Director's Cut Awards to be held virtually on Feb. 24

By Kwak Yeon-soo

The poster for the 20th Director's Cut Awards for Film and Series / Courtesy of the Directors Guild of Korea

The 20th Director's Cut Awards for Film and Series will be held virtually on Feb. 24 after cancelling the 2020 and 2021 events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The nominees include films and series released since 2020.

Unlike other film awards, the Director's Cut Awards selects nominees and winners through votes from Korean directors only. The awards ceremony will be held without a red carpet, tuxedos or gowns.

The Directors Guild of Korea announced that it has added two new categories to reflect the growing interest in Korean content. The two categories are Drama Series, which became popular on streaming services during the pandemic, and Best International Film Director.

“We newly established the Best International Film Director category to find out what kind of international films Korean filmmakers are interested in,” the organizers said. The nominees for the category this year are Ryusuke Hamaguchi for “Drive My Car” (2021), Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland” (2020), Julia Ducournau for “Titane” (2021), Denis Villeneuve for “Dune” (2021) and Adam McKay for “Don't Look Up” (2021).

To mark the 20th anniversary of the event, there will be a special session where directors Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook will host talks.

The event will be streamed live at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 through Naver TV, VLive and Now.