Guillermo del Toro's 'The Shape of Water' wins DGA best film award

Guillermo del Toro has won the Directors Guild of America's top award for his fantasy drama "The Shape of Water".

del Toro bagged the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film award for his film, which is about a mute cleaning lady's unique bond with a sea creature.

The film recently swept the 90th Academy Awards nominations by receiving 13 nods.

The 53-year-old director edged out competitors Jordan Peele ("Get Out"), Christopher Nolan ("Dunkirk"), Martin McDonagh ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"), and Greta Gerwig ("Lady Bird") at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

"Inclusion is necessary if for no other reason than we're not hearing all the stories that need to be heard," he said in his acceptance speech, according to Variety.

Peele won the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film for his horror comedy "Get Out".

"I truly believe these stories that we make and these things we put out into the world, these stories of our love and passion, are the greatest weapons against the hate and the bigotry," Peele said in his acceptance speech.

In the television sphere, Reed Morano won the top drama series award for the "Offred" episode show "The Handmaid's Tale", while Jean-Marc Vallee won the movies for television and miniseries award for "Big Little Lies".

Matthew Heineman won the documentary award for his film "City of Ghosts", which chronicles the courageous citizen- journalists who secreted out a word about life in Raqqa, Syria when it was under Isis rule.

The award ceremony was hosted by Judd Apatow.