| The Railway Man | Jonathan Teplitzky | United Kingdom, Australia |
| Hyde Park on Hudson | Roger Michell | United Kingdom |
| Bernie | Richard Linklater | United States |
| Argo | — | United States |
| Chasing Mavericks | Curtis Hanson, Michael Apted | United States |
| The Mill and the Cross | Lech Majewski | Sweden, Poland |
| My Week with Marilyn | Simon Curtis | United Kingdom, United States |
| The Vow | Michael Sucsy | United States |
| Searching for Sugar Man | Malik Bendjelloul | United Kingdom, Sweden |
| Soul Surfer | Sean McNamara | United States |
| Raspoutine (2011 film) | Irakli Kvirikadze, Josée Dayan | France, Russia |
| J. Edgar | Clint Eastwood | United Kingdom, United States |
| Moneyball | Bennett Miller | United States |
| The King's Speech | Tom Hooper | United Kingdom |
| Cornelis | Amir Chamdin | Norway, Sweden |
| Eat Pray Love | Ryan Murphy | United States |
| Gainsbourg | Joann Sfar | France, United Kingdom |
| Che: A New Man | Tristán Bauer | Cuba, Spain, Argentina |
| Agora | Alejandro Amenábar | Spain |
| The Soloist | Joe Wright | France, United Kingdom, United States |
| The Blind Side | John Lee Hancock | United States |
| Milk | Gus Van Sant | United States |
| Little Ashes | Paul Morrison | United Kingdom, Spain |
| Into the Wild | Sean Penn | United States |
| Darling | Christine Carrière | France |
| American Gangster | Ridley Scott | United States |
| Salvador | Manuel Huerga | United Kingdom, Spain |
| Becoming Jane | Julian Jarrold | United Kingdom, United States |
| Guru | Mani Ratnam | India |
| The Queen | Stephen Frears | France, United Kingdom, Italy |
| Grizzly Man | Werner Herzog | United States |
| Fur | Steven Shainberg | United States |
| Alpha Dog | Nick Cassavetes | Germany, United States |
| Fearless | Ronny Yu | People's Republic of China, Hong Kong |
| Cinderella Man | Ron Howard | United States |
| Beyond the Sea | Kevin Spacey | Germany, United States |
| The Aviator | Martin Scorsese | United States |
| Alexander | Oliver Stone | France, United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Italy, Netherlands |
| Downfall | Oliver Hirschbiegel | Germany, Italy, Austria |
| Zhang Side | Yin Li | People's Republic of China |
| The Sea Inside | Alejandro Amenábar | Spain |
| Salvador Allende | Patricio Guzmán | France, Chile, Argentina |
| Girl with a Pearl Earring | Peter Webber | United Kingdom, Luxembourg |
| Gunnar Goes Comfortable | Gunnar Hall Jensen | Norway |
| Luther | Hans Kyser, Eric Till | United Kingdom, Germany, United States |
| Deng Xiaoping | Ding Yinnan | People's Republic of China |
| Bad Boys | Aleksi Mäkelä | Finland |
| Blow | Ted Demme | United States |