Arrival nets Denis Villeneuve Directors Guild nod

Canadian filmmakerDenis Villeneuveis among this year's nominees for the Directors Guild of America Awards for his widely praised sci-fi drama Arrival.

The industry guild representing directors of film, TV, documentaries andcommercials unveiled on Thursday its list of nominees recognized for feature films of the past year.

Montrealer Villeneuveearned his first-ever DGA nomination for Arrival, a dramatic, thought-provoking and time-twistingthriller starring Amy Adams as an American linguist enlisted to establish peaceful communication with aliens who have landed on Earth.

He is up for outstanding directorial achievement for a feature film against:

• Damien Chazelle for the contemporary musical La La Land.
• Barry Jenkins for the three-act, coming-of-age story Moonlight.
• Kenneth Lonergan for the character studyManchester By The Sea.
• Garth Davis for the based-on-a-true-story drama Lion.

Earlier this week, Villeneuve was honoured at the annual Toronto Film Critics Association awards gala with the group's 20th anniversary award for excellence.

The feature film winner of the DGA award is considered a front-runner for the corresponding directing honour at the Oscars (nominees for which will be announced Jan. 24).

The guild also unveiled the contenders for its new award for best first feature. The up-and-comernominees are:

• Davis for Lion.
• Nate Parker for his slave revolt dramaThe Birth of a Nation.
• Tim Miller for the antihero comic-book film Deadpool.
• Kelly Fremon Craig for the teen comedy The Edge of Seventeen.
• Dan Trachtenberg for the action-suspense tale 10 Cloverfield Lane.

The grouprevealed its nominees for best direction in television, commercials and documentary, on Wednesday. Prominent contenders include The Duffer Brothers (for Stranger Things), Jonathan Nolan (for Westworld), Donald Glover (for Atlanta), Ryan Murphy and John Singleton (both for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story).

Winners will be announced at the69th annual Directors Guild Awards, taking place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.,on Feb. 4.