Korean Canadian director Celine Song on Feb. 10 is all smiles after winning the Directors Guild of America Award for First-Time Feature Film Director for "Past Lives" at the hotel Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. (Yonhap News)

By Xu Aiying

Korean Canadian director Celine Song has won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for a directorial debut feature film for "Past Lives," and became the first ethnic Korean to do so.

At the annual DGA Awards on Feb. 10 at the hotel Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, she received the Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film.

Song said, "I think the best way I can honor this incredible recognition for my very first film is to promise that I will keep directing films as best as I can for as long as I can, so I am going to keep going. Thank you so much."

Based on the director's real-life experience, "Past Lives" is about a man and a woman who were childhood friends in Seoul reuniting for the first time in 24 years in New York. Most of the dialogue is in Korean, with Korean American actor Greta Lee and Korean actor Teo Yoo playing the lead roles.

The DGA's top honor of Theatrical Feature Film went to director Christopher Nolan for "Oppenheimer."

xuaiy@korea.kr