DGA members and guests from all the guilds gathered in the Los Angeles Theater on April 30 for a special tribute to the late Director Norman Jewison. The event featured a screening of a special 4K DCP restoration of Jewison’s 1967 classic, In the Heat of the Night.

“Norman knew that his films were only as good as the talent of his collaborators that’s why tonight we invited all guilds to come and celebrate,” said DGA Past President Taylor Hackford in his welcome. “He loved this Guild and was a champion and a troubadour and fought all over the world [for Directors’ rights]. The best line he ever said to me was, ‘I want people to recognize themselves in the films that I make.’ So, let’s take a look at In the Heat of the Night.”

Jewison made his theatrical directorial debut with the 1962 comedy, 40 Pounds of Trouble, followed quickly by several more romantic comedies. With The Cincinnati Kid, he broke out of the romantic comedy genre as he began exploring a wide range of styles as well as the complex social issues such as racism and corruption that would characterize a number of his films throughout the coming years. 1966’s The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming, garnered Jewison his first DGA Feature Film Award nomination. The following year’s In the Heat of the Night brought another DGA nomination and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1967. A Soldier’s Story brought his third DGA Award nomination. He also received additional Academy Award nominations for Best Director for Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck. In 2010 for his extensive filmography, the DGA presented Jewison with the Guild’s most prestigious honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award.

In the Heat of the Night is widely considered one of the most important American films of the 1960s. In addition to the DGA Award nomination, the film garnered seven Oscars nominations, winning five, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Rod Steiger. The success of the film spawned two film sequels, and a television series of the same name. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”