David Cronenberg, John Cassar and Jeremy Podeswa are among the Canadian directors who were acknowledged for their work in film and TV by the Directors Guild of Canada on Saturday night.

The DGC on Saturday night celebrated its 50th anniversary and handed out its annual awards at an event hosted by comedian Sean Cullen at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

For A Dangerous Method, Cronenberg won for best feature film direction, while Cassar received an award for best direction for a TV movie or mini-series for episode seven of The Kennedys. Jeremy Podeswa was named best director for a television series for Death on a Pale Horse, an episode of The Borgias.

The national organization also shed the spotlight squarely on Canadian costume dramas The Borgias and The Kennedys, with both productions sweeping several TV categories.

The Borgias, a Canada-Ireland-Hungary coproduction from Toronto-based Take 5 Productions and Ireland’s Octagon Films and Hungary’s Mid-Atlantic Films, earned honours for best TV series drama, best picture editing (Lisa Grootenboer) and best production design (Francois Seguin) for a TV series.

And the Canadian mini-series The Kennedys, from Montreal-based Muse Entertainment, in association with Asylum Entertainment and Shaw Media, took the top prize for TV movie or mini-series, and awards for picture editing (Don Cassidy), production design (Rocco Matteo) and sound editing (Mark Gingras, Jill Prudy, Kate Halliday, John Laing and James Robb) in a TV movie or mini-series.

Named best feature film, A Dangerous Method also received honours for best production design (James McAteer), best picture editing (Ron Sanders) and best sound editing (Rob Bertola, Tony Currie, Alastair Gray, Michael O’Farrell, Gren-Erich Zwicker).

Jason Priestley-starrer Call Me Fitz, created by Sheri Elwood was named best comedy TV series and tapped for best sound editing for a TV series (Fred Brennan, Rob Bertola, Sue Fawcett), while CBC drama Heartland was named best family TV series.

And White Pine Pictures’ West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson, directed by Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, received the Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary, while Patch Town, directed by Craig Goodwill and produced by Anneli Ekborn took the prize for best short film.

Elsewhere, the organization also presented three special award acknowledging creative achievements and contributions to the Canadian industry.

The DGC Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Michael Anderson, while John Houston received the Don Haldane Distinguished Service Award and Peter Grant received the DGC Honourary Life Member Award.