BAFTA Award for Best Direction

The BAFTA Award for Best Direction, formerly known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction, is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a film director for a specific film.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media. Since 1968, selected films have been awarded with the BAFTA award for Best Direction at an annual ceremony.

In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a gold background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the remaining nominees. The winner is also the first name listed in each category.

History
The award was originally known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction, in honour of British director David Lean.

There are no records showing any nominations, or a winner, for this award at the 39th British Academy Film Awards, presented in 1986 for films released in 1985.

Winners and nominees
{{legend|#FAEB86|indicates the winner}}

Multiple wins

 * 2 wins
 * Woody Allen
 * Joel Coen
 * Alfonso Cuarón
 * Ang Lee
 * Louis Malle
 * Alan Parker
 * Roman Polanski
 * John Schlesinger
 * Peter Weir

Multiple nominations

 * Martin Scorsese – 10 nominations
 * Steven Spielberg – 6 nominations
 * Richard Attenborough – 5 nominations
 * Alan Parker – 5 nominations
 * Woody Allen – 4 nominations
 * Robert Altman – 4 nominations
 * James Ivory – 4 nominations
 * Ang Lee – 4 nominations
 * Quentin Tarantino – 4 nominations
 * Stephen Daldry – 3 nominations
 * Paul Greengrass – 3 nominations
 * Alejandro González Iñárritu – 3 nominations
 * Peter Jackson – 3 nominations
 * Neil Jordan – 3 nominations
 * Sidney Lumet – 3 nominations
 * Louis Malle – 3 nominations
 * Anthony Minghella – 3 nominations
 * Christopher Nolan – 3 nominations
 * John Schlesinger – 3 nominations
 * Ridley Scott – 3 nominations
 * Peter Weir – 3 nominations
 * Paul Thomas Anderson – 2 nominations
 * Kathryn Bigelow – 2 nominations
 * Danny Boyle – 2 nominations
 * James Cameron – 2 nominations
 * Jane Campion – 2 nominations
 * Damien Chazelle – 2 nominations
 * Joel Coen – 2 nominations
 * Bradley Cooper – 2 nominations
 * Francis Ford Coppola – 2 nominations
 * Alfonso Cuarón – 2 nominations
 * Clint Eastwood – 2 nominations
 * David Fincher – 2 nominations
 * Miloš Forman – 2 nominations
 * Bill Forsyth – 2 nominations
 * Stephen Frears – 2 nominations
 * Ron Howard – 2 nominations
 * Roland Joffé – 2 nominations
 * Stanley Kubrick – 2 nominations
 * Mike Leigh – 2 nominations
 * Ken Loach – 2 nominations
 * Baz Luhrmann – 2 nominations
 * Martin McDonagh – 2 nominations
 * Sam Mendes – 2 nominations
 * Roman Polanski – 2 nominations
 * Steven Soderbergh – 2 nominations
 * Denis Villeneuve – 2 nominations
 * Peter Yates – 2 nominations
 * Fred Zinnemann – 2 nominations