DGA Bars ‘You Can See Everything’ From Feature Prize — SkimNews
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- DGA confirmed that You Can See Everything will compete only in outstanding directorial achievement in documentary and will not be considered for outstanding directorial achievement in theatrical feature film.
- You Can See Everything is a documentary to the DGA because of how it was produced and submitted; the guild’s feature-award rules exclude documentaries, animated films and re-releases.
- A24 and its awards strategists sought to treat the film as both feature and documentary because its unusual construction blends nonfiction with staged narrative; the effort gained momentum after Amanda Seyfried was positioned for the Oscars’ supporting-actress race.
- You Can See Everything opened on Oct. 16 as a 174-minute film and drew some of the year’s strongest reviews and exceptional box office; critics and audiences debate whether it is a traditional documentary, a reality-TV-like concept or something new.
- DGA feature prize has aligned with the directing Oscar in all but a handful of years since 1949, and only eight winners have failed to win best director; without feature eligibility, the film loses a key piece of Oscar precursor momentum.
- Academy Awards submissions for You Can See Everything at the 99th ceremony include documentary feature, best picture, director, supporting actress for Amanda Seyfried and supporting actor for Christopher Abbott; best picture has never had a nonfiction film nominated.
- A24 remains in active discussions with awards bodies including BAFTA, SAG-AFTRA and the Golden Globes over how the film should be classified; nominations for the 79th DGA Awards are announced in January.
Why it matters: A24 loses access to the DGA feature prize, a directing-Oscar bellwether whose winner has failed to win best director only eight times. The film remains submitted at the 99th Academy Awards for documentary feature and best picture, the latter a category that has never nominated a nonfiction film.
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