Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg will duke it out yet again for the Directors Guild of Canada’s best achievement in directing honor, but not if Wiebke von Carolsfeld and Mario Azzopardi have anything to say about it. The nominees for this and all of the other DGC awards were announced Aug. 14 in Toronto. Egoyan is nominated for Ararat; Cronenberg for Spider; von Carolsfeld for Marion Bridge and Azzopardi for Savage Messiah.

Ararat and Spider are also nominated in the best feature category, along with Tim Southam’s The Bay of Love and Sorrows, and Deepa Mehta’s Bollywood/Hollywood.

Nominees for best MOW or mini are 100 Days in the Jungle from director Sturla Gunnarsson, Trudeau by Jerry Ciccoritti, Torso from helmer Alex Chapple and John N. Smith’s Random Passage. Ciccoritti and Gunnarsson join Guy Maddin (for Dracula: Pages From A Virgin’s Diary) and Don McBrearty (The Interrogation of Michael Crowe) in the best direction in a MOW/mini heat.

Blue Murder, Queer as Folk, The Eleventh Hour and Da Vinci’s Inquest are nominees for the best TV drama series prize, while Made in Canada will take on itself (episodes ‘Best Seller’ and ‘Beaver Creek Valentine’ are both up), Blackfly and An American in Canada for the comedy series nod. Ace Lightning, Degrassi – The Next Generation, Mentors and Strange Days at Blake Holsey High are nominated in the children’s series category.

Nominees for the best direction in a television series are Holly Dale for Just Cause: ‘Buried Past’; Kelly Makin for Queer as Folk: Episode 305; Bruce McDonald for Degrassi – The Next Generation: ‘White Wedding;’ and Lynne Stopkewich for The Atwood Stories: ‘Man From Mars.’

Manfred Becker’s Death of a Warrior, Mitch Gabourie’s Mob Stories: ‘Rocco Perri – King of the Bootleggers,’ Malcolm Clarke’s Prisoner of Paradise, and Samuel Canard: ‘Bridging the Atlantic’ by director Peter Rowe will compete for the best documentary prize.

Awards will also be handed out for best production design, best picture editing and sound editing, in both long- and short-form categories. Spider is nominated in all three long-form categories, and Queer as Folk is nominated in all three short-form categories.

The DGC Awards will be presented on Oct. 4 at the Carlu in Toronto.

-www.dgc.ca