Directors Guild of America Awards

When it comes to predicting future Oscar winners, few institutions are as prescient as the Directors Guild of America. Only once in the past decade has the DGA honored a filmmaker who did not go on to win the Academy Award for Best Director; that took place in 2012, when the DGA selected Ben Affleck for Argo while the AMPAS went with Ang Lee and Life of Pi. If the DGA selects you as the best director of the previous year, you might as well start working on that Oscar acceptance speech.

The Directors Guild of America has officially unveiled its 2016 film nominees, a list that boasts very few — if any — surprises. Indeed, the DGA has added its voice(s) to the growing awards season choir, singing the praises of La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea — all but guaranteeing their Oscar nominations for Best Picture. The DGA has also revealed the nominees for First-Time Feature Filmmaker, which include Dan Trachtenberg for 10 Cloverfield Lane and (brace yourselves for this totally un-shocking shocker) Tim Miller for Deadpool.