The Directors Guild of America announced that the 79th annual DGA Awards, which celebrate the achievements of directors across film, television, and documentaries, will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2027.
The next ceremony will take place nine days after the nominations for the 99th Academy Awards are announced, and will be an important early barometer of which films and their leading writers will win Oscars.
The DGA date has been in a wave of news on the awards calendar in recent weeks. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has set the 99th Oscar Ceremony for Sunday, March 14, 2027, and the memorable 100th Oscar Ceremony for Sunday, March 5, 2028. The SAG-AFTRA Actor Awards are scheduled for February 28, 2027 and February 20, 2028, and the Producers Guild of America plans to hold the awards ceremony on February 27. The DGA has not announced the 2028 date.
At the most recent awards ceremony, held earlier this year and hosted for the first time by Kumail Nanjiani, Paul Thomas Anderson won the top award for Outstanding Directing Achievement in a Feature Feature Film for “One Battle After Another.” Anderson went on to win the Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture.
The DGA Awards have long served as one of the most reliable indicators of the Best Director Oscar race. Since the guild’s inception, its top film awards have matched the Academy’s selections all but eight times. The most recent fallout was in 2019, when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for “1917,” but lost the Oscar to Bong Joon-ho for “Parasite,” which also won Best Picture.
Unlike many award organizations, the DGA’s signature medallion recognizes the entire director’s team, honoring not only the director but also assistant directors, unit production managers, and key staff members.
The 2026 nominees are already showing great promise, thanks to box office hits like Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s “Project Hail Mary” and highly anticipated films like Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part 3” and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Digger.”
Details such as candidates and venue information will be announced at a later date.
