Alfonso Cuaron
The Best Director category is going to be just as hard fought as the acting categories as five super talented filmmakers go head to head.
Between them, they have delivered a collection of the best films of 2013/early 2014 - you really could make a very strong case for all of them to win.
We take a look at the five filmmakers in the running and try to predict a winner.
- Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Alfonso Cuaron was one of the most talked about filmmakers at the end of 2013, after he delivered the truly fantastic Gravity.
Gravity was one of the most beautiful films of the year as he delivered a movie that really set the bar when it came to sci-fi and depicting space.
The juxtaposition of epicness and vastness of space and the intimate and personal storyline worked incredibly well.
Gravity is a movie that is as terrifying as it is beautiful as vast expanse of space highlights just how alone and helpless the central characters are.
Cuaron really has delivered a terrific movie and is a frontrunner on this year's awards circuit.
- Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips
Paul Greengrass is the first of two British directors in the mix for this gong as he returned with Captain Phillips.
Captain Phillips was the first directorial outing for Greengrass since Green Zone, as he teamed up with Tom Hanks for the first time.
The movie told the true story of Richard Phillips, who was captain of the Maersk Alabama when it was invaded by Somali pirates, and was one of the best movies that I saw last year.
Captain Phillips is a relentless thriller that really will have you on the edge of your seat. Greengrass has also cast this film perfectly, with Hanks delivering one of the performances of his career.
- Steve McQueen - 12 Years A Slave
Steve McQueen is a director who has already delivered movies such as Hunger and Shame, but now he has delivered his best film yet with 12 Years A Slave.
12 Years A Slave is based on the memoir by Solomon Northup and follows his remarkable tale as a free man living in New York who was sold into slavery.
You will not see a more powerful movie this year as 12 Years A Slave really is a gritty and brutal piece of cinema from start to finish.
McQueen has not delivered a 'Hollywood' take on slavery, but instead painted a harrowing and yet emotional story - made all the more powerful by the fact that it is true.
12 Years A Slave is the red-hot favourite for the Best Picture Oscar, and we could well be seeing McQueen scoop the Best Director gong as well.
- Alexander Payne - Nebraska
Nebraska is another movie that won over the critics last year as Alexander Payne returned to the director's chair.
Nebraska follows Woody Grant, who is convinced that he has won a million dollar magazine sweepstake. He and his estranged son travel to Nebraska to claim the prize.
Nebraska is an intimate road movie that has family and relationships at its heart; relationships are something that Payne depicts well in all of his movies.
It is also a beautiful looking film, and the black and white really does work wonderfully.
Payne has delivered films such as Sideways and The Descendants in recent years, but this is up there with his best work.
However, when it comes to awards I think that Bruce Dern in the Best Actor category is this film's best bet.
- David O. Russell - American Hustle
David O.Russell is on a good run of awards form having delivered The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook in the last couple of years.
O.Russell is in the mix again this year with his latest film American Hustle; a movie that many of the critics have been raving about.
American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper).
DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting.
O.Russell has brought together a wonderful cast list and keeps the many stories and threads of this complex film spinning.
Winner: Steve McQueen - 12 Years A Slave