Women Shut Out, Again, at the DGA

While four up-and-coming female filmmakers were honored with first-time directing nods, only men were nominated for the guild’s top honor

Six male filmmakers — Todd Field (Tár), Joseph Kosinski

(Top Gun: Maverick), the filmmaking duo Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)

and Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)

will compete for the Directors Guild of America’s award for directorial achievement in feature film, the first all-male lineup in two years.

Notably missing from the Jan. 11 noms were The Woman King helmer Gina Prince-Bythewood and Women Talking

writer-director Sarah Polley, two of the strongest female contenders for best director this season. The advocacy group Women in Film issued a statement after the announcement of the DGA noms to express its disappointment in the guild for overlooking Prince-Bythewood and Polley, as well as Maria Schrader (She Said) and Chinonye Chukwu (Till).

Another notable absence from the nominee lineup is James Cameron, a DGA Award winner in 1998 for Titanic and a nominee in 2010 for Avatar. The director’s Avatar: The Way of Water remains a leading contender for best picture, although Cameron’s chances for a third Oscar nom for best director have slimmed. Also missing is Babylon writer-director Damien Chazelle, the youngest person to have won the Oscar for best director and a DGA winner for

La La Land.

While female directors were shut out in the top category, women dominated the first-time feature director category. Alice Diop (Saint Omer), Audrey Diwan (Happening), Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (Murina) and Charlotte Wells (Aftersun) all received nods, as did Emily the Criminal helmer John Patton Ford.

But while up-and-coming female talent fared well among the DGA noms, WIF also took the guild to task for relegating women to what could be seen as a junior category. “It’s heartening to see a majority of the nominees for First-Time Theatrical Director to be women, but this is a clear illustration of the problems underrepresented people face with career sustainability in our industry,” said the group.

Murina’s Four nominees for the first-time feature directing at the DGA Awards, from left: Happening’s Audrey Diwan, Saint Omer’s Alice Diop, Aftersun’s Charlotte Wells and Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović.