| German Film Award for Best Director | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Excellence in Cinematic Direction |
| Country | Germany |
| Presented by | Deutsche Filmakademie |
| First award | Josef von Báky Two Times Lotte (1951) |
| Currently held by | Tim Fehlbaum September 5 (2025) |
| Website | deutscher-filmpreis |
The German Film Award for Best Director recognizes a film director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the German film industry.
The following individuals received two or more Best Director awards:
| Wins | Director |
|---|---|
| 4 | Bernhard Wicki |
| 3 | Andreas Dresen |
| Volker Schlöndorff | |
| Werner Schroeter | |
| Wim Wenders | |
| 2 | Fatih Akin |
| Helmut Dietl | |
| Rainer Werner Fassbinder | |
| Helmut Käutner | |
| Peter Lilienthal | |
| Johannes Schaaf | |
| Tom Tykwer | |
The following individuals received three or more Best Director nominations:
| Nominations | Director |
|---|---|
| 7 | Andreas Dresen |
| 6 | Tom Tykwer |
| 5 | Dominik Graf |
| Christian Petzold | |
| Wim Wenders | |
| 4 | Fatih Akin |
| Volker Schlöndorff | |
| Bernhard Wicki | |
| Year | Winners and nominees | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Sönke Wortmann | Maybe… Maybe Not | Der bewegte Mann |
| Doris Dörrie | Nobody Loves Me | Keiner liebt mich | |
| Dominik Graf | The Invincibles | Die Sieger | |
| 1996 | Romuald Karmakar | Deathmaker | Der Totmacher |
| Rainer Kaufmann | Talk of the Town | Stadtgespräch | |
| Dani Levy | Silent Night | Stille Nacht | |
| 1997 | Helmut Dietl | Rossini | Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief |
| Caroline Link | Beyond Silence | Jenseits der Stille | |
| Roland Suso Richter | 14 Days to Life | 14 Tage lebenslänglich | |
| 1998 | Wim Wenders | The End of Violence | Am Ende der Gewalt |
| Tom Tykwer | Winter Sleepers | Winterschläfer | |
| Joseph Vilsmaier | The Harmonists | Comedian Harmonists | |
| 1999 | Tom Tykwer | Run Lola Run | Lola rennt |
| Fatih Akın | Short Sharp Shock | Kurz und schmerzlos | |
| Andreas Dresen | Nightshapes | Nachtgestalten | |
| Year | Winners and nominees | English title |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Nora Fingscheidt | System Crasher |
| İlker Çatak | I Was, I Am, I Will Be | |
| Burhan Qurbani | Berlin Alexanderplatz | |
| 2021 | Maria Schrader | I'm Your Man |
| Dominik Graf | Fabian: Going to the Dogs | |
| Maria Speth | Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse | |
| 2022 | Andreas Kleinert | Dear Thomas |
| Andreas Dresen | Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush | |
| Sebastian Meise | Great Freedom | |
| 2023 | İlker Çatak | The Teachers' Lounge |
| Ali Abbasi | Holy Spider | |
| Edward Berger | All Quiet on the Western Front | |
| Sonja Heiss | Wann wird es endlich wieder so, wie es nie war | |
| 2024 | Ayşe Polat | In the Blind Spot |
| Matthias Glasner | Dying | |
| Timm Kröger | The Universal Theory | |