1980 - Pedro Almodóvar† – Pepi, Luci, Bom[5][9]
- Chuck Barris – The Gong Show Movie
- Tony Bill – My Bodyguard
- James Caan – Hide in Plain Sight
- Rob Cohen – A Small Circle of Friends
- Bill Forsyth – That Sinking Feeling
- Peter Greenaway† – The Falls
- Robert Greenwald – Xanadu
- Hou Hsaio-hsien – Cute Girl
- Jim Jarmusch – Permanent Vacation
- Art Linson – Where the Buffalo Roam
- Adrian Lyne† – Foxes
- Mike Newell♦ – The Awakening
- Harold Ramis – Caddyshack
- Robert Redford – Ordinary People
- Jay Sandrich♦ – Seems Like Old Times
- John Sayles – Return of the Secaucus 7
- Roger Spottiswoode – Terror Train
- Fernando Trueba† – Opera Prima
- Nancy Walker♦ – Can't Stop the Music
- Gordon Willis – Windows
- Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams & David Zucker – Airplane![7]
1981 - Alan Alda♦ – The Four Seasons
- Andrew Bergman – So Fine
- James Cameron† – Piranha II: The Spawning
- John Glen† – For Your Eyes Only
- Steve Gordon♦ – Arthur
- Jim Henson†♦ – The Great Muppet Caper
- Hugh Hudson† – Chariots of Fire
- Glenn Jordan♦ – Only When I Laugh
- Lawrence Kasdan – Body Heat[2]
- Aki Kaurismaki – The Saimaa Gesture
- Emir Kusturica†♦ – Do You Remember Dolly Bell?
- Michael Mann†♦ – Thief
- Sam Raimi† – The Evil Dead[1]
- Oz Scott – Bustin' Loose
- Joel Schumacher♦ – The Incredible Shrinking Woman
- Penelope Spheeris† – The Decline of Western Civilization
1982 - Jahnu Barua† – Aparoopa
- Richard Benjamin♦ – My Favorite Year
- Khairy Beshara♦ – Bloody Destinies
- Kathryn Bigelow† and Monty Montgomery – The Loveless
- Patricia Birch♦ – Grease 2
- Nick Castle – Tag: The Assassination Game
- Roger Christian – The Sender
- Graeme Clifford†♦ – Frances
- Caleb Deschanel† – The Escape Artist
- Richard Elfman – Forbidden Zone
- Stuart Gillard – Paradise
- Amy Heckerling† – Fast Times at Ridgemont High[8]
- Tim Hunter – Tex
- Neil Jordan – Angel[9]
- John Laing – Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- Barry Levinson – Diner[5][9]
- Aaron Lipstadt – Android
- Garry Marshall♦ – Young Doctors in Love
- Albert Pyun – The Sword and the Sorcerer
- Susan Seidelman† – Smithereens
- Robert Towne – Personal Best
- Edward Yang – Guang yin de gu shi
- Corey Yuen – Ninja in the Dragon's Den
- Ronny Yu – The Postman Strikes Back
1983 1984 - Alejandro Agresti† – La Neutrónica explotó en Burzaco
- Steve Barron† – Electric Dreams
- Ethan Coen and Joel Coen – Blood Simple[2][3]
- Alex Cox - Repo Man[5]
- Léos Carax – Boy Meets Girl
- Gérard Depardieu – Le tartuffe
- Roland Emmerich† – The Noah's Ark Principle
- James Foley – Reckless[8]
- John Hughes – Sixteen Candles
- Juzo Itami – The Funeral
- Roland Joffé♦ – The Killing Fields
- Chen Kaige – Yellow Earth
- Yoshiaki Kawajiri – Lensman
- Ken Kwapis – The Beniker Gang
- Albert Magnoli† – Purple Rain
- Luis Mandoki – Motel
- Leonard Nimoy – Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Rob Reiner† – This Is Spinal Tap[2][5]
- W. D. Richter – The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
- Valeria Sarmiento – Notre mariage
- Lars von Trier† – The Element of Crime
| 1985 - Tim Burton†♦ – Pee-wee's Big Adventure[2]
- Joyce Chopra† – Smooth Talk
- Rod Daniel♦ – Teen Wolf
- Stephen Gyllenhaal – Certain Fury
- Stuart Gordon♦ – Re-Animator
- Savage Steve Holland – Better Off Dead
- Ken Kwapis♦ – The Beniker Gang
- Dwight H. Little – KGB: The Secret War
- Gus Van Sant†♦ – Mala Noche
- Terry Zwigoff – Louie Bluie
1986 1987 - Allison Anders – Border Radio[9]
- Jeff Bleckner♦ – White Water Summer
- Chris Columbus – Adventures in Babysitting
- Danny DeVito†♦ – Throw Momma from the Train[10]
- Nigel Dick† – P.I. Private Investigations
- Emilio Estevez – Wisdom
- Flora Gomes – Mortu Nega
- Tamar Simon Hoffs† – The Allnighter
- Phil Joanou† – Three O'Clock High
- Diane Keaton – Heaven
- Peter Jackson† – Bad Taste
- Mary Lambert† – Siesta
- David Mamet – House of Games[2]
- Phil Alden Robinson – In the Mood
- Jay Russell – The End of the Line
- Robert Townsend – Hollywood Shuffle
- John Stockwell – Undercover
- Zhang Yimou – Sorgul roșu
1988 - Greg Beeman♦ – License to Drive
- John Cornell – "Crocodile" Dundee II
- Claire Denis – Chocolat
- Reha Erdem – Oh, Moon!
- Robert Englund – 976-EVIL
- Mike Figgis♦ – Stormy Monday[9]
- Andrew Fleming – Bad Dreams
- Mick Garris♦ – Critters 2: The Main Course
- Keith Gordon – The Chocolate War
- Bob Hoskins – The Raggedy Rawney
- Annabel Jankel†♦ and Rocky Morton†♦ – D.O.A.
- Shaji N. Karun – Piravi
- Guy Maddin† – Tales from the Gimli Hospital
- Ramón Menéndez – Stand and Deliver
- Chris Menges – A World Apart
- Mira Nair†♦ – Salaam Bombay![9]
- Yousry Nasrallah – Summer Thefts
- Donald Petrie♦ – Mystic Pizza
- Tina Rathborne♦ – Zelly and Me
- Bernard Rose – Paperhouse
- Gary Sinise – Miles from Home
- Jan Švankmajer† – Alice[1]
- Ernest Thompson – 1969
- Keenen Ivory Wayans – I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
- Henry Winkler♦ – Memories of Me
- Wong Kar-wai – Wong Gok Ka Moon
1989 - Meiert Avis† – Far from Home
- Kenneth Branagh – Henry V
- Sooraj R. Barjatya – Maine Pyar Kiya
- Jane Campion†♦ – Sweetie
- Jeremiah S. Chechik – National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
- Isabel Coixet† – Demasiado viejo para morir joven
- Pedro Costa – O Sangue
- Cameron Crowe – Say Anything...[12]
- John Dahl – Kill Me Again[8]
- Carl Franklin† – Nowhere to Run
- Paul Greengrass♦ – Resurrected
- Gary David Goldberg – Dad
- Wendell B. Harris, Jr. – Chameleon Street
- Michael Haneke♦ – The Seventh Continent
- Joe Johnston – Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
- Takeshi Kitano – Violent Cop[10]
- Michael Lehmann† – Heathers
- Richard Linklater – It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books
- Sean McNamara – Hollywood Chaos
- Tahmineh Milani – Children of Divorce
- Michael Moore – Roger & Me
- Jonathan Mostow† – Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers
- Eddie Murphy – Harlem Nights
- David Peoples† – The Blood of Heroes
- Alex Proyas† – Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds
- Joe Pytka† – Let It Ride
- Junji Sakamoto – Dotsuitarunen
- Victor Salva – Clownhouse
- Nancy Savoca – True Love
- Thomas Schlamme♦† – Miss Firecracker
- William Shatner – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Jim Sheridan – My Left Foot
- Mel Smith – The Tall Guy
- Steven Soderbergh† – Sex, Lies, and Videotape
- Todd Solondz† – Fear, Anxiety & Depression
- Stephen Sommers – Catch Me If You Can
- Ann Turner – Celia[10]
- Joseph Vilsmaier – Autumn Milk
- Gary Winick – Curfew
- Joel Zwick♦ – Second Sight
- Eric Red† – Cohen and Tate
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