Directors Guild Awards (updated April 2021)
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
1991: Barbara Kopple, American Dream
1992: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, Brother’s Keeper
1993: Terry Zwigoff, Crumb
1994: Steve James, Hoop Dreams
1995: Award not given
1996: Al Pacino, Looking for Richard
1997: Michael Uys and Lexy
2005: Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man
2006: Arunas Matelis, Before Flying Back to Earth
2007: Asger Leth, Ghosts of Cité Soleil
2008: Ari Folman, Waltz with Bashir
2009: Louie Psihoyos, The Cove
2010: Charles Ferguson, Inside Job
2011: James Marsh, Project Nim
2012: Malik Bendjelloul – Searching for Sugar Man
2013: Jehane Noujaim, The Square
2014: Laura Poitras, Citizenfour
2015: Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land
2016: Ezra Edelman, O.J.: Made in America
2017: Matthew Heineman, City of Ghosts
2018: Tim Wardle, Three Identical Strangers
2019: Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, American Factory
2020:
Lifetime Achievement Award
(formerly the D.W. Griffith Lifetime Achievement Award)
1953: Cecil B. DeMille
1954: John Ford
1955: No award
1956: Henry King
1957: King Vidor
1958: No award
1959: Frank Capra
1960: George Stevens
1961: Frank Borzage
1962 – 1965: No award
1966: William Wyler
1967: No award
1968: Alfred Hitchcock
1969: No award
1970: Fred Zinnemann
1971 – 1972: No award
1973: William A. Wellman and David Lean
1974 – 1980: No award
1981: George Cukor
1982: Rouben Mamoulian
1983: John Huston
1984: Orson Welles
1985: Billy Wilder
1986: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1987: Elia Kazan
1988: Robert Wise
1989: No award
1990: Ingmar Bergman
1991: No award
1992: Akira Kurosawa
1993: Sidney Lumet
1994: Robert Altman
1995: James Ivory
1996: Woody Allen
1997: Stanley Kubrick
1998: Francis Coppola
1999: No award
2000: Steven Spielberg
2001: No award
2002: Martin Scorsese
2003: No award
2004: Mike Nichols
2005: No award
2006: Clint Eastwood
2007 – 2009: No award
2010: Norman Jewison
2011: No award
2012: Miloš Forman
