LABA Attends the Directors Guild of America Awards 2023

Beverly Hills, California, USA. 18th February, 2023. The 75th Annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards were held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. TV host Joey Zhou, founder of the Los Angeles Beverly Arts (LABA), and director Harrison Engle, filmmaker and LABA Board member, attended the event and were able to meet many of the DGA award winners and recipients of special awards. The DGA awards ceremony celebrates the directors in television, documentaries, and commercials. Special awards are given to those of outstanding service and lifetime achievement to the DGA. The DGA was founded in 1936, and started the annual tradition of having awards ceremonies in 1948.

The top directing honors, "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film" went to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert directors of the film "Everything Everywhere All at Once". They won against some of the most popular films of 2022, including legendary director Steven Spielberg's “The Fabelmans”. On the television side, Bill Hader won for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" for “Barry,” and Sam Levinson won the "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series for “Euphoria”. The best director of a documentary film went to Sara Dosa for the film "Fire of Love", a National Geographic Documentary Film.

For a complete list of the nominees and DGA winners, click here.

Daniel Kwan, co-director of the film "Everything Everywhere All at Once," and Joey Zhou

Joey Zhou with the legendary film director, Steven Spielberg

The host of the DGA awards was Judd Apatow, who brought his light-hearted, comedic flair to the event. Judd Apatow has directed, produced, and written many of the biggest comedy films and TV shows of recent years including "The 40-Year Old Virgin", "Knocked Up", "This is 40", "Funny People", "Trainwreck," and "The King of Staten Island". He also developed the television shows "Freaks and Geeks", "Undeclared", "Girls", "Love and Crashing".

Judd Apatow, host of the DGA Awards 2023, and Joey Zhou

TV host Joey Zhou attended as a guest of Harrison Engle, a 25-year member of the DGA who has made more than 80 films and television programs over his multi-award-winning career. LABA Blue-chip artist Jiannan Huang attended by video conference to do an interview with Harrison Engle and LABA interview host Maxwell Gobbell during the event. Harrison Engle and Joey Zhou were both interviewed by Maxell Gobbell about the DGA awards and what their favorite movies were last year. It was an exciting evening for LABA, and LABA founder Joey Zhou was able to get photos with many of the other winners and guests during the evening.

Harrison Engle, director/filmmaker, and Maxwell Gobbell, LABA interview host

LABA Blue-chip artist Jiannan Huang

Jiannan Huang is one of the world's finest artists, specializing in Western oil painting and Chinese ink. He is ranked third on the 2020 Hurun China Art List and 19th on the Hurun Global List with sales of $29 million. Jiannan holds several positions - Director of the Chinese Traditional Culture Promotion Association, member of the French National Artists Committee, art consultant for the World Low Carbon Cities Alliance, and France Jiny City Gold Medal Honorary Citizen. He was awarded the title of "Earl" by the Indonesian Royal Family and in 2021, he was given an honorary membership into the Royal Society of St. George (RSSG), California Branch. In 2022, he received the RSSG "Master of Arts" Award and the LABA Most Influential and Most Valuable Artist Award.

Joey Zhou with DGA Awards program, and LABA interview host, Maxwell Gobbell

Joey Zhou and Anna Vogt who won a DGA Award as a part of the directing team for "Station Eleven, Who’s There?"

Actress Michelle Williams and Joey Zhou

DGA Lifetime Achievement in Television winner, Richard A. Fishman, Joey Zhou, and guest

Joey Zhou with actor Judd Hirsch

Joey Zhou and actor Gabriel LaBelle

The Beverly Arts News is sponsored by JHSZ International Art Institute