In what might be termed a mild surprise, Anora director Sean Baker took home the Feature Film Director prize at the 77th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards Saturday night, instantly thrusting him into the driver’s seat as the frontrunner for the Best Director trophy at the Academy Awards on March 2.

This weekend, the winners of the 77th Annual DGA Awards were announced at a wonderful celebration in Los Angeles. The 2024 awards season starting to wrap up with DGA and PGA winners this weekend, and ending with the Academy Awards airing in early March soon enough.

Hollywood’s award season has been uncharacteristically up for grabs, with half a dozen legitimate best-picture contenders. Some had pegged “Anora” as the frontrunner going into the season after it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.