The CBC miniseries Essex County leads the television nominees for the 22nd annual Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) Awards, which will be handed out in a gala ceremony on Oct. 21, the first in-person DGC ceremony held in Toronto since 2019.

The annual DGC revealed the nominations for television series, movies for television and mini-series on Friday (Aug. 25), while nominations for feature films, documentaries and short films will be announced at a later date, as will the shortlist for the DGC’s Jean-Marc Vallée Discovery Award.

Essex County, an adaptation of Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel trilogy of the same name, received a leading four nominations, including Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television or Mini-Series for series director Andrew Cividino, who is also an executive producer on the series.

The First Generation Films-produced five-part series also received nominations for Best Production Design – Movies for Television or Mini-Series for Brian Kane; Best Picture Editing – Movies for Television and Mini-Series for Chris Mutton, Sandy Pereira and Dev Singh; and Best Sound Editing – Movies for Television or Mini-Series for Alan Geldart, Aravind Sundar and John Laing.

Joining Essex County in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television or Mini-Series category are Danielle Sturk for Ici Télé’s El Toro; Aisling Chin-Yee for CBC’s Plan B (KOTV); Anya Adams for Disney Channel’s Prom Pact; and Simone Stock for Lifetime’s The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story.

Nominated in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series award are Vincenzo Natali for Prime Video’s The Peripheral; James Marshall for Netflix’s Wednesday; Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Zoe Hopkins, who were both individually nominated for their work on the Crave and APTN lumi series Little Bird (Rezolution Pictures, OP Little Bird); and Tracey Deer for Prime Video’s Three Pines.

CBC comedy Sort Of (Sphere Films) picked up three nominations, including Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Comedy Series for Fabrizio Filippo, who also co-created the show and serves as co-showrunner, as well as best production design and best editing for a comedy or family series.

The series contending for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series alongside Sort Of are Zoe Lister-Jones for The Roku Channel’s Slip (Boat Rocker Studios, TeaTime Pictures); Renuka Jeyapalan for CBC’s Son of a Critch (Project 10 Productions); Jeremiah S. Chechik for Syfy’s Reginald the Vampire (Great Pacific Media, Cineflix Studios, December Films, Modern Story Company); and Pat Mills for CBC’s Run the Burbs (Pier 21 Films).

Also receiving three DGC nominations was Apple TV+’s Jane, about a nine-year-old budding environmentalist trying to save endangered animals. The series, from Sinking Ship Entertainment, is up for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Family Series for director J.J. Johnson, and also received nods for best production design and best sound editing for a comedy or family series.

The other series nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Family Series with Jane are Felipe Rodriguez for Ruby and the Well (Shaftesbury); Jonathan Rosenbaum for Apple TV+’s Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock; Grant Harvey for Hallmark Channel’s The Way Home (Neshama Entertainment); and Lisa Rose Snow for TVOKids’ Odd Squad (Sinking Ship).

A full list of nominees are available on the DGC website.

Image courtesy of First Generation Films