BAFTA Award for Best Film by British Academy of Film and Television Arts
"The BAFTA Award for Best Film is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. It has been given since the 1st BAFTA Awards, representing the best films of 1947, but until 1969 it was called the BAFTA Award for Best Film From Any Source."
All winners from 1947 through 2021.
Last updated: May 3rd, 2022
Weight: 70
Detractions
- Voted on by industry employee(s) (-20)
- Limited to ~75 years or less (-10)
Films (76)
1. The Power of the Dog
Directed by Jane Campion | Rated R | 126 min | 2021
Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
2. Nomadland
Directed by Chloé Zhao | Rated R | 107 min | 2020
After losing everything in the Great Recession, a woman embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
3. 1917
Directed by Sam Mendes | Rated R | 119 min | 2019
April 6th, 1917. As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
4. Roma
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón | Rated R | 135 min | 2018
A year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Directed by Martin McDonagh | Rated R | 115 min | 2017
A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
6. La La Land
Directed by Damien Chazelle | Rated PG-13 | 128 min | 2016
A jazz pianist falls for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles.
7. The Revenant
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Rated R | 156 min | 2015
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
8. Boyhood
Directed by Richard Linklater | Rated R | 165 min | 2014
The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
9. 12 Years a Slave
Directed by Steve McQueen | Rated R | 134 min | 2013
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
10. Argo
Directed by Ben Affleck | Rated R | 120 min | 2012
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.
11. The Artist
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius | Rated PG-13 | 100 min | 2011
A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.
12. The King's Speech
Directed by Tom Hooper | Rated R | 118 min | 2010
The story of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.
13. Slumdog Millionaire
Directed by Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan | Rated R | 120 min | 2008
A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
14. The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow | Rated R | 131 min | 2008
During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
15. Atonement
Directed by Joe Wright | Rated R | 123 min | 2007
Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a thirteen-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
16. The Queen
Directed by Stephen Frears | Rated PG-13 | 103 min | 2006
After the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.
17. Brokeback Mountain
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated R | 134 min | 2005
The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys, and their lives over the years.
18. The Aviator
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated PG-13 | 170 min | 2004
A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.
19. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Directed by Peter Jackson | Rated PG-13 | 201 min | 2003
Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
20. The Pianist
Directed by Roman Polanski | Rated R | 150 min | 2002
A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.
21. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Directed by Peter Jackson | Rated PG-13 | 178 min | 2001
A meek Hobbit and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the One Ring and the Dark Lord Sauron.
22. Gladiator
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 155 min | 2000
When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.
23. American Beauty
Directed by Sam Mendes | Rated R | 122 min | 1999
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
24. Shakespeare in Love
Directed by John Madden | Rated R | 123 min | 1998
A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
25. The Full Monty
Directed by Peter Cattaneo | Rated R | 91 min | 1997
Six unemployed steel workers form a male striptease act. The women cheer them on to go for "the full monty" - total nudity.
26. The English Patient
Directed by Anthony Minghella | Rated R | 162 min | 1996
At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
27. Sense and Sensibility
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated PG | 136 min | 1995
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the titular opposites.
28. Four Weddings and a Funeral
Directed by Mike Newell | Rated R | 117 min | 1994
Over the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.
29. Schindler's List
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated R | 195 min | 1993
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.
30. Howards End
Directed by James Ivory | Rated PG | 140 min | 1992
A businessman thwarts his wife's bequest of an estate to another woman.
31. The Commitments
Directed by Alan Parker | Rated R | 118 min | 1991
When Jimmy Rabbitte wants to start a band, he has open auditions at his house.
32. Goodfellas
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 146 min | 1990
Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy.
33. Dead Poets Society
Directed by Peter Weir | Rated PG | 128 min | 1989
English teacher John Keating inspires his students to look at poetry with a different perspective of authentic knowledge and feelings.
34. The Last Emperor
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci | Rated PG-13 | 163 min | 1987
The story of the final Emperor of China.
35. Jean de Florette
Directed by Claude Berri | Rated PG | 120 min | 1986
A greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.
36. The Purple Rose of Cairo
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated PG | 82 min | 1985
In New Jersey in 1935, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.
37. A Room with a View
Directed by James Ivory | 117 min | 1985
When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting...
38. The Killing Fields
Directed by Roland Joffé | Rated R | 141 min | 1984
A journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody "Year Zero" cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million "undesirable" civilians.
39. Educating Rita
Directed by Lewis Gilbert | Rated PG | 110 min | 1983
A young wife decides to complete her education and take her exams. She meets a professor who teaches her to value her own insights while still being able to beat the exams. The change in ...
40. Gandhi
Directed by Richard Attenborough | Rated PG | 191 min | 1982
Gandhi's character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent. And the stubborn nature of Jinnah and his commitment towards Pakistan is portrayed.
41. Chariots of Fire
Directed by Hugh Hudson | Rated PG | 125 min | 1981
Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, compete in the 1924 Olympics.
42. The Elephant Man
Directed by David Lynch | Rated PG | 124 min | 1980
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous facade, there is revealed a person of intelligence and sensitivity.
43. Manhattan
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated R | 96 min | 1979
The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
44. Annie Hall
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated PG | 93 min | 1977
Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall.
45. Julia
Directed by Fred Zinnemann | Rated PG | 117 min | 1977
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
46. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Directed by Milos Forman | Rated R | 133 min | 1975
A criminal pleads insanity after getting into trouble again and once in the mental institution rebels against the oppressive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.
47. Lacombe, Lucien
Directed by Louis Malle | Rated R | 138 min | 1974
A small town in the south-west of France, summer of 1944. Having failed to join the resistance, the 18 year old Lucien Lacombe, whose father is a prisoner in Germany and whose mother dates ...
48. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated PG | 112 min | 1974
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
49. Day for Night
Directed by François Truffaut | Rated PG | 115 min | 1973
A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.
51. Sunday Bloody Sunday
Directed by John Schlesinger | Rated R | 110 min | 1971
Divorced working woman Alex and well-to-do Jewish family doctor Daniel Hirsh share not only the same answering service but also the favours of young Bob Elkin who bed-hops between them as ...
52. Midnight Cowboy
Directed by John Schlesinger | Rated X | 113 min | 1969
A naive hustler goes to New York to seek personal fortune but in the process finds himself a new friend.
53. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Directed by George Roy Hill | Rated M | 110 min | 1969
Two Western bank/train robbers flee to Bolivia when the law gets too close.
54. The Graduate
Directed by Mike Nichols | 106 min | 1967
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
55. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Directed by Mike Nichols | Rated TV-MA | 131 min | 1966
A bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use a young couple to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other.
56. A Man for All Seasons
Directed by Fred Zinnemann | 120 min | 1966
The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage.
57. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated PG | 95 min | 1964
An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.
58. My Fair Lady
Directed by George Cukor | 170 min | 1964
A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
59. Tom Jones
Directed by Tony Richardson | 128 min | 1963
In eighteenth century England, "first cousins" Tom Jones and Master Blifil grew up together in privilege in the western countryside, but could not be more different in nature. Tom, the ...
60. Lawrence of Arabia
Directed by David Lean | Rated PG | 216 min | 1962
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
61. The Hustler
Directed by Robert Rossen | 134 min | 1961
An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.
62. The Apartment
Directed by Billy Wilder | 125 min | 1960
A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
63. Room at the Top
Directed by Jack Clayton | Rated N/A | 115 min | 1959
An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.
64. Ben-Hur
Directed by William Wyler | Rated G | 212 min | 1959
When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
65. Ballad of a Soldier
Directed by Grigoriy Chukhray | 88 min | 1959
Young Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.
66. The Bridge on the River Kwai
Directed by David Lean | Rated PG | 161 min | 1957
After settling his differences with a Japanese PoW camp commander, a British colonel co-operates to oversee his men's construction of a railway bridge for their captors - while oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.
67. Gervaise
Directed by René Clément | Rated N/A | 116 min | 1956
Gervaise Macquart, a young lame laundress, is left by her lover Auguste Lantier with two boys... She manages to make it, and a few years later she marries Coupeau, a roofer. After working ...
68. Richard III
Directed by Laurence Olivier | 161 min | 1955
Shakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed king and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.
69. The Wages of Fear
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot | 131 min | 1953
In a decrepit South American village, men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
70. Breaking the Sound Barrier
Directed by David Lean | Rated N/A | 109 min | 1952
Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.
71. Forbidden Games
Directed by René Clément | 86 min | 1952
A young French girl orphaned in a Nazi air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
72. All About Eve
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 138 min | 1950
An ingenue insinuates herself into the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.
73. La Ronde
Directed by Max Ophüls | 97 min | 1950
An all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier meets an eager young lady of the evening. Later he has an affair with a young lady, who becomes ...
74. Hamlet
Directed by Laurence Olivier | 155 min | 1948
Prince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
75. Bicycle Thieves
Directed by Vittorio De Sica | 89 min | 1948
Set in Post-WWII Italy, a working class man's bicycle is stolen. He and his son set out to find it.
76. The Best Years of Our Lives
Directed by William Wyler | 172 min | 1946
Three World War II veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.