| 1946 | The Turning Point | Velikij perelom / Великий перелом | Fridrikh Ermler | Soviet Union |
| Men Without Wings | Muži bez křídel | František Čáp | Czechoslovakia | |
| The Last Chance | Die Letzte Chance | Leopold Lindtberg | Switzerland | |
| Torment | Hets | Alf Sjöberg | Sweden | |
| Portrait of Maria | María Candelaria | Emilio Fernández | Mexico | |
| Rome, Open City | Roma, città aperta | Roberto Rossellini | Italy | |
| Neecha Nagar (Lowly City) | Nīcā nagar / नीचा नगर | Chetan Anand | India | |
| Brief Encounter | David Lean | United Kingdom | ||
| Pastoral Symphony | Jean Delannoy | France | ||
| The Lost Weekend | Billy Wilder | United States | ||
| The Red Meadows | De røde enge | Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen, | Denmark | |
| Ziegfeld Follies (Best Musical Comedy) | Vincente Minnelli | United States | ||
| Antoine and Antoinette (Best Psychological and Love Film) | Antoine et Antoinette | Jacques Becker | France | |
| 1947 | Dumbo (Best Animation Design) | Ben Sharpsteen | United States | |
| Crossfire (Best Social Film) | Edward Dmytryk | United States | ||
| The Damned (Best Adventure and Crime Film) | Les Maudits | René Clément | France | |
| 1948 | No festival due to budgetary problems. | |||
| 1949 | The Third Man | Carol Reed | United Kingdom | |
| 1950s | ||||
| 1950 | No festival due to budgetary problems. | |||
| 1951 | Miss Julie (tie) | Fröken Julie | Alf Sjöberg | Sweden |
| Miracle in Milan (tie) | Miracolo a Milano | Vittorio De Sica | Italy | |
| 1952 | The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (tie) | Orson Welles | United States | |
| Two Cents Worth of Hope (tie) | Due soldi di speranza | Renato Castellani | Italy | |
| 1953 | The Wages of Fear | Le salaire de la peur | Henri-Georges Clouzot | France / Italy |
| 1954 | Gate of Hell | Jigoku-mon / 地獄門 | Teinosuke Kinugasa | Japan |
| Awarded as “Palme d’Or” | ||||
| 1955 | Marty | Delbert Mann | United States | |
| 1956 | The Silent World | Le monde du silence | Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle | France |
| 1957 | Friendly Persuasion | William Wyler | United States | |
| 1958 | The Cranes Are Flying | Letyat zhuravli / Летят журавл | Mikhail Kalatozov | Soviet Union |
| 1959 | Black Orpheus | Orfeu Negro | Marcel Camus | France/Brazil |
| 1960s | ||||
| 1960 | La Dolce Vita | Federico Fellini | Italy/France | |
| 1961 | The Long Absence (tie) Une aussi longue | Henri Colpi | France | |
| Viridiana (tie) | Luis Buñuel | Mexico / Spain | ||
| 1962 | Keeper of Promises | O Pagador de Promessa | Anselmo Duarte | Brazil |
| 1963 | The Leopard | Il gattopardo | Luchino Visconti | Italy |
| Awarded as “Grand Prix du Festival International du Film” | ||||
| 1964 | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Les parapluies de Cherbourg | Jacques Demy | France | |
| 1965 | The Knack …and How to Get It | Richard Lester | United Kingdom | |
| 1966 | A Man and a Woman (tie) Un homme et une femme | Claude Lelouch | France | |
| 1966 | The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (tie) Signore e signori | Pietro Germi | Italy | |
| 1967 | Blowup | Michelangelo Antonioni | United Kingdom / Italy | |
| 1968 | No prizes as the festival was cancelled midway to show solidarity with the students and workers who were demonstrating in what became known as the May 68 movement | |||
| 1969 | If…. | Lindsay Anderson | United Kingdom | |
| 1970s | ||||
| 1970 | MASH | Robert Altman | United States | |
| 1971 | The Go-Between | Joseph Losey | United Kingdom | |
| 1972 | The Working Class Goes to Heaven (tie) | La classe operaia va in paradiso | Elio Petri | Italy |
| The Mattei Affair (tie) | Il caso Mattei | Francesco Rosi | Italy | |
| 1973 | The Hireling (tie) | Alan Bridges | United Kingdom | |
| Scarecrow (tie) | Jerry Schatzberg | United States | ||
| 1974 | The Conversation | Francis Ford Coppola | United States | |
| Awarded as “Palme d’Or”
|
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| 1975 | Chronicle of the Years of Fire | Chronique des années de braise | Mohammed Lakhdar- Hamina | Algeria |
| 1976 | Taxi Driver | Martin Scorsese | United States | |
| 1977 | Padre Padrone | Paolo and Vittorio Taviani | Italy | |
| 1978 | The Tree of Wooden L’albero degli Clogs zoccoli | Ermanno Olmi | Italy | |
| 1979 | Apocalypse Now (tie) | Francis Ford Coppola | United States | |
| The Tin Drum (tie) | Die Blechtrommel | Volker Schlöndorff | West Germany | |
| 1980s | ||||
| 1980 | All That Jazz (tie) | Bob Fosse | United States | |
| Kagemusha (tie) | Kagemusha / 影武者 | Akira Kurosawa | Japan | |
| 1981 | Man of Iron | Człowiek z żelaza | Andrzej Wajda | Poland |
| 1982 | Missing (tie) | Costa-Gavras | United States | |
| The Way (tie) | Yol | Yılmaz Güney and Şerif Gören | Turkey | |
| 1983 | The Ballad of Narayama | Narayama bushikō / 楢山節考 | Shohei Imamura | Japan |
| 1984 | Paris, Texas | Wim Wenders | West Germany | |
| 1985 | When Father Was Away on Business | Otats na službenom putu / Отац на службеном путу | Emir Kusturica | Yugoslavia |
| 1986 | The Mission | Roland Joffé | United Kingdom | |
| 1987 | Under the Sun of Satan | Sous le soleil de Satan | Maurice Pialat | France |
| 1988 | Pelle the Conqueror | Pelle Erobreren | Bille August | Denmark/Sweden |
| 1989 | Sex, Lies, and Videotape | Steven Soderbergh | United States | |
| 1990s | ||||
| 1990 | Wild at Heart | David Lynch | United States | |
| 1991 | Barton Fink | Joel and Ethan Coen | United States | |
| 1992 | The Best Intentions | Den goda viljan | Bille August | Sweden |
| 1993 | Farewell My Concubine (tie) | Bàwáng bié jī / 霸王 別姬 | Chen Kaige | China / Hong Kong |
| The Piano (tie) | Jane Campion | New Zealand / Australia | ||
| 1994 | Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino | United States | |
| 1995 | Underground | Podzemlje / Подземље | Emir Kusturica | F R Yugoslavia |
| 1996 | Secrets & Lies | Mike Leigh | United Kingdom | |
| 1997 | Taste of Cherry (tie) | طعم / Ta’m-e gīlās گيلاس | Abbas Kiarostami | Iran |
| The Eel (tie) | Unagi / うなぎ | Shohei Imamura | Japan | |
| 1998 | Eternity and a Day | Mia aioṉ iótiṯa kai mia méra / Μια αιωνιότητα και μια μέρα | Theodoros Angelopoulos | Greece |
| 1999 | Rosetta | Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne | Belgium | |
2000s |
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| 2000 | Dancer in the Dark | Lars von Trier | Denmark | |
| 2001 | The Son’s Room La stanza del figlio | Nanni Moretti | Italy | |
| 2002 | The Pianist | Roman Polanski | Poland / France / Germany / United Kingdom | |
| 2003 | Elephant | Gus Van Sant | United States | |
| 2004 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | Michael Moore | United States | |
| 2005 | The Child | L’enfant | Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne | Belgium |
| 2006 | The Wind That Shakes the Barley | Ken Loach | Ireland / United Kingdom | |
| 2007 | 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days | 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile | Cristian Mungiu | Romania |
| 2008 | The Class | Entre les murs | Laurent Cantet | France |
| 2009 | The White Ribbon | Das weiße Band, Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte | Michael Haneke | Germany / Austria |
| 2010s | ||||
| 2010 | Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives | Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat / ลุงบุญมีระลึก ชาติ | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Thailand |
| 2011 | The Tree of Life | Terrence Malick | United States | |
| 2012 | Amour | Michael Haneke | France / Austria | |
| 2013 | Blue Is the Warmest Colour | La Vie d’Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2 | Abdellatif Kechiche | France / Belgium |
| 2014 | Winter Sleep | Kış Uykusu | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey |
| 2015 | Dheepan | Jacques Audiard | France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | I, Daniel Blake | Ken Loach | United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | The Square | Ruben Östlund | Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Shoplifters | Manbiki kazoku / 万 引き家族 | Hirokazu Kore- eda | Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Parasite | Gisaengchung / 기생 충 | Bong Joon-ho | South Korea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2020s
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Cannes the Guide 