Danny Boyle was chosen Best Director for the film "Slumdog Millionaire" Saturday night at the annual Directors Guild of America Awards. This brings the British native one step closer to the all coveted Academy Award for Best Director, since the DGA award recipient almost always wins the Oscar.

And, usually, the Academy Award-winning director's film usually wins Best Picture.

Other winners were The Office for television comedy, The Wire for TV Drama and Recount won for TV movie.

Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" won the documentary award, and is expected to take the Oscar for Documentary as well.

And, in what was the most touching part of the evening, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert was honored with an honorary life membership to the guild. Ebert, who can no longer speak because of complications from thyroid cancer, was fetted by testimonials from directors including Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorcese and Oliver Stone.

"The motion picture is the art form I love above all others," Ebert said in a statement recorded via a synthetic computer voice with a British accent. "It is the symphony, and you are the conductors."

Congratulations Roger and may you have a long, happy life to come!!

The Associated Press reported early today that apparently a backlash has started against 10-time Academy Award nominated film "Slumdog Millionaire."
Apparently, it's title is not such a hit in Mumbai, India, the same place where the film is set. The film is a rags-to-riches romance set in Mumbai's notorious slums.
Residents hit the streets in protest.
"I am poor, but don't call me slumdog," said Rekha Dhamji, 18, one of about two dozen slum residents who protested outside the home of one of the movie's actors, Anil Kapoor.
"I don't want to be referred to as a dog," she said.
Other protesters held up banners reading "Poverty For Sale," and "I am not a dog." One of them carried a puppy.
Nicholas Almeida, a social activist who organized the protest, said he planned to file a lawsuit on Friday to get the name changed.
The film, which tells the story of Jamal Malik, a poor youth who becomes the champion of India's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" television program as he searches for his lost love, has also been criticized for focusing on India's poverty.

Congratulations Danny Boyle -- it's official -- Slumdog Millionaire is a hit!