James R | On 27, Jan 2020

Sam Mendes’ 1917 established its position at the head of this year’s awards pack at the weekend, taking home the top prize at the 2020 DGA Awards.

The Directors Guild Awards, which typically indicate the Best Director winner at the Academy Awards, last year awarded Alfonso Cuaron with the main prize for Roma, but despite Netflix having Martin Scorsese in contest for The Irishman, the director’s reuniting of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro wasn’t enough to top Mendes’ war movie.

Netflix’s American Factory did, however, take home the documentary award for helmers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert. Amazon Studios, meanwhile, had success with Honey Boy, which took home the debut feature prize for Shia LaBeouf drama Honey Boy.

HBO, meanwhile, bagged the dramatic series prize for Watchmen – a rare instance of awards acclaim for the underrated and overlooked superhero series, beating Game of Thrones directors and Succession to bag the award. Chernobyl, meanwhile, won the Movies for Television and Limited Series prize for Johan Renck, beating Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us, Vince Gilligan’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Fosse/Verdon’s triple-threat of nominees Jessica Yu, Minkie Spiro and Thomas Kail.

Read on below for the full list of winners:

Theatrical Feature

Bong Joon Ho, Parasite (Neon)
Sam Mendes, 1917 (Universal Pictures)
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman (Netflix)
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Columbia Pictures)
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

First-Time Feature Film

Mati Diop, Atlantics (Netflix)
Ms. Diop’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Vincent Prades
Alma Har’el, Honey Boy (Amazon Studios)
Melina Matsoukas, Queen & Slim (Universal Pictures)
Tyler Nilson & Michael Schwartz, The Peanut Butter Falcon (Roadside Attractions)
Joe Talbot, The Last Black Man in San Francisco (A24 Films)

Documentary Feature Films

Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert American Factory (Netflix)
Feras Fayyad The Cave (National Geographic Documentary Films
Alex Holmes Maiden (Sony Picture Classics)
Ljubomir Stefanov & Tamara Kotevska Honeyland (Neon)
Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)

Dramatic Series

Nicole Kassell, Watchmen (HBO) It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice
Mark Mylod, Succession (HBO) This Is Not For Tears
David Nutter, Game of Thrones (HBO) The Last of the Starks
Miguel Sapochnik, Game of Thrones (HBO) The Long Night
Stephen Williams, Watchmen (HBO) This Extraordinary Being

Comedy Series

Dan Attias, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video) It’s the Sixties, Man!
Bill Hader, Barry (HBO) ronny/lily
David Mandel, Veep (HBO) Veep
Daniel Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video) Marvelous Radio
Amy Sherman-Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video) It’s Comedy or Cabbage

Variety/Talk/News/Sports — Specials

James Burrows (All in the Family and The Jeffersons – Directed by) and Andy Fisher (Live in Front of a Studio Audience – Directed by)
Spike Jonze, Aziz Ansari: Right Now (Netflix)
Stan Lathan, Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (Netflix)
Linda Mendoza, Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (Netflix)
Glenn Weiss, The 91st Annual Academy Awards (ABC)

Movies for Television and Limited Series

Ava DuVernay, When They See Us (Netflix)
Vince Gilligan, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)
Thomas Kail, Fosse/Verdon (FX Networks) Nowadays
Johan Renck, Chernobyl (HBO)
Minkie Spiro, Fosse/Verdon (FX Networks) All I Care About Is Love
Jessica Yu, Fosse/Verdon (FX Networks) Glory

Variety/Talk/News/Sports — Regularly Scheduled Programming

Paul G. Casey, Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO) 1730
Nora S. Gerard, CBS Sunday Morning (CBS) 40th Anniversary
Jim Hoskinson, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) A. Ocasio-Cortez; Incubus
Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live (NBC) E. Murphy; Lizzo
Paul Pennolino, Christopher Werner, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) SLAPP Suits

Reality Programs

Hisham Abed, Queer Eye (Netflix) Black Girl Magic
Jason Cohen, Encore! (Disney Plus) Annie
Jon Favreau, The Chef Show (Netflix) Hog Island
Ashley S. Gorman, First Responders Live (Fox) 103
Patric McManus, American Ninja Warrior (NBC) 1116 Las Vegas National Finals Night 4

Children’s Programs

Dean Israelite, Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Nickelodeon) Part One: Submitted for Your Approval
Jack Jameson, Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Special (HBO Documentary Films)
Luke Matheny, Ghostwriter (Apple TV Plus) Ghost in Wonderland, Part 1
Amy Schatz, Song of Parkland (HBO Documentary Films)
Barry Sonnenfeld, A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix) Penultimate Peril: Part 1

Commercials

Fredrik Bond (MJZ)
Lighter Than Air, HP Elite Dragonfly – Media Monks
Take it Lightly, Coca-Cola Light – Ingo
Nap, iPhone – Apple
Spike Jonze (MJZ)
Dream It, Squarespace – Squarespace
The New Normal, Medmen – Mekanism
Mark Molloy (Smuggler)
Underdogs, Apple – Apple
Ridley Scott (RSA Films)
The Seven Worlds, Hennessy X.O. – DDB Paris
Dougal Wilson (Furlined)
Train, AT&T – BBDO NY

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