71st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards Winners

Saturday night the guild had their awards ceremony and as expected Alfonso Cuarón got the top award which makes a big celebratory win as it was Guillermo del Toro who presented with the award.

Most interesting milestone is since 2014 -with the exception of 2017- top award have been given to a Mexican-born director, 2014 Alfonso Cuarón, 2015 Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2016 Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2018 Guillermo del Toro and 2019 Alejandro G. Iñárritu again.  All these directors went to win the Oscar for Directing therefore we can predict Alfonso Cuarón is not only the front-runner but also the most likely Oscar winner.  A milestone that will make Oscar history too and shows the dominance of very creative and imaginative filmmakers.



Worth mentioning Bo Burnham as the winner of the First-Time Feature Film and Adam McKay who was nominated for top award but lost, got it for his directing work in Dramatic Series for Succession, Celebration.  Kudos also go to Ben Stiller directorial achievement in Movies for Television and Limited Series category win.

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners in all categories go official site here.

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1/19/19
Yesterday the Directors Guild of America President Thomas Schlamme announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2018.

“To be chosen by one’s peers in a year full of such extraordinary films is the true mark of outstanding directorial achievement,” said Schlamme. “In bringing all elements of the filmmaking process together, each of these directors has demonstrated an exceptional command of the medium, creating excellence for the screen. Congratulations to all of the nominees.”

To refresh our memory will share that for the first feature-length film category eligible directors must have released their film theatrically in Los Angeles or New York during 2018.  Foreign films are eligible and the director does not need to be a DGA member.

Guild went back to nominate only men for top award but in my humble opinion there were not many female directors with relevant films, perhaps the exception goes to Chloe Zhao and her magnificent The Rider which could/should occupy controversial Farrelly's spot.  Still, believe that spot belongs more to a HUGE omission, as Yorgos Lanthimos should have been nominated for his -fabulous body of work and-  most (mass) accessible film, The Favourite. Sigh.

If film critics are right this year then this award -and the Oscar- should go to Alfonso Cuarón, which has my award and my absolute admiration for his fantastic work visualizing and conducting Roma.  As Bradley Cooper is nominated twice, wouldn't be surprised if he gets the first-time award even when perhaps Bo Burnham deserves more the award.

This year the guild will honor Kathleen McGill with the Frank Capra Achievement Award and Marian Deaton with the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award.  The DGA Diversity Award is a rare honor, given only when exceptional leadership in inclusive hiring is exhibited and this time the award goes to FX Networks.

These are the Nominees

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
Bradley Cooper for A Star is Born
*Alfonso Cuarón for Roma
Peter Farrelly for Green Book
Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay for Vice



Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature film
*Bo Burnham for Eighth Gade
Bradley Cooper for A Star is Born
Carlos López Estrada for Blindspotting
Matthew Heineman for a Private War
Boots Riley for Sorry to Bother You

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
Morgan Neville for Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Ramell Ross for Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin for Free Solo
*Tim Wardle for Three Identical Strangers
Betsy West and Julie Cohen for RBG

To check nominees for all categories go to official site here for film and here for documentaries plus all other categories.  Awards ceremony will be on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at the Hollywood and Highland Center's Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood.