DGA Announces 28th Annual Student Film Awards

deadline.com:

The DGA today announced the winners of its 28th annual DGA Student Film Awards for African American, Asian American, Latino & Women directors.

The awards were created in 1995 “to address the severe underrepresentation of directors of color and women in feature filmmaking by honoring, encouraging and bringing attention to exceptional diverse directors in film schools and universities across the country.” Student filmmakers at USC received seven of the 10 awards handed out in the western region – more than those at any other school in the country.

The awards ceremonies and screenings will be held at the DGA’s theater in New York today and in Los Angeles tomorrow. “We are proud to see the high caliber of diverse talent emerging from the 28th Annual DGA Student Film Awards,” said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter. “As we are committed to promoting inclusion in our industry, this program consistently draws a wide swath of submissions from a broad spectrum of filmmakers.

Although much has positively changed in the industry since these Awards were first created in 1995 by the DGA’s National Board, the statistics today for feature filmmakers who are women and people of color leave significant room for improvement. “We are proud of the many previous student director winners like Ryan Coogler, Patricia Riggen, and John Chu who have gone on to feature film success.