The Directors Guild of America announced the winners of the 2026 DGA Student Spotlight Awards for Underrepresented Directors, recognizing exceptional emerging Directors from film programs across the United States. Several recent NYU Film & TV graduates were selected as finalists and winners, including UGFTV alum Bryan Uvaldo '24 (BFA, Film and Television) as an Undergraduate Narrative Finalist for his film Playin' Around. Below, Bryan writes a few words about attending the awards.
"I was invited to the DGA theater in New York with various members of my cast and crew to celebrate my nomination as a DGA Award Finalist on June 23rd. It was a really special event where I was recognized among a lot of talented filmmakers for the 2026 DGA Student Spotlight Awards for Underrepresented Directors. We also attended a craft discussion panel with Celine Song beforehand. It was a small panel where the other finalists and I sat around her as she gave us advice on filmmaking.
I was a finalist for the Undergraduate Narrative East category, and I got to screen a minute of my thesis, Playin Around, as part of the little clip montage during the ceremony. After the ceremony, there was a small reception where all the finalists, winners, guests, and DGA members mingled."
Other NYU finalists include Caroline Gohlke for A Rare and Unique Item, Taylor Sanghyun Lee (Graduate Narrative East category-winner) for Parkside East, Ana Alpizar (Graduate first runner up) for Norheimsund, and Rishabh Raj Jain for A Dream Called Khushi (Happiness).