The Directors Guild of Canada will mark its forthcoming 40th anniversary with a new awards show – handing out trophies for above-par directing, production design and editing among its 3,700 members. DGC president Alan Goluboff and director David Cronenberg laid out plans and announced the nominees for the first annual DGC Awards, to be held at Toronto’s Boulevard Club on Oct. 5 and hosted by former Kids in the Hall star Dave Foley, at a recent press conference.

‘We should not be shy about congratulating ourselves and our membership,’ said Goluboff in a later interview. ‘There’s never enough congratulatory messages going out to filmmakers. With every passing year it becomes not easier but more difficult to produce film and television in this country. At every level it’s a struggle to produce films, it’s a struggle to direct films, it’s a struggle to make a living in this industry.’

Two categories of awards will be handed out. Four DGC Craft Awards will go to individual filmmakers for their achievements in directing, production design, editing and sound editing. The feature comedy Rare Birds leads the pack with three nominations: best direction for helmer Sturla Gunnarsson, best production design for Pam Hall and best picture editing for Jeff Warren.

Gunnarsson’s competition for the title of best director are Holly Dale for an episode of Nero Wolfe, Jeremy Podeswa for his stint on Queer as Folk, and David Winning for his ‘Moonshine over Harlem’ episode of Twice in a Lifetime.

The ‘Apprehension’ ep of Witchblade scored two nominations, for editor Mike Lee and production designer Franco De Cotiis.

The second round of kudos, the DGC Team Awards, considers all guild members who worked in recognized jobs on productions in seven other categories, including best feature film, best TV movie or miniseries, best children’s TV series and best documentary. Gunnarsson and his Rare Birds crew are also up for the best feature film spot, in the running against the crews of Lost & Delirious, Who is Cletis Tout? and The Barber.

There is surprisingly little duplication between the Craft and Team honors. Podeswa’s Queer as Folk and Winning’s Twice in a Lifetime eps share noms for best drama, but the other contenders, eps of Da Vinci’s Inquest and (the now-defunct) Emily of New Moon, did not make the cut in the craft category.

Goluboff says the guild wants to recognize the contribution of all its members. ‘A production assistant is an important, an integral part of any production, not just the key creative people like the director, designer or editor,’ he says, adding that the same goes for production coordinators, secretaries and accountants, also repped by the DGC.

The awards are part of the guild’s renewed efforts to better represent Canadian filmmakers. ‘I want to see the profile of our membership raised. I want to see people being aware of the work that we do – that we’re not just interfering and holding up traffic, but that it’s all connected to a healthy industry,’ he says.

Awards for lifetime achievement and distinguished service will also go to director Norman Jewison (The Hurricane, Moonstruck) and former DGC vice-president Grace Gilroy, respectively.

For a full list of nominees, go to www.dgc.ca.