Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director

Steven Spielberg holds the record for most wins: 6 (1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1985 The Color Purple, 1987 Empire of the Sun, 1993 Schindler's List, 1998 Saving Private Ryan and 2005 Munich). Peter Jackson won an award for each and every film of The Lord of the Rings-trilogy.

Winners

1960s

• '''1966: Federico Fellini

for directing Giulietta degli spiriti (Juliet of the Spirits)

• '''1967: Michelangelo Antonioni

for directing Blowup

• '''1968: Stanley Kubrick

for directing 2001: A Space Odyssey

• '''1969: John Schlesinger

for directing Midnight Cowboy

1970s

• '''1970: Robert Altman

for directing M*A*S*H

• '''1971: Sam Peckinpah

for directing Straw Dogs

• '''1972: Francis Ford Coppola

for directing The Godfather

• '''1973: Ingmar Bergman

for directing Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers)

• '''1974: Francis Ford Coppola

for directing The Conversation and

for directing The Godfather Part II

• '''1975: Robert Altman

for directing Nashville

• '''1976: Miloš Forman

for directing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• '''1977: Woody Allen

for directing Annie Hall

• '''1978: Woody Allen

for directing Interiors

• '''1979: Robert Benton

for directing Kramer vs. Kramer

1980s

• '''1980: Robert Redford

for directing Ordinary People

• '''1981: Sidney Lumet

for directing Prince of the City

• '''1982: Steven Spielberg

for directing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

• '''1983: Philip Kaufman

for directing The Right Stuff

• '''1984: David Lean

for directing A Passage to India

• '''1985: Steven Spielberg

for directing The Color Purple

• '''1986: Oliver Stone

for directing Platoon and

for directing Salvador

• '''1987: Steven Spielberg

for directing Empire of the Sun

• '''1988: Barry Levinson

for directing Rain Man

• '''1989: Edward Zwick

for directing Glory

1990s

• '''1990: Martin Scorsese

for directing GoodFellas

• '''1991: Jonathan Demme

for directing The Silence of the Lambs

• '''1992: Clint Eastwood

for directing Unforgiven

• '''1993: Steven Spielberg

for directing Schindler's List

• '''1994: Quentin Tarantino

for directing Pulp Fiction

• '''1995: Ron Howard

for directing Apollo 13

• '''1996: Joel Coen

for directing Fargo

• '''1997: James Cameron

for directing Titanic

• '''1998: Steven Spielberg

for directing Saving Private Ryan

• '''1999: Sam Mendes

for directing American Beauty

2000s

• '''2000: Steven Soderbergh

for directing Traffic

• '''2001: Peter Jackson

for directing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

• '''2002: Peter Jackson

for directing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

• '''2003: Peter Jackson

for directing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

• '''2004: Martin Scorsese

for directing The Aviator

• '''2005: Steven Spielberg

for directing Munich

• '''2006: Paul Greengrass

for directing United 93

• '''2007: