| Film | Director(s) | Producer(s) | Country | 
| 2000 (54th)
 | 
| Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Ang Lee | Hsu Li Kong Bill Kong
 Ang Lee
 | Taiwan/Hong Kong/USA/ China
 | 
| Girl on the Bridge | Patrice Leconte | Christian Fechner | France | 
| Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien | Dominik Moll | Michel Saint-Jean | France | 
| In the Mood for Love | Wong Kar-wai | Wong Kar-wai | Hong Kong/France | 
| Malèna | Giuseppe Tornatore | Harvey Weinstein Carlo Bernasconi | Italy/USA | 
| 2001 (55th)
 | 
| Amores Perros | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Mexico | 
| Amélie | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Claudie Ossard | France/Germany | 
| Behind the Sun | Walter Salles | Arthur Cohn | Brazil/France/Switzerland | 
| Monsoon Wedding | Mira Nair | Caroline Baron | India/USA/France/ Italy/Germany
 | 
| The Piano Teacher | Michael Haneke | Veit Heiduschka | France/Germany/Poland/ Austria
 | 
| 2002 (56th)
 | 
| Talk to Her | Pedro Almodóvar | Agustín Almodóvar | Spain | 
| Y tu mamá también | Alfonso Cuarón | Jorge Vergara | Mexico | 
| City of God | Fernando Meirelles Kátia Lund
 | Andrea Barata Ribeiro Mauricio Andrade Ramos
 | Brazil/France/USA | 
| Devdas | Sanjay Leela Bhansali | Bharat Shah | India | 
| The Warrior | Asif Kapadia | Bertrand Faivre | UK/Germany | 
| 2003 (57th)
 | 
| In This World | Michael Winterbottom | Andrew Eaton Anita Overland
 | UK | 
| The Barbarian Invasions (Les invasions barbares) | Denys Arcand | Denise Robert Daniel Louis | Canada | 
| The Triplets of Belleville | Sylvain Chomet | Didier Brunner | France/Belgium/Canada/ UK
 | 
| To Be and To Have | Nicolas Philibert | Gilles Sandoz | France | 
| Good Bye Lenin! | Wolfgang Becker | Stefan Arndt | Germany | 
| Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki | Toshio Suzuki | Japan | 
| 2004 (58th)
 | 
| The Motorcycle Diaries | Walter Salles | Michael Nozik Edgard Tenenbaum
 Karen Tenkhoff
 | Brazil/Argentina/Peru/Chile/ UK/USA/France/
 Germany
 | 
| The Chorus | Christophe Barratier | Arthur Cohn Nicolas Mauvernay Jacques Perrin | France/Switzerland/Germany | 
| A Very Long Engagement | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Francis Boespflug | France/USA | 
| Bad Education | Pedro Almodóvar | Agustín Almodóvar | Spain | 
| House of Flying Daggers | Zhang Yimou | William Kong | China/Hong Kong | 
| 2005 (59th)
 | 
| The Beat That My Heart Skipped | Jacques Audiard | Pascal Caucheteux | France | 
| Le Grand Voyage | Ismaël Ferrouhki | Humbert Balsan | France/Morocco | 
| Joyeux Noël | Christian Carion | Christophe Rossignon | France/Germany/Belgium/ UK/Romania
 | 
| Kung Fu Hustle | Stephen Chow | Po Chu Chui Jeffrey Lau | China/Hong Kong | 
| Tsotsi | Gavin Hood | Peter Fudakowski | South Africa/UK | 
| 2006 (60th)
 | 
| Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) | Guillermo del Toro | Alfonso Cuarón Bertha Navarro
 Frida Torresblanco
 | Mexico/Spain | 
| Apocalypto | Mel Gibson | Bruce Davey | USA | 
| Black Book | Paul Verhoeven | Teun Hilte, San Fu Maltha Jens Meurer
 | Netherlands/Belgium/UK/ Germany
 | 
| Rang De Basanti | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra | Ronnie Screwvala | India | 
| Volver | Pedro Almodóvar | Agustín Almodóvar | Spain | 
| 2007 (61st)
 | 
| The Lives of Others | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann | Germany | 
| The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Julian Schnabel | Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik | France/USA | 
| The Kite Runner | Marc Forster | William Horberg, Walter Parkes, Rebecca Yeldham, E. Bennett Walsh, Laurie Macdonald | USA | 
| La Vie en Rose | Olivier Dahan | Alain Goldman | France/UK/Czech Republic | 
| Lust, Caution | Ang Lee | Ang Lee William Kong
 James Schamus
 | USA/China/Taiwan/ Hong Kong
 | 
| 2008 (62nd)
 | 
| I've Loved You So Long | Philippe Claudel | Sylvestre Guarino, Yves Marmion | France | 
| The Baader Meinhof Complex | Uli Edel | Bernd Eichinger | Germany | 
| Gomorrah | Matteo Garrone | Domenico Procacci | Italy | 
| Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud | Xavier Rigault, Marc-Antoine Robert | France/USA | 
| Waltz with Bashir | Ari Folman | Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli, Roman Paul | Israel/Germany/France/USA | 
| 2009 (63rd)
 | 
| A Prophet | Jacques Audiard | Pascal Caucheteux, Marco Cherqui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard | France | 
| Broken Embraces | Pedro Almodóvar | Agustín Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar
 | Spain | 
| Coco Before Chanel | Anne Fontaine | Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Philippe Carcassonne, Anne Fontaine | France | 
| Let the Right One In | Tomas Alfredson | Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Tomas Alfredson | Sweden | 
| The White Ribbon | Michael Haneke | Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Margaret Menegoz, Michael Haneke | Austria/Germany/France/Italy |