20th Director’s Cut Awards for Film and Series set for Feb. 24

A poster of the 20th Director’s Cut Awards [DGK]

The 20th Director’s Cut Awards for Film and Series will be streamed live on Feb. 24, the Directors Guild of Korea (DGK), which organizes the event, announced Wednesday.

According to the DGK, the Director’s Cut Awards went through different transformations since its launch in 1998, to cater to the changing trends.

A major change this year is the addition of drama series that became immensely popular on OTT services during the pandemic. Korean film directors like Yeon Sang-ho also directed hit OTT series like “Hellbound” (2021).

Moreover, as the events for 2020 and 2021 had to be canceled amid the pandemic, this year’s event will combine all the films and drama series released since 2020.

Another new category is the Best International Film Director. According to DGK, it decided to newly establish this category as “it is worthwhile to find out what kind of international films that Korean film directors are interested in.” The nominees for this catetory are Ryusuke Hamaguchi for “Drive My Car” (2021), Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” (2020), Julia Ducournau for “Titane” (2021), Denis Villeneuve for “Dune” (2021) and Adam McKay for “Don’t Look Up” (2021).

To mark the 20th anniversary of the event, there will be a special session where directors Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, who have taken home the most awards over the past 19 events, will deliver talks.

Unlike existing film awards, the Director’s Cut Awards selects nominees and winners through votes from Korean directors. The awards ceremony is also held informally, without any evening gowns or a red carpet.

Some previous winners of the Director of the Year award include directors Park and Bong, as well as Lee Chang-dong and Na Hong-jin.

The event will be streamed live at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 through Naver TV, VLive and Now.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]