Kerala State Film Award for Best Director
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Director is an honour presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969. It is given to a film director who has exhibited outstanding direction while working in the Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous non-profit organisation functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs, has been exercising control over the awards. The recipients are decided by an independent jury formed by the academy. They are declared by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the Chief Minister.

The first Kerala State Film Awards ceremony was held in 1970 with cinematographer-director A. Vincent receiving the Best Director award for his work in "Nadhi" (1969). Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of Kerala has presented a total of 50 best director awards to 25 different filmmakers. The recipients receive a figurine, a certificate, and a cash prize of .

G. Aravindan is the most frequent winner in this category with seven awards. He is followed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan (six awards), Shyamaprasad (five awards) and K. S. Sethumadhavan (four awards). As of 2020, six directorsShaji N. Karun, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, T. V. Chandran, Hariharan, Blessy and Lijo Jose Pellissery have won the award twice in their careers. The academy did not present the award at the 2002 ceremony. Vidhu Vincent was the first female director to win the award in 2016, for her debut film "Manhole". The most recent recipient was Lijo Jose Pellissery, who received the award for his film "Jellikkettu" in 2019.
Q3595200
Kerala State Film Awards
EVE
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Malayalam film industry
Concept
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Government of Kerala
ORG
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Kerala State Chalachitra Academy
ORG
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Chief Minister
UNK
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A. Vincent
PER
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Nadhi
MEDIA
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G. Aravindan
PER
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Adoor Gopalakrishnan
PER
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Shyamaprasad
PER
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K. S. Sethumadhavan
PER
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Shaji N. Karun
PER
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M. T. Vasudevan Nair
PER
Q3595285
T. V. Chandran
PER
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Hariharan
PER
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Blessy
PER
Q6547017
Lijo Jose Pellissery
PER
Q28788204
Vidhu Vincent
PER
Q29018079
Manhole
MEDIA
Q6547017
Lijo Jose Pellissery
PER
Q67202673
"Jellikkettu"
MEDIA
Q6393444
Kerala State Film Award for Best Director
EVE
1969-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1969
DATE
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1997
DATE
1998-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1998
DATE
1970-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1970
DATE
2020-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2020
DATE
2002-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2002
DATE
2016-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2016
DATE
2019-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2019
DATE
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1969
NUMBER
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50
NUMBER
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25
NUMBER
inception
sponsor
director
director
director