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SYFY WIRE Awards Season

Awards race roundup: Genre racks up nominations from Art Directors Guild, American Cinema Editors, more

By Josh Weiss
Zouwu Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Despite the disappointing results of the 76th Golden Globes, genre fare is still in the awards season game, particularly after the announcement of several technical award nominees.

Today, the contenders were announced for the American Cinema Editors AwardsArt Directors Guild AwardsDirectors Guild of America Television Awards, Writers Guild of America Awards for film and television, and American Society of Cinematographers Awards. Not surprisingly, the categories of these ceremonies are dominated by sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films, series, and games.


In the editing department (also known as the "Eddie Awards"), both First Man and Deadpool 2 are nominated for Best Editing in Drama and Comedy, respectively. Elsewhere, Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are all competing for Best Edited Animated Feature Film. Homecoming, The Good Place, Westworld, and Killing Eve also received nods in the television categories.

The 69th Annual Eddies will be held on February 1 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


The Art Directors Guild nominees include even more genre hopefuls, as sci-fi, fantasy, and horror often require much more elaborate, complex, and fantastical set dressings.

First Man is representing Best Period Film, whereas Best Fantasy Film is full of nothing but genre films: Black Panther, Ready Player OneThe House With a Clock in Its Walls, Mary Poppins Returns, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. In the Contemporary Film category, one can find A Quiet Place and Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

The aforementioned animated features are present in the Animated category, but are also joined by Illumination's The Grinch and Disney Animation's Ralph Breaks the Internet. Television finest include: A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Man in the High Castle, Westworld, Castle Rock, The Handmaid's Tale, The Alienist, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, Maniac, The Good Place, Homecoming, and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.

The 23rd Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards will be held on Feb. 2 at the InterContinental in Downtown Los Angeles.


The Directors Guild Award nominees for the world of television recognized Daina Reed (The Handmaid's Tale), Cary Joji Fukunaga (Maniac), David Leveaux and Alex Rudzinski (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert), and Jack Jameson (Sesame Street).

Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events racked up three nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs thanks to the work of Allan Arkush (“Hostile Hospital: Part 1”), Barry Sonenfeld (“The Vile Village: Part 1”), and Bo Welch (“The Ersatz Elevator: Part 1”), J

The 71st Annual DGA Awards will be held on February 2 at the Hollywood and Highland Center's  Ray Dolby Ballroom.


For the Writers Guild Awards, Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole) and A Quiet Place (Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski) were the only two genre movies nominated in the Original and Adapted screenplay categories, respectively.

Video games are another story with recognition of Assassin’s Creed OdysseyBatman: The Enemy Within, God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Pillars of Eternity II.

Among the television writing nominees are: The Handmaid's Tale, The Good Place, GLOW, Homecoming, Castle Rock, Maniac, The Haunting of Hill HouseThe Walking Dead: Red Machete, The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, and A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The Writers Guild Awards will be held on February 17 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


Lastly, the American Society of Cinematographers released the nominees for their awards as well, Variety confirmed.

The only cinematic genre hopeful is First Man, which was shot by Linus Sandgren; this was the DP's second collaboration with Damien Chazelle since La La Land. Sandgren also oversaw photography on Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

Television had better genre representation with The Man in the High Castle (Gonzalo Amat, “Jahr Null”) for Best Non-Commercial Television, Gotham for Best Episode of a Series for Commercial Television (David Stockton, "A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight"), and The Terror for Best Motion Picture, Miniseries, or Pilot Made for Television (Florian Hoffmeister, "Go for Broke").

The ASC Awards will be held on