Directors Guild (DGA) feature nominations are an all-boys club but first-time director category finds female representation

The Directors Guild of America (DGA), hot off the PGA nominations this morning, have nominated Bong Joon Ho, Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Taika Waititi as the top directors of feature film for 2019, marking another year of all male nominees.

Todd Phillips (Joker) was highly predicted to make this lineup after earning Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, but it was Jojo Rabbit’s Taika Waititi who came in and swooped that 5th spot despite no real precursor mentions so far. The DGA often matches with Oscar 4/5 but rarely line up exactly. Last year they went 3/5 with DGA nominees Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) and Peter Farrelly (Green Book) missing out to Yorgos Lanthimos for The Favourite and Paweł Pawlikowski for Cold War.

Once again, however, the lineup for Feature Film were all male nominees in a year of incredible female directed films from Greta Gerwig, Lorene Scafaria and more. On a positive note, the First Time Feature Director category has three women directors up for the prize. Mati Diop for Atlantics, Alma Ha’rel for Honey Boy, and Melina Matsoukas, Queen & Slim will go up against first-timers Joe Talbot (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) and Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz for The Peanut Butter Falcon. Curiously missing from that list is Olivia Wilde for Booksmart, who has earned the most critics awards a first time director. Last year’s winner here was Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade.

The Directors Guild of America will announce its winners on January 25th. Here is the full list of nominations.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in 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 of a First-Time Feature Film Director

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