Last Updated on 3 March 2025
1927-present: Wikipedia
Recognizes artistic and technical excellence in the shooting and developing the film
| Year | Movie | Cinematographers |
| 2024 | The Brutalist | Lol Crawley |
| 2023 | Oppenheimer | Hoyte van Hoytema |
| 2022 | All Quiet on the Western Front | James Friend |
| 2021 | Dune | Greig Fraser |
| 2020 | Mank | Erik Messerschmidt |
| 2019 | 1917 | Roger Deakins |
| 2018 | Roma | Alfonso Cuarón |
| 2017 | Blade Runner 2049 | Roger Deakins |
| 2016 | La La Land | Linus Sandgren |
| 2015 | The Revenant | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| 2014 | Birdman | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| 2013 | Gravity | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| 2012 | Life of Pi | Claudio Miranda |
| 2011 | Hugo | Robert Richardson |
| 2010 | Inception | Wally Pfister |
| 2009 | Avatar | Mauro Fiore |
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | Anthony Dod Mantle |
| 2007 | There Will Be Blood | Robert Elswit |
| 2006 | Pan’s Labyrinth | Guillermo Navarro |
| 2005 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Dion Beebe |
| 2004 | The Aviator | Robert Richardson |
| 2003 | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | Russell Boyd |
| 2002 | Road to Perdition | Conrad Hall |
| 2001 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Andrew Lesnie |
| 2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Peter Pau |
| 1999 | American Beauty | Conrad Hall |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Janusz Kamiński |
| 1997 | Titanic | Russell Carpenter |
| 1996 | The English Patient | John Seale |
| 1995 | Braveheart | John Toll |
| 1994 | Legends of the Fall | John Toll |
| 1993 | Schindler’s List | Janusz Kamiński |
| 1992 | A River Runs Through It | Philippe Rousselot |
| 1991 | JFK | Robert Richardson |
| 1990 | Dances with Wolves | Dean Semler |
| 1989 | Glory | Freddie Francis |
| 1988 | Mississippi Burning | Peter Biziou |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor | Vittorio Storaro |
| 1986 | The Mission | Chris Menges |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | David Watkin |
| 1984 | The Killing Fields | Chris Menges |
| 1983 | Fanny and Alexander | Sven Nykvist |
| 1982 | Gandhi | Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor |
| 1981 | Reds | Vittorio Storaro |
| 1980 | Tess | Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet |
| 1979 | Apocalypse Now | Vittorio Storaro |
| 1978 | Days of Heaven | Néstor Almendros |
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Vilmos Zsigmond |
| 1976 | Bound for Glory | Haskell Wexler |
| 1975 | Barry Lyndon | John Alcott |
| 1974 | The Towering Inferno | Fred J. Koenekamp and Joseph F. Biroc |
| 1973 | Cries and Whispers | Sven Nykvist |
| 1972 | Cabaret | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| 1971 | Fiddler on the Roof | Oswald Morris |
| 1970 | Ryan’s Daughter | Freddie Young |
| 1969 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Conrad Hall |
| 1968 | Romeo and Juliet | Pasqualino De Santis |
| 1967 | Bonnie and Clyde | Burnett Guffey |
| 1966 Color | A Man for All Seasons | Ted Moore |
| 1966 B&W | Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Haskell Wexler |
| 1965 Color | Doctor Zhivago | Freddie Young |
| 1965 B&W | Ship of Fools | Ernest Laszlo |
| 1964 Color | My Fair Lady | Harry Stradling |
| 1964 B&W | Zorba the Greek | Walter Lassally |
| 1963 Color | Cleopatra | Leon Shamroy |
| 1963 B&W | Hud | James Wong Howe |
| 1962 Color | Lawrence of Arabia | Freddie Young |
| 1962 B&W | The Longest Day | Jean Bourgoin and Walter Wottitz |
| 1961 Color | West Side Story | Daniel L. Fapp |
| 1961 B&W | The Hustler | Eugen Schüfftan |
| 1960 Color | Spartacus | Russell Metty |
| 1960 B&W | Sons and Lovers | Freddie Francis |
| 1959 Color | Ben-Hur | Robert Surtees |
| 1959 B&W | The Diary of Anne Frank | William C. Mellor |
| 1958 Color | Gigi | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| 1958 B&W | The Defiant Ones | Sam Leavitt |
| 1957 Color | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Jack Hildyard |
| 1957 B&W | NO AWARD GIVEN | |
| 1956 Color | Around the World in 80 Days | Lionel Lindon |
| 1956 B&W | Somebody Up There Likes Me | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| 1955 Color | To Catch a Thief | Robert Burks |
| 1955 B&W | The Rose Tattoo | James Wong Howe |
| 1954 Color | Three Coins in the Fountain | Milton R. Krasner |
| 1954 B&W | On the Waterfront | Boris Kaufman |
| 1953 Color | Shane | Loyal Griggs |
| 1953 B&W | From Here to Eternity | Burnett Guffey |
| 1952 Color | The Quiet Man | Winton Hoch and Archie Stout |
| 1952 B&W | The Bad and the Beautiful | Robert Surtees |
| 1951 Color | An American in Paris | Alfred Gilks and John Alton |
| 1951 B&W | A Place in the Sun | William C. Mellor |
| 1950 Color | King Solomon’s Mines | Robert Surtees |
| 1950 B&W | The Third Man | Robert Krasker |
| 1949 Color | She Wore a Yellow Ribbon | Winton Hoch |
| 1949 B&W | Battleground | Paul C. Vogel |
| 1948 Color | Joan of Arc | Joseph A. Valentine, William V. Skall, and Winton Hoch |
| 1948 B&W | The Naked City | William H. Daniels |
| 1947 Color | Black Narcissus | Jack Cardiff |
| 1947 B&W | Great Expectations | Guy Green |
| 1946 Color | The Yearling | Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith, and Arthur E. Arling |
| 1946 B&W | Anna and the King of Siam | Arthur C. Miller |
| 1945 Color | Leave Her to Heaven | Leon Shamroy |
| 1945 B&W | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Harry Stradling |
| 1944 Color | Wilson | Leon Shamroy |
| 1944 B&W | Laura | Joseph LaShelle |
| 1943 Color | Phantom of the Opera | Hal Mohr and W. Howard Greene |
| 1943 B&W | The Song of Bernadette | Arthur C. Miller |
| 1942 Color | The Black Swan | Leon Shamroy |
| 1942 B&W | Mrs. Miniver | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| 1941 Color | Blood and Sand | Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan |
| 1941 B&W | How Green Was My Valley | Arthur C. Miller |
| 1940 Color | The Thief of Bagdad | Georges Périnal |
| 1940 B&W | Rebecca | George Barnes |
| 1939 Color | Gone with the Wind | Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan |
| 1939 B&W | Wuthering Heights | Gregg Toland |
| 1938 Color | Sweethearts | Oliver Marsh and Allen Davey |
| 1938 B&W | The Great Waltz | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| 1937 Color | A Star Is Born | W. Howard Greene |
| 1937 B&W | The Good Earth | Karl Freund |
| 1936 Color | The Garden of Allah | W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson |
| 1936 B&W | Anthony Adverse | Tony Gaudio |
| 1935 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Hal Mohr |
| 1934 | Cleopatra | Victor Milner |
| 1932/33 | A Farewell to Arms | Charles Lang |
| 1931/32 | Shanghai Express | Lee Garmes |
| 1930/31 | Tabu: A Story of the South Seas | Floyd Crosby |
| 1929/30 | With Byrd at the South Pole | Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van der Veer |
| 1928/29 | White Shadows in the South Seas | Clyde De Vinna |
| 1927/28 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | Charles Rosher and Karl Struss |
