Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Wins Top Prize at Directors Guild of America Awards

The Revenant filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is continuing his awards season hot streak by taking home the top accolade at the Directors Guild of America Awards last Saturday.

The Mexican director, who won a Golden Globe for the movie last month, was feted at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles with his third award from the organization following his big win last year for Birdman.

Choking back tears while accepting the honor, the 52-year-old paid tribute to his late father, saying, “I think he’s getting some business up there to make this happen and I miss him a lot. This hug, this embrace you’re giving to me today is going to a whole country, a whole Latin American community in this country. The people who live here contribute a lot to this country.”

The victory gives Inarritu a big Oscars boost as the DGA champ typically goes on to repeat their success at the Academy Awards – as the filmmaker did in 2015.

The Revenant is up for 12 categories at the Oscars, including Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Supporting Role for Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, respectively.

Meanwhile, Alex Garland was honored by DGA officials for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director for Ex Machina, and David Nutter earned the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series prize for Game of Thrones episode “Mother’s Mercy.”

Dee Rees won for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries for Bessie, and Chris Addison was feted in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series category for Veep‘s Election Night episode.