Kathryn Bigelow is first woman to win DGA award

Kathryn Bigelow is first woman to win DGA award
The Hurt Locker director's victory at the Directors Guild of America awards puts her in pole position in the Oscar race
Xan Brooks
guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 February 2010 11.09 GMT


Lauded by her peers … Kathryn Bigelow with her Directors Guild of America award, presented by last year's winner Danny Boyle. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Kathryn Bigelow took a major step towards this year's best director Oscar when she scooped the top prize at the Directors Guild of America awards on Saturday. Bigelow became the first woman to win the DGA award in its 62-year history. No woman has ever won the Academy Award for best director.

The Hurt Locker
Production year: 2008
Country: USA
Cert (UK): 15
Runtime: 131 mins
Directors: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, David Morse, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Renner, Ralph Fiennes
More on this film
Bigelow won for The Hurt Locker, a tense, ground-level account of a US bomb disposal team on the streets of Baghdad. "We all felt a really deep responsibility to tell this story with as much honesty as possible, given the courage of the men and women in the field," Bigelow said. She took the prize ahead of fellow nominees Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and Golden Globe winner James Cameron (Avatar).

The director confessed that she was "stunned, honoured and proud" to have won. "This is the most incredible moment of my life," she added.

Until recently, Cameron had been regarded as the heavy favourite for this year's Academy Awards, following his win at last month's Golden Globes. But, thanks to her triumph at both the DGA and Producers Guild of America, Bigelow may now have nosed into pole position. Only six DGA victors have failed to go on to win an Oscar since 1948.

Elsewhere, the DGA bestowed a lifetime achievement award on the veteran film-maker Norman Jewison. The Canadian-born film-maker, now 83, is best known for directing In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck.

Nominations for the 82nd annual Academy Awards will be announced in Los Angeles tomorrow.

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