The eighth annual Directors Guild of Canada Awards turned into a great night for female directors.

Kari Skogland led the whirlwind of girl power on Saturday night as she won the best feature director trophy for Fifty Dead Men Walking.

‘In this room are so many people who are so talented,’ an emotional Skogland said as she surveyed her DGC brethren at their annual kudos-fest.

She beat out fellow directors Patricia Rozema for Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl, Michael McGowan for One Week and Paul Gross for Passchendaele for the top DGC crown.

Also storming a traditional boys club at the Royal York Hotel gathering was Norma Bailey, who earned the best TV movie/miniseries director trophy for The Capture of the Green River Killer, and Holly Dale with the best TV series director prize for Flashpoint.

Carol Spier, best known for designing every David Cronenberg movie over 30 years, grabbed the best production design trophy for her work on Passchendaele and the 2009 DGC Lifetime Achievement Award — the first ever for a non-director.

Cronenberg, on hand to introduce Spier for her tribute, called his longtime collaborator ‘the poster child for what is best in Canadian creativity. She’s reliable and enthusiastic, and filled with a ferocity of invention and passion.’

Spier, who has earned eight Genie trophies for designing Cronenberg films, confessed to being ‘shocked for some time’ after being told she’d been named to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

‘Making a film is all about co-operation — set decorators, carpenters, special effects — as everyone makes sure everything works,’ Spier said, paying tribute to her co-workers.

She singled out for thanks producer Peter O’Brian for asking her to work with ‘a new young director’ in Cronenberg on his 1979 film Fast Company.

Spier also thanked Cronenberg for work on 13 of his movies and two CBC docu-dramas. ‘They’ve been very rewarding and very challenging,’ she said.

The 2009 DGC Awards also confirmed other industry trends, with Passchendaele picking up the best feature film team trophy after it earlier snagged six wins, including best movie, at the Genies.

Flashpoint gained awards-season steam going into the Geminis in Calgary as it picked up the best TV drama team award and the best TV series sound editing prize, in addition to the direction award for Dale.

‘I’ve been honored to work on Flashpoint. It’s probably the greatest Canadian TV series ever made,’ said Dale, who parries work on other Canadian series with stateside duty on shows like Jerry Bruckheimer’s Cold Case, Heroes and The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Other DGC winners Saturday night included Sturla Gunnarsson earning the inaugural Allan King Award for excellence in documentary for his work on Air India 182.

Gunnarsson, who is also the DGC president, earlier in the evening led a toast to Allan King, the veteran documentary maker who died this summer at age 79 after a short illness.

Also going home with hardware was Tim Bider for best TV movie/miniseries production design on The Summit, Benno Tutter for best TV series production design on The Border and Jeff Warren earning top honors in feature picture editing for High Life.

‘It’s a shock,’ Warren declared, looking at his DGC trophy on stage. ‘No one has seen it yet.’ The black comedy from director Gary Yates, about four morphine addicts who try to pull a bank heist, has yet to receive a theatrical release.

Other DGC craft award winners included Michael Lee for best TV movie/miniseries picture editing on ZOS: Zone of Separation and Wendy Hallam-Martin for best TV series picture editing on The Tudors.

Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning grabbed the team trophy for family TV movie/miniseries, and Heartland earned the team family TV series trophy.