| Road House | Rowdy Herrington | United States |
| Madame Sousatzka | John Schlesinger | United Kingdom, United States |
| Say Anything... | Cameron Crowe | United States |
| See You in the Morning | Alan J. Pakula | United States |
| D.O.A. | Rocky Morton, Annabel Jankel | United States |
| DeepStar Six | Sean S. Cunningham | United States |
| Tragedy, Rock Style | Savva Kulish | Soviet Union |
| Dangerous Liaisons | Stephen Frears | United Kingdom, United States |
| Mississippi Burning | Alan Parker | United States |
| The Accused | Jonathan Kaplan | Canada, United States |
| A Short Film About Killing | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Poland |
| Ironweed | Héctor Babenco | United States |
| Express train | Boris Yashin | Soviet Union |
| The Last Temptation of Christ | Martin Scorsese | Canada, United States |
| Commissar | Aleksandr Askoldov | Soviet Union |
| The Striker with Number 9 | Pantelis Voulgaris | Greece |
| The Beast | Kevin Reynolds | United States |
| Dead Ringers | David Cronenberg | Canada |
| The Wizard of Loneliness | Jenny Bowen | United States |
| Unfaithful Mornings | François Bouvier, Jean Beaudry | Canada |
| Katinka | Max von Sydow | Sweden, Denmark |
| Pereprava | Viktor Turov, Marek Brodzki | Soviet Union, Poland |
| Colors | Dennis Hopper | United States |
| The Garden of Desires | Ali Hamroyev | Soviet Union |
| Can't Buy Me Love | Steve Rash | United States |
| The Possessed | Andrzej Wajda | France |
| Kamilla and the Thief | Grete Salomonsen Hynnekleiv | Norway |
| The Gold Rimmed Glasses | Giuliano Montaldo | France, Italy |
| The Devil | Andrzej Żuławski | Poland |
| The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Philip Kaufman | United States |
| Once Lied | Vladimir Bortko | Soviet Union |
| Extreme Prejudice | Walter Hill | United States |
| Broadcast News | James L. Brooks | United States |
| Mirror for a Hero | Vladimir Khotinenko | Soviet Union |
| Wall Street | Oliver Stone | United States |
| Come and See | Elem Klimov | Soviet Union |
| Gardens of Stone | Francis Ford Coppola | United States |
| Cry Freedom | Richard Attenborough | United Kingdom, Italy |
| The Year My Voice Broke | John Duigan | Australia |
| The Lonely Voice of Man | Alexander Sokurov | Soviet Union |
| Wings of Desire | Wim Wenders | France, Germany |
| The Family | Ettore Scola | France, Italy |
| Hamburger Hill | John Irvin | United States |
| Hachiko Monogatari | Seijirō Kōyama | Japan |
| Tomorrow Was the War | Yuri Kara | Soviet Union |
| The Devil's Disciple | David Hugh Jones | United Kingdom, Canada |
| Stand by Me | Rob Reiner | United States |
| Thérèse | Alain Cavalier | France |