| Friend of the World | Brian Patrick Butler | United States |
| The Ballad of Narayama | Shohei Imamura | Japan |
| Nymphomaniac | Lars von Trier | France, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Denmark |
| Certified Copy | Abbas Kiarostami | France, Belgium, Italy, Iran |
| Melancholia | Lars von Trier | France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy |
| Antichrist | Lars von Trier | France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Italy |
| The Tuner | Kira Muratova | Russia, Ukraine |
| Breaking the Waves | Lars von Trier | France, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands |
| Life Is Sweet | Mike Leigh | United Kingdom |
| Pink Floyd – The Wall | Alan Parker | United Kingdom |
| The Second Awakening of Christa Klages | Margarethe von Trotta | Germany |
| Stalker | Andrei Tarkovsky | Soviet Union |
| The Marriage of Maria Braun | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Germany |
| The Ascent | Larisa Shepitko | Soviet Union |
| The Color of Pomegranates | Sergei Parajanov | Soviet Union |
| Colossal Youth | Pedro Costa | France, Switzerland, Portugal |
| Romance | Catherine Breillat | France |
| Claire's Knee | Éric Rohmer | France |
| I Am Curious (Yellow) | Vilgot Sjöman | Sweden |