In this issue of SHOOT, the fifth installment of our Road To Oscar series includes coverage of the DGA panel discussion “Meet The Feature Nominees.” Panelists were DGA Award nominees Ben Affleck for Argo, Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, Tom Hooper for Les Miserables, Ang Lee for Life of Pi, and Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. The session filled three DGA theaters, the actual DGA L.A. headquarters venue where the directors appeared, an adjacent theater for overflow audience who saw the proceedings on the big screen via a video relay, and the DGA Theatre in New York which also got a video feed.
By contrast, two days earlier a lower profile get -together filled but one DGA theater in L.A. Yet its significance is not lost on the advertising industry and the filmmaking community at large. “Meet The Commercial Nominees” this time around featured four of the five directors up for the DGA Award as Best Commercial Director of 2012: Lance Acord of Park Pictures; Steve Ayson of MJZ and The Sweet Shop; Fredrik Bond of MJZ; and Tom Kuntz of MJZ. The fifth nominee, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of Anonymous Content, was unavailable that evening.
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the DGA Awards. But some 30-plus years ago, a Meet The Commercial Nominees event would have been considered monumental. That’s because there was no DGA Award category for commercials until 1980.
For commercials to have gained acceptance as an art form and to be embraced by the Guild is an achievement that shouldn’t be taken for granted–particularly for those of us old enough to remember a time when that was considered a pipe dream. We’ve come a long way indeed.
Taylor Hackford, president of the DGA, introduced last month’s “Meet The Commercial Nominees” event, citing the work of each nominee and welcoming the audience to “celebrate the best in commercial direction,” adding that “catching the eyes [of viewers] in this era of DVR fast forwarding” is an amazing accomplishment. Perhaps even more so is being able to stir emotion and thought in 30 or 60 seconds–that, affirmed Hackford, “is something only the best directors can accomplish.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More