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Calls for diversity set the tone on the Directors Guild Awards red carpet

President Paris Barclay speaks onstage at the 68th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.

President Paris Barclay speaks onstage at the 68th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.

(Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for DGA)
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Most award shows are air-kissy affairs, full of platitudes and over-the-top fashion. But at the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday, President Paris Barclay set a more serious tone in his opening remarks, noting the guild’s role in the industry-wide discourse about diversity.

That was also what most of the evening’s guests discussed on the red carpet, where Barclay said he believed the cries for inclusion were “almost at a deafening point.”

“You’re not just hearing from the unions or the civil rights leaders -- you’re hearing from people who care about the industry and where we’re heading in the future,” said Barclay, who was flanked on the red carpet by his young son. “I think pretty soon it will be very difficult for the studios and the networks not to answer. Until producers start making more ‘Transparents,’ we’re not gonna have those nominees and our membership is not gonna change.”

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Dee Rees, the “Pariah” filmmaker nominated for writing and directing the HBO film “Bessie,” admitted she too was frustrated by the exclusion of certain voices from the awards process.

“I feel like they only talk about half of the conversation,” Rees said. “It’s not only with the films that weren’t nominated, it’s with the films that were nominated. I think a lot of mediocrity gets celebrated ... and I don’t think all the movies are getting watched and judged and fairly seen because of their subject matter.”

As a black lesbian filmmaker, Rees felt a sense of responsibility to speak out about inequality, she said. Marielle Heller, nominated for directing “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” agreed, saying she wanted to “band together with women directors” since she was one of the few who had a platform.

“I’m hoping next year that half of the nominees are women,” she said with a smile. “And the next year there should only be allowed to be one man. Because that’s only fair.”

But “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy, who was up for the evening’s biggest feature prize, said he remained optimistic about the industry’s ability to change. Though the outcry over #OscarsSoWhite was initially “a little charged and unfocused,” he said, now “what we’re feeling is our community is capable” of moving the needle.

“It’s one of the reasons I got involved in the arts specifically -- because of all the different kind of people it attracts,” the filmmaker said. “I would actually bet on our community to make change ahead of the rest of the status quo.”

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amy.kaufman@latimes.com

Follow @AmyKinLA on Twitter for more news from the DGAs

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