Directors Guild Nominees: 2011

This morning, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced their five nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2010. For those who aren't aware, the DGA is a film and television labor union specializing in the interest of directors in the United States motion picture industry. This group is comprised of thousands of directors working in the film and television industry, including many big-name Hollywood directors and an overwhelming abundance of commercial & television directors. The DGA has been around since 1936, and this year marks the 75th anniversary of their annual awards ceremony.

To put this into some perspective, the DGA nominees are regarded by most Oscar pundits to be the biggest indicator of who and what films the AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts/Sciences, or simply Oscar voters) will recognize in the fields of Best Picture and Best Achievement in Direction. Historically, the AMPAS tends to mimic the DGA in their selections more so than any other guild, critics group, association, etc. In fact, over the years, DGA award winners have lined up with AMPAS directorial winners AND best picture winners at an astounding percentage (that of which I can't recall specifically, but i'm fairly positive that it's at least over 75%).

Both the DGA and AMPAS are comprised of industry professionals, though unlike the AMPAS, the DGA does not recieve DVD screeners from studios and distributors. This makes it a little less likely for small indie films to be recognized by the DGA, as voters might not get a chance to catch some of those films in theaters due to inadequate distribution.

More after the jump...