Ava DuVernay is expected to make history on Thursday by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards, but pundits and fans were crying racism and sexism on Tuesday when the Selma director failed to secure a nod for a Director's Guild of America award.  
The DGA Awards chose, instead, to nominate five men in the Best Director of a Motion Picture category. Selma also missed out on nominations from the Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild, American Society of Cinematographers and American Cinema Editors.

Despite the fact that many are outraged at the DGA's failure to recognize DuVernay and Selma, widely regarded as one of the best films of the year, others point out that there is virtually no historical correlation between a DGA Award nomination and a Best Director Oscar nomination. What's more, several other high-profile directors were left off the DGA list this year, including David Fincher (for Gone Girl), Damien Chazelle (for Whiplash) and James Marsh (for The Theory of Everything).
Regardless of the snub, there's no doubt DuVernay is the golden child of awards season for her breakthrough film, which stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. The film was nominated for four Golden Globe awards, including Best Picture – Drama, and took home the statuette for Best Original Song ("Glory," performed by Common and John Legend.)
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(Photos from left: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Variety, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)