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DGA Award Nominations Acknowledge Existence of Female Directors

Mati Diop got a nom. Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival

The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominees for Best Feature Film Director of 2019, and many of them are women — or at least many of them in the First-Time Feature Film Director category are women. Atlantics’ Mati Diop, Honey Boy’s Alma Har’el, and Queen & Slim’s Melina Matsoukas all received nominations. The main award category still has an entirely male roster of nominees, but even so! After a Golden Globes ceremony that excluded this year’s many female directors, the First-Time DGA category suggests a positive step forward. Also worth noting for anyone making Oscar predictions: no Todd Phillips nomination for Joker. The winners will be announced at the 72nd Annual DGA Awards in downtown L.A. on January 25.

Justice for Greta Gerwig, though.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film
Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
Sam Mendes, 1917
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film
Mati Diop, Atlantics
Alma Har’el, Honey Boy
Melina Matsoukas, Queen & Slim
Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, The Peanut Butter Falcon
Joe Talbot, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

DGA Award Noms Acknowledge Existence of Female Directors