This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media. Since 1948, selected films have been awarded with the BAFTA award for Best Film at an annual ceremony.

Evolution of the awards[link]

BAFTA has changed the titles and organization of its categories for Best Film several times since 1948. Until 1968, two Best Film awards were given each year: Best British Film and Best Film from any Source (for non-British films). It was possible for British films to be nominated in both categories and, occasionally, to win both awards. Beginning in 1969, these awards were replaced with the single 'Best Film' award, and British films were no longer distinguished.

In 1985, BAFTA began to separate English language films from films in other languages, creating the award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1988, its title was changed to Best Film not in the English Language. As before, it is possible for foreign language films to be simultaneously nominated for Best Film; however, to date, no film has won both categories: while a few foreign language films have won Best Film since 1985, they have always failed to win Best Foreign Language Film as well.

In 1993, an award for Best British Film was restored with the creation of the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, named after the important British film director.

There has been one tie for the Best Film award when, in 1962, Ballad of a Soldier tied with The Hustler for Best Film from any Source.

Until 1981, the award was given to the director.^[1] From 1981 to 1985, it was given solely to the producers, and then in 1986 it was shared between the Director and Producer. In 1998, it was once again given to only the producers.

In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a dark grey background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the nominees. The winner is also the first name listed in each category, except in 1962 and 1995 where there were ties for Best Film from any Source and Best Film, respectively. The years given are those in which the films under consideration were released, not the year of the ceremony, which always takes place the following year.

1940s[link]

1950s[link]

1960s[link]

1970s[link]

1980s[link]