\u00ab\u00a0La La Land\u00a0\u00bb director Damien Chazelle waltzed off with the top honor at the Directors Guild of America Awards, Saturday. It’s the latest stop on the ebullient musical’s journey to the Oscars, but it wasn’t all song and dance at the annual awards ceremony in Beverly Hills. The evening also took on a more somber, urgent note as many directors and presenters also grappled with President Donald Trump’s refugee and immigration ban.
\u00ab\u00a0I wanted to celebrate the act of dreaming and what art means. Art does connect people and transcend borders,\u00a0\u00bb Chazelle said. \u00ab\u00a0I want to be part of that transnational dialogue of movies. \u00a0\u00bb
At 32-years-old, Chazelle, a first-time nominee, is the youngest ever recipient of the DGA feature film award which all but guarantees an eventual Oscar win on Feb. 26.
Rarely has the DGA winner not gone on to win the directing prize at the Academy Awards. \u00ab\u00a0La La Land\u00a0\u00bb recently won the top honor at the Producers Guild Awards and is nominated for a record-tying 14 Oscars.
Earlier in the evening \u00ab\u00a0La La Land\u00a0\u00bb stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling presented Chazelle with the directing medallion. While singing his accolades, like the fact that he shot the musical in 40 days using 35mm film, 93 locations and 1600 extras, Gosling also joked that Chazelle \u00ab\u00a0directed his own birth in a single take. \u00a0\u00bb
Chazelle was up against Barry Jenkins for \u00ab\u00a0Moonlight,\u00a0\u00bb Kenneth Lonergan for \u00ab\u00a0Manchester by the Sea,\u00a0\u00bb Garth Davis for \u00ab\u00a0Lion,\u00a0\u00bb and Denis Villeneuve for \u00ab\u00a0Arrival. \u00a0\u00bb All but Davis are also nominated for the Oscar.
Davis did win the first time director award for \u00ab\u00a0Lion,\u00a0\u00bb however. Starring Dev Patel and newcomer Sunny Pawar, \u00ab\u00a0Lion\u00a0\u00bb tells the true story of an Indian man who was lost as a 5-year-old and 25 years later used Google Earth to retrace his steps to his hometown and his birthmother, not knowing the name of either.
\u00ab\u00a0I had the first half of the film relying on a 5-year-old child who did not speak English,\u00a0\u00bb Davis said. \u00ab\u00a0This movie demanded that the whole cast and crew make this film from their hearts. \u00a0\u00bb
Nate Parker was also nominated for the first time feature award for \u00ab\u00a0The Birth of a Nation\u00a0\u00bb \u2014 the only major awards recognition for his film.
The Directors Guild also recognizes excellence in directing in documentaries, live, scripted and reality television and commercials. Ezra Edelman won the documentary award for \u00ab\u00a0O. J.: Made in America\u00a0\u00bb which he called a \u00ab\u00a0labor of labor. \u00a0\u00bb
Other winners included Steven Zaillian for \u00ab\u00a0The Night Of,\u00a0\u00bb Tina Mabry for \u00ab\u00a0An American Girl Story \u2014 Melody 1963: Love Has to Win,\u00a0\u00bb Miguel Sapochnik for \u00ab\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0\u00bb and Becky Martin for \u00ab\u00a0Veep. \u00a0\u00bb
Sir Ridley Scott was also given the 35th Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Christopher Nolan, Billy Crudup and Michael Fassbender.
Fassbender described Scott as, \u00ab\u00a0direct, generous, loyal, competitive … and a bit of a loner who prefers the company of dogs to most people. \u00a0\u00bb
Beyond the self-congratulatory air typical of a Hollywood awards season event, many were compelled to address the refugee and immigration ban as it relates to the entertainment industry and the art it creates.
Davis said he’s spoken to \u00ab\u00a0a lot of refugees who have said that this film has given them the courage to find their families. \u00a0\u00bb
Chazelle praised Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, an Oscar-nominee for his film \u00ab\u00a0The Salesman\u00a0\u00bb who said he will not attend this year’s Academy Awards because of a travel ban imposed by Trump.
Farhadi, Chazelle said, \u00ab\u00a0comes from a country my government tells me I shouldn’t be in dialogue with. \u00a0\u00bb
Chazelle said that the business of excluding filmmakers or voices is \u00ab\u00a0inherently anti-art. \u00a0\u00bb
Alejandro Inarritu, the Mexican director who won last year for \u00ab\u00a0The Revenant,\u00a0\u00bb called the current political story \u00ab\u00a0a bad remake of one of the worst stories of the last century. \u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0The only way we win is by telling good, complex and truthful human stories,\u00a0\u00bb Inarritu said. \u00ab\u00a0No alternative facts or false statistics will defeat that. \u00a0\u00bb
So prevalent were politics throughout the evening that even the absence of a political statement required acknowledgement.
Ridley Scott said, \u00ab\u00a0I’m not going to talk about politics because there have been a lot of references to politics tonight and I’m best off not talking about it. \u00a0\u00bb
But for the most part, directors were eager to condemn the ban. Falling in line with statements from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Writers Guild of America, DGA President Paris Barclay said that \u00ab\u00a0transcending borders is kind of what we live for. \u00a0\u00bb The DGA, he noted, was founded by immigrants and said that even Billy Wilder was a refugee.
\u00ab\u00a0The DGA will always be a home for all directors,\u00a0\u00bb Barclay said.<\/p>\n

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