The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 12 occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1960, 1962–64, 1971, 1973–74, 1977, and 1980). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the
May 1968 events in France. Also, the jury vote was tied, and the prize was shared by two directors on seven occasions (1955, 1969, 1975, 1983, 2001–02, and 2016). Joel Coen of the
Coen brothers has received the most awards in this category, with three. One directing team has shared the award:
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for
Young Ahmed (2019).
Yuliya Solntseva became the first woman to win the award, for
Chronicle of Flaming Years (1961). The winner of the Best Director Award rarely wins the
Palme d'Or, the main prize given at the festival, which is also awarded to the director of the winning film. This happened only twice: Joel Coen won both awards for
Barton Fink in 1991; and
Gus Van Sant won for
Elephant in 2003. ==Winners==