The Golden Lion of San Marco, and its History of Winners

(Note: gaps denote years where the award was not given, for whatever reason.)

1949: “Manon” by Henry-Georges Clouzot

1950: “Justice est fait” by André Cayatte

1951: “Rashômon” by Akira Kurosawa

1952: “Jeux interdits” by René Clément

1954: “Romeo and Juliet” by Renato Castellani

1955: “Ordet” by Carl Theodor Dreyer

1957: “Aparajito” by Satyajit Ray

1958: “Muhô-Matsu no Isshô” by Hiroshi Inagaki

1959: “Il Generale Della Rovere” by Roberto Rossellini & “La grande guerra” by Mario Monicelli

1960: “Le passage du Rhin” by André Cayatte

1961: “L'année dernière à Marienbad” by Alain Resnais

1962: “Ivanovo detstvo” by Andrei Tarkovsky & “Cronaca familiare” by Valerio Zurlini

1963: “Le mani sulla città” by Francesco Rosi

1964: “Deserto rosso” by Michelangelo Antonioni

1965: “Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa” by Luchino Visconti

1966: “La battaglia di Algeri” by Gillo Pontecorvo

1967: “Belle de jour” by Luis Buñuel

1968: “Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: ratlos” by Alexander Kluge

1980: “Atlantic City” by Louis Malle & “Gloria” by John Cassavetes

1981: “Die Bleierne Zeit” by Margarethe von Trotta

1982: “Der Stand der Dinge” by Wim Wenders

1983: “Prénom Carmen” by Jean-Luc Godard

1984: “Rol Spokojnego Slonca” by Krzysztof Zanussi

1985: “Sans toit ni loi” by Agnès Varda

1986: “Le rayon vert” by Eric Rohmer

1987: “Au revoir les enfants” by Louis Malle

1988: “La leggenda del santo bevitore” by Ermanno Olmi

1989: “Beiqing shenghsi” by Hou Xiaoxian

1990: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” by Tom Stoppard

1991: “Urga” by Nikita Mikhalkov

1992: “Qui Ju da guansi” by Zhang Yimou

1993: “Short Cuts” by Robert Altman & “Trois couleurs: Bleu” by Krzysztof Kieslowski

1994: “Before the Rain” by Milcho Manchevski & “Aiqing wansui - Vive l’amour” by Tsai Ming-liang

1995: “Cyclo” by Tran Ahn Hung

1996: “Michael Collins” by Neil Jordan

1997: “Hana-bi” by Takeshi Kitano

1998: “Così ridevano” by Gianni Amelio

1999: “Not One Less” by Zhang Yimou

2000: “Dayereh” by Jafar Panahi

2001: “Monsoon Wedding” by Mira Nair

2002: “The Magdalene Sisters” by Peter Mullan

2003: “Vozvrashcheniye” by Andrei Zvyagintsev

2004: “Vera Drake” by Mike Leigh

2005: “Brokeback Mountain” by Ang Lee

2006: “Sanxia haoren” by Jia Zhangke

2007: “Se, jie” by Ang Lee

2008: “The Wrestler” by Darren Aronofsky

2009: “Lebanon” by Samuel Maoz

I have seen 12 of these 53, which is a lowly 23%. Tellingly, none of them have gone on to win the Best Picture Oscar (this is no middle-of-the-road hunting ground, after all), though "Brokeback Mountain" came tantalisingly close, and you can make an argument for "Atlantic City" too.

Observation and ranking of those twelve films to follow soon.