On August 19, the DGA's Los Angeles theatre complex was the setting for the 12th Annual VisionFest event presented by Filmmakers Alliance (FA). The Guild is a longtime supporter of FA'ss community of "managed mutual support" for a community of artists dedicated to independent filmmaking in Los Angeles.

DGA Director-member Alan Ball (True Blood, Six Feet Under) presented FA's Vision Award to producer Ted Hope who has been collaborating with both emerging and established filmmakers to create independent cinema for three decades. Hope is credited with having produced more than 50 films including: Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and The Wedding Banquet, Edward Burns' The Brothers McMullen, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 21 Grams, Shari Berman and Bob Pulcini's American Splendor, Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project, Todd Solondz's Happiness, Michel Gondry's Human Nature, Nicole Holofcener's Lovely & Amazing, Todd Field's In The Bedroom and Alan Ball's feature directing debut Nothing is Private. Previous Vision Award recipients include DGA Director-members Kevin Smith, Werner Herzog, Terry Gilliam, Mike Figgis, Wim Wenders, Allison Anders, Alexander Payne and David O. Russell.