The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture is an annual award given by National Society of Film Critics to honor the best film of the year.
Since it was established in 1966, the Society has only agreed with the Academy Award for Best Picture nine times: Annie Hall (1977), Unforgiven (1992), Schindler's List (1993), Million Dollar Baby (2004), The Hurt Locker (2009), Spotlight (2015), Moonlight (2016), Parasite (2019), and Nomadland (2020).
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Blow-Up[1] | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| 1967 | Persona | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1968 | Shame (Skammen) | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1969 | Z | Costa-Gavras |
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | M*A*S*H | Robert Altman |
| 1971 | Claire's Knee (Le genou de Claire) | Éric Rohmer |
| 1972 | The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie) | Luis Buñuel |
| 1973 | Day for Night (La nuit américaine) | François Truffaut |
| 1974 | Scenes from a Marriage (Scener ur ett äktenskap) | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1975 | Nashville | Robert Altman |
| 1976 | All the President's Men | Alan J. Pakula |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Woody Allen |
| 1978 | Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Préparez vos mouchoirs) | Bertrand Blier |
| 1979 | Breaking Away | Peter Yates |
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Melvin and Howard | Jonathan Demme |
| 1981 | Atlantic City | Louis Malle |
| 1982 | Tootsie | Sydney Pollack |
| 1983 | The Night of the Shooting Stars (La notte di San Lorenzo) | Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani |
| 1984 | Stranger Than Paradise | Jim Jarmusch |
| 1985 | Ran | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1986 | Blue Velvet | David Lynch |
| 1987 | The Dead | John Huston |
| 1988 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Philip Kaufman |
| 1989 | Drugstore Cowboy | Gus Van Sant |
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Goodfellas | Martin Scorsese |
| 1991 | Life Is Sweet | Mike Leigh |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Clint Eastwood |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | Steven Spielberg |
| 1994 | Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino |
| 1995 | Babe | Chris Noonan |
| 1996 | Breaking the Waves | Lars von Trier |
| 1997 | L.A. Confidential | Curtis Hanson |
| 1998 | Out of Sight | Steven Soderbergh |
| 1999 | Being John Malkovich | Spike Jonze |
| Topsy-Turvy | Mike Leigh |
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Yi Yi | Edward Yang |
| 2001 | Mulholland Drive | David Lynch |
| 2002 | The Pianist | Roman Polanski |
| 2003 | American Splendor | Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Clint Eastwood |
| 2005 | Capote | Bennett Miller |
| 2006 | Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) | Guillermo del Toro |
| 2007 | There Will Be Blood | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 2008 | Waltz with Bashir (Vals im Bashir) | Ari Folman |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Kathryn Bigelow |
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Social Network | David Fincher |
| 2011 | Melancholia | Lars von Trier |
| 2012 | Amour | Michael Haneke |
| 2013 | Inside Llewyn Davis | Joel Coen and Ethan Coen |
| 2014 | Goodbye to Language (Adieu au Langage)[2] | Jean-Luc Godard |
| 2015 | Spotlight[3] | Tom McCarthy |
| 2016 | Moonlight[4] | Barry Jenkins |
| 2017 | Lady Bird[5] | Greta Gerwig |
| 2018 | The Rider[6] | Chloé Zhao |
| 2019 | Parasite (Gisaengchung)[7] | Bong Joon-ho |
| Year | Winner | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Nomadland[8] | Chloé Zhao |
| 2021 | Drive My Car[9] | Ryusuke Hamaguchi |
| 2022 | TÁR[10] | Todd Field |
| 2023 | Past Lives[11] | Celine Song |
