 1923 | A Close Shave | 1995 | Nick Park |
| 1924 | Martin | 1977 | George A. Romero |
| 1925 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | 2004 | Michael Moore |
| 1926 | The Woman in the Window | 1944 | Fritz Lang |
| 1927 | Storm over Asia | 1928 | Vsevolod Pudovkin |
| 1928 | The Love Bug | 1968 | Robert Stevenson |
| 1929 | The Last House on the Left | 1972 | Wes Craven |
| 1930 | Red Beard | 1965 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1931 | Dead End | 1937 | William Wyler |
| 1932 | Wild Things | 1998 | John McNaughton |
| 1933 | Annie Get Your Gun | 1950 | George Sidney |
| 1934 | Gloria | 1980 | John Cassavetes |
| 1935 | The Golden Coach | 1952 | Jean Renoir |
| 1936 | Prince of the City | 1981 | Sidney Lumet |
| 1937 | A Star Is Born | 1937 | William A. Wellman |
| 1938 | Rock 'n' Roll High School | 1979 | Allan Arkush |
| 1939 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | 1996 | Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise |
| 1940 | Häxan: Witchcraft through the Ages | 1922 | Benjamin Christensen |
| 1941 | Fletch | 1985 | Michael Ritchie |
| 1942 | Once | 2006 | John Carney |
| 1943 | The Curse of Frankenstein | 1957 | Terence Fisher |
| 1944 | Leave Her to Heaven | 1945 | John M. Stahl |
| 1945 | Anna Karenina | 1935 | Clarence Brown |
| 1946 | Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind | 1984 | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 1947 | Superfly | 1972 | Gordon Parks Jr. |
| 1948 | Irréversible | 2002 | Gaspar Noé |
| 1949 | Good Night, and Good Luck. | 2005 | George Clooney |
| 1950 | The Silence | 1963 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1951 | Million Dollar Legs | 1932 | Edward F. Cline |
| 1952 | House of Flying Daggers | 2004 | Yimou Zhang |
| 1953 | True Lies | 1994 | James Cameron |
| 1954 | And God Created Woman | 1956 | Roger Vadim |
| 1955 | Land without Bread | 1933 | Luis Buñuel |
| 1956 | The Man with the Golden Arm | 1955 | Otto Preminger |
| 1957 | Scent of a Woman | 1992 | Martin Brest |
| 1958 | The Talk of the Town | 1942 | George Stevens |
| 1959 | Swiss Family Robinson | 1960 | Ken Annakin |
| 1960 | Radio Days | 1987 | Woody Allen |
| 1961 | A Passage to India | 1984 | David Lean |
| 1962 | Pearl Harbor | 2001 | Michael Bay |
| 1963 | Ceddo | 1977 | Ousmane Sembene |
| 1964 | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | 1999 | Jay Roach |
| 1965 | The Pirate | 1948 | Vincente Minnelli |
| 1966 | Jesus of Montreal | 1989 | Denys Arcand |
| 1967 | Persepolis | 2007 | Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi |
| 1968 | Menace II Society | 1993 | Albert and Allen Hughes |
| 1969 | The Sheik | 1921 | George Melford |
| 1970 | Through a Glass Darkly | 1961 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1971 | The Heartbreak Kid | 1972 | Elaine May |
| 1972 | Days of Being Wild | 1990 | Kar Wai Wong |
| 1973 | Training Day | 2001 | Antoine Fuqua |
| 1974 | Pride & Prejudice | 2005 | Joe Wright |
| 1975 | Entre Nous | 1983 | Diane Kurys |
| 1976 | Munich | 2005 | Steven Spielberg |
| 1977 | A Grand Day Out | 1989 | Nick Park |
| 1978 | Elephant | 2003 | Gus Van Sant |
| 1979 | City of Angels | 1998 | Brad Silberling |
| 1980 | Battle of Britain | 1969 | Guy Hamilton |
| 1981 | Superbad | 2007 | Greg Mottola |
| 1982 | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | 1996 | Mike Judge |
| 1983 | Phantasm | 1979 | Don Coscarelli |
| 1984 | The Secret of Roan Inish | 1994 | John Sayles |
| 1985 | Real Women Have Curves | 2002 | Patricia Cardoso |
| 1986 | The Horse Thief | 1986 | Zhuangzhuang Tian |
| 1987 | Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | 1989 | Joe Johnston |
| 1988 | The Southerner | 1945 | Jean Renoir |
| 1989 | Show Me Love | 1998 | Lukas Moodysson |
| 1990 | King of Hearts | 1966 | Phillippe de Broca |
| 1991 | A Taste of Honey | 1961 | Tony Richardson |
| 1992 | Starman | 1984 | John Carpenter |
| 1993 | The Docks of New York | 1928 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 1994 | Captain Blood | 1935 | Michael Curtiz |
| 1995 | Better Off Dead… | 1985 | Savage Steve Holland |
| 1996 | Harakiri | 1962 | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 1997 | El Mariachi | 1992 | Robert Rodriguez |
| 1998 | The Story of Adele H. | 1975 | François Truffaut |
| 1999 | The Fog | 1980 | John Carpenter |
| 2000 | Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat | 1896 | Auguste and Louis Lumière |
