The 70th Annual DGA Awards will be handed on Saturday, February 3rd, 2018.

As I have been doing for a few years, as we get into the awards season, I’ll post the fictional ballots for some of the guild awards, showing what my vote would be if I had one. I will, as a rule, abstain from my fictional vote if I haven’t seen at least half of the nominees. And to be perfectly clear, I’m not a member of any of these guilds and organizations.

The list of nominees can be seen here.

Here it goes.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Errol Morris, for Wormwood

Errol Morris created quite a nice watch, and he used all the tricks on the book to tell this story. (Not seen: The Vietnam War, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director: Taylor Sheridan, for Wind River

Taylor Sheridan tells this sad story with great confidence. He extracts quiet, efficient performances of his cast. Also, he directed of this most nerve-wracking action sequences of the year. (Not seen: Patti Cake$, Molly’s Game.)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film: Christopher Nolan, for Dunkirk

The story Dunkirk tells is, by itself, a very solid one; Nolan (doubling as writer), however, raised the emotional stakes and, by great use of music and editing, made this an extremely tense affair from beginning to end. (Not seen: Lady Bird, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.)