Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron won the top honor from his peers at the Directors Guild of America on Saturday (January 25) for the movie "Gravity," cementing him for Oscar gold in March.

After winning the DGA prize as well as the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for directing, Cuaron is now the front-runner for the Academy Award directing prize for his space thriller about an drifting astronaut's fight for survival.

SOUNDBITE, Alfonso Cuaron, director, saying (English):

"Well, this is truly an honor, I'm humbled by being recognized by your peers, that's... I still around directors, and directors I've known for a long time, I still have this kind of thing/crush, and I get very nervous talking to them."

Backstage, speaking in Spanish, he told reporters that he didn't know whether he was a shoe-in for the Oscars in March.

But the DGA is often a good indicator of Oscar winners -- since 1948, there have been only seven occasions when the DGA winner has