2005
- Caché (Michael Haneke, 3)
- Land of the Dead (George A. Romero, 4)
- A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 7)
- The New World (Terrence Malick, 9)
2006
- L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2005, 1)
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005, 2)
- A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 4)
- Borat (Larry Charles, 5)
- Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 7)
- Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005, 9)
- Inland Empire (David Lynch, 9)
- Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 10)
2007
- Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006, 1)
- There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1)
- Black Book (Paul Verhoeven (2006, 2)
- Zodiac (David Fincher, 2)
- Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, 2006, 3)
- Regular Lovers (Philippe Garrel, 2005, 5)
- The Host (Bong Joon-ho, 2006, 8)
2008
- Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 3)
- In the City of Sylvia (José Luis Guerín, 2007, 5)
- Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant, 2007, 5)
- Profit motive and the whispering wind (John Gianvito, 2007, 6)
- Opera Jawa (Garin Nugroho, 2006, 6)
- My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007, 7)
- Ballast (Lance Hammer, 7)
- La France (Serge Bozon, 2007, 9)
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007, 10)
2009
- Liverpool (Lisandro Alonso, 2008, 1)
- Police, Adjective (Corneliu Porumboiu, 1)
- Birdsong (Albert Serra, 2008, 2)
- 24 City (Jia Zhangke, 2008, 4)
- Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 4)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 6)
- Still Walking (Koreeda Hirokazu, 2008, 9)
- The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008, 10)
2010
- Everyone Else (Maren Ade, 2009, 2)
- Sweetgrass (Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2009, 5)
- Our Beloved Month of August (Miguel Gomes, 2008, 6)
- The Strange Case of Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira, 6)
- Trash Humpers (Harmony Korine, 2009, 7)
- Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, 2009, 8)
- Vincere (Marco Bellocchio, 2009, 9)
- Mother (Bong Joon-ho, 2009, 10)
- The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, 10)
Special Mentions: Carlos (Olivier Assayas), The Social Network (David Fincher), Unstoppable (Tony Scott)
2011
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010, 1)
- The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaucescu (Andrei Ujicǎ, 2010, 2)
- Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz, 2010, 3)
- House of Tolerance (Bertrand Bonello, 3)
- To Die Like a Man (João Pedro Rodrigues, 2009, 3)
- Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, 2010, 4)
- The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 6)
- Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010, 8)
Special Mentions: [2010] Aurora (Cristi Puiu), Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami), Cold Weather (Aaron Katz), Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois), Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino), El Sicario Room 164 (Gianfranco Rosi) [2011] Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn), Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols), Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)
2012
- This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, 2011, 1)
- Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2)
- The Turin Horse (Tarr Béla and Hranitzky Ágnes, 2011, 2)
- Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 3)
- The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 4)
- Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 5)
- Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011, 5)
- Kill List (Ben Wheatley, 2011, 7)
- It's the Earth Not the Moon (Gonçalo Tocha, 2011, 8)
- Neighboring Sounds (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 9)
- Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010, 9)
- The Kid With a Bike (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2011, 10)
- Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 10)
Special Mentions: [2011] 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara), The Color Wheel (Alex Ross Perry), Two Years at Sea (Ben Rivers) [2012] Barbara (Christian Petzold), Bestiaire (Denis Côté), Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg), In Another Country (Hong Sang-soo), Room 237 (Rodney Ascher)
2013
- Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel, 2012, 1)
- A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, 3)
- Viola (Matías Piñeiro, 2012, 6)
- The Last Time I Saw Macao (João Pedro Rodrigues & João Rui Guerra da Mata, 2012, 7)
- Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen, 7)
- The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 9)
- Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski, 10)
Special Mentions: [2011] Hors Satan (Bruno Dumont)
2014
- Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, 2013, 1)
- Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2)
- Norte, the End of History (Lav Diaz, 2013, 2)
- What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto, 2013, 4)
- The Strange Little Cat (Ramon Zürcher, 2013, 5)
- Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 6)
- Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang, 2013, 6)
- Story of My Death (Albert Serra, 2013, 8)
- Maidan (Sergei Loznitsa, 8)
Special Mentions: [2013] Manakamana (Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez), The Missing Picture (Panh Rithy), Jealousy (Philippe Garrel) [2014] Boyhood (Richard Linklater), Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund), Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
2015
- Horse Money (Pedro Costa, 2014, 1)
- Arabian Nights (Miguel Gomes, 2)
- The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 3)
- Li'l Quinquin (Bruno Dumont, 2014, 3)
- Jauja (Lisandro Alonso, 2014, 4)
- The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson, 4)
- Phoenix (Christian Petzold, 2014, 5)
- The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid, 2014, 7)
Special Mentions: [2014] Amour fou (Jessica Hausner) [2015] Carol (Todd Haynes)
2016
- Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2015, 1)
- Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 1)
- Elle (Paul Verhoeven, 4)
- Right Now, Wrong Then (Hong Sang-soo, 2015, 5)
- Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, 6)
- Lost and Beautiful (Pietro Marcello, 2015, 7)
- No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman, 2015, 8)
- The Treasure (Corneliu Porumboiu, 2015, 9)
- Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 9)
- Silence (Martin Scorsese, 10)
- Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, 2015, 10)
Special Mentions: [2015] Chevalier (Athina Rachel Tsangari), In the Shadow of Women (Philippe Garrel) [2016] Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson), Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
2017
- Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, 2016, 3)
- On the Beach at Night Alone (Hong Sang-soo, 4)
- Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 5)
- The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra, 2016, 5)
- Good Time (Josh & Benny Safdie, 6)
- The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams, 2016, 8)
Special Mentions: [2016] Hermia and Helena (Matías Piñeiro), The Ornithologist (João Pedro Rodrigues) [2017] Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Frederick Wiseman), Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
2018
- Western (Valeska Grisebach, 2017, 2)
- Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017, 3)
- Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher, 7)
- Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Bruno Dumont, 2017, 8)
- Burning (Lee Chang-dong, 8)
- The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, 9)
- First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2017, 9)
- PROTOTYPE (Blake Williams, 2017, 10)
Special Mentions: [2016] All the Cities of the North (Dane Komljen) [2017] The Day After (Hong Sang-soo), Good Luck (Ben Russell), Araby (João Dumans & Affonso Uchôa)
2019
- An Elephant Sitting Still (Hu Bo, 2018, 1)
- The Image Book (Jean-Luc Godard, 2018, 2)
- La Flor (Mariano Llinás, 2018, 3)
- Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018, 4)
- Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie, 4)
- What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire? (Roberto Minervini, 2018, 5)
- Long Day's Journey Into Night (Bi Gan, 2018, 6)
- Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 7)
- Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 8)
- Synonyms (Nadav Lapid, 9)
- The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 10)
- High Life (Claire Denis, 2018, 10)
Special Mentions: [2018] Asako I & II (Ryusuke Hamaguchi), Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke), In My Room (Ulrich Köhler)
2020
- I Was at Home, But... (Angela Schanelec, 2019, 1)
- Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa, 2019, 2)
- Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello, 2019, 3)
- Liberté (Albert Serra, 2019, 5)
- Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen, 2020, 5)
- Heimat Is a Space in Time (Thomas Heise, 2019, 6)
- City Hall (Frederick Wiseman, 2020, 9)
Special Mentions: [2018] The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack), [2019] The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio), Zombi Child (Bertrand Bonello)
2021
- What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze, 2021, 1)
- Days (Tsai Ming-liang, 2020, 1)
- Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021, 2)
- The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (C.W. Winter & Anders Eström, 2020, 2)
- Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, 2021, 3)
- France (Bruno Dumont, 2021, 4)
- The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020, 6)
- Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, 2021, 6)
- Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu, 2020, 7)
- Annette (Leos Carax, 2021, 7)
- Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven, 2021, 8)
- The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg, 2021, 10)
Special Mentions: [2019] Just Don't Think I'll Scream (Frank Beauvais), State Funeral (Sergei Loznitsa), [2021] The Card Counter (Paul Schrader), Petite maman (Céline Sciamma), The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)
2022
- In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo, 2021, 5)
- The Tsugua Diaries (Maureen Fazendeiro & Miguel Gomes, 2021, 9)
Special Mentions: [2021] The Girl and the Spider (Ramon & Silvan Zürcher, A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Ineligible:
The Sun (2005, Alexander Sokurov)
Homecoming (2005, Joe Dante)
Secret Sunshine (2007, Lee Chang-dong)
Go Go Tales (2007, Abel Ferrara)
RR (2008, James Benning)
Itineraire de Jean Bricard (2008, Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet)
Winter Vacation (2010, Li Hongqi)
I Wish I Knew (2010, Jia Zhangke)
Curling (2010, Denis Côté)
Dreileben (2011, Christian Petzold and Dominik Graf and Christoph Hochhäusler)
Sleeping Sickness (2011, Ulrich Köhler)
Policeman (2011, Nadav Lapid)
Target (2011, Alexander Zeldovich)
differently, Molussia (2012, Nicolas Rey)
Les trois désastres (2013, Jean-Luc Godard)
Redemption (2013, Miguel Gomes)
Journey to the West (2014, Tsai Ming-liang)
From What Is Before (2014, Lav Diaz)
Episode of the Sea (2014, Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Hann)
Visit, or Memories and Confessions (2015, Manoel de Oliveira)
88:88 (2015, Isiah Medina)
Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton (2015, Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson)
Sieranevada (2016, Cristi Puiu)
The Dreamed Path (2016, Angela Schanelec)
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017, David Lynch)
Streetscapes [Dialogue] (2017, Heinz Emigholz)
L. COHEN (2018, James Benning)
Present.Perfect. (2019, Zhu Shengze)
The Year of the Discovery (2020, Luis López Carrasco)
The Last City (2020, Heinz Emigholz)
DAU. Degeneration (2020, Ilya Khrzhanovsky)
Fauna (2020, Nicolás Pereda)
