The Directors Guild of America nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for 2013 have landed. All of these films have been lauded on the festival and awards circuit. The leading contenders for an Oscar nomination are Sarah Polley’s “Stories We Tell,” which won both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics as well as a WGA nomination, Jehane Noujaim’s “The Square,” which took home the International Documentary Association’s top prize, and Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing,” which scored the National Board of Review, the Gotham, the European Film Award and Cinema Eye Honors.
Three women directors landed nominations, Polley, Noujaim and Lucy Walker (“The Crash Reel”).
Left off the DGA list are Morgan Neville’s “20 Feet from Stardom,” the year’s top-grossing documentary feature, and WGA nominee “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” by Alex Gibney.
“The five documentary filmmakers nominated today have made powerful films exploring humanity in all its complications,” said president Paris Barclay. “From intricate family portrayals to lives caught in political upheaval, these works are intimate, heartbreaking and triumphant.”
The winner will be named at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
ZACHARY HEINZERLING
Radius TWC
Ex Lion Tamer
Cine Mosaic
This is Mr. Heinzerling’s first DGA Award nomination.
JEHANE NOUJAIM
The Square
Netflix
Participant Media
Noujaim Films
Maktube Productions
WorldView
Roast Beef Productions
This is Ms. Noujaim’s third DGA Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for Startup.com in 2001 (together with Chris Hegedus) and was also nominated in this category in 2004 for Control Room.
JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER
The Act of Killing
Final Cut for Real APS
Drafthouse Films
Piraya Films
Novaya Zemlya Ltd.
Spring Films Ltd.
This is Mr. Oppenheimer’s first DGA Award nomination.
SARAH POLLEY
Stories We Tell
Roadside Attractions
The National Film Board of Canada
This is Ms. Polley’s first DGA Award nomination.
LUCY WALKER
The Crash Reel
HBO Documentary Films
KP Rides Again, LLC
Impact Partners
Tree Tree Tree Production
This is Ms. Walker’s first DGA Award nomination.
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