Here are the winners since 1993 of the Golden Bear at the event, one of the world's top cinema showcases and the first major European film festival of the year.

- 1993: Tie between "Xian Hun Nu" (The Woman from the Lake of Scented Souls) by Xie Fei (China) and "Hsi Yen" (The Wedding Banquet) by Ang Lee (Taiwan)

- 1994: "In the Name of the Father" by Jim Sheridan (Ireland/Britain)

- 1995: "L'appat" (Fresh Bait) by Bertrand Tavernier (France)

- 1996: "Sense and Sensibility" by Ang Lee (US)

- 1997: "The People vs. Larry Flynt" by Milos Forman (US)

- 1998: "Central do Brasil" (Central Station) by Walter Salles (Brazil)

- 1999: "The Thin Red Line" by Terrence Malick (US)

- 2000: "Magnolia" by Paul Thomas Anderson (US)

- 2001: "Intimacy" by Patrice Chereau (France)

- 2002: "Bloody Sunday" by Paul Greengrass (Britain/Ireland) and "Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi" (Spirited Away) by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)

- 2003: "In This World" by Michael Winterbottom (Britain)

- 2004: "Gegen die Wand" (Head-On) by Fatih Akin (Germany/Turkey)

- 2005: "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" (Carmen In Khayelitsha) by Mark Dornford-May (South Africa)

- 2006: "Grbavica" by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia-Hercegovina)

- 2007: "Tuya De Hunshi" (Tuya's Marriage) by Wang Quan'an (China)

- 2008: "Tropa de Elite" (Elite Squad) by Jose Padilha (Brazil/Argentina)

- 2009: "La teta asustada" (The Milk of Sorrow) by Claudia Llosa (Spain/Peru)

- 2010: "Bal" (Honey) by Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey/Germany)

- 2011: "Jodaeiye Nader Az Simin" (A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi (Iran)

- 2012: "Caesar Must Die" (Cesare deve morire) by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (Italy).