The Asian Film Award for Best Director is presented annually by the Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA), a non-profit organization founded by Busan International Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival and Tokyo International Film Festival with the shared goal of celebrating excellence in Asian cinema.
It was first presented in 2007 during the first edition of the awards. Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke was the first recipient of the award for his work in the drama Still Life. The most recent winner is Japanese director Daihachi Yoshida for the film Teki Cometh.
Japanese film director Hirokazu Kore-eda and South Korean director Lee Chang-dong both hold the record of most wins in the category with three; Kore-eda for Still Walking (2009), Broker (2023) and Monster (2024); Lee for Secret Sunshine (2008), Poetry (2011) and Burning (2019). They are also the only directors with multiple wins in the category. Hirokazu Koreeda is also the director with the most nominations for the award with six.