Deutsche Welle (English edition)
Diversity grabs spotlight at this year's Golden Globes
Despite Black actors like Andra Day and the late Chadwick Boseman winning awards for their performances, lack of diversity was a key theme at the awards.
The 78th Golden Globes awards took place on Sunday — although this year, the red carpet and flashing lights of photographers were replaced with a bi-coastal virtual event hosted from both New York City and the ceremony’s usual location in Beverly Hills, California.
The evening's big movie winner was the film Nomadland, which took home best motion picture drama while its director, Chloe Zhao, was awarded best director, making her the first woman since 1984 and the first woman of Asian descent to ever win the prestigious award. The unique road trip story, starring Francis McDormand in the lead role, tells the tale of a woman who decides to live her life out of a van, meeting others who have chosen to do the same along the way.
Although McDormand was up for best actress, the winner for best actress in a motion picture drama was Andra Day for her role in the biographical film The United States vs. Billie Holiday.
The best actor in a movie drama award was given posthumously to Chadwick Bosemanfor his role in the Netflix movie Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman
passed away in August 2020 at the age of 43 after a battle with cancer. The award was accepted by his widow, who brought many to tears while saying she could never be as eloquent as her late husband.
Blasted for lack of diversity
Aside from Zoom fails and kids and pets entering the picture, there were some major issues with this year's ceremony. Shortly before airing, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) suffered a major blow, most notably by the revelation that there are no Black members on the 87-person body that determines the awards.
The evening's hosts, comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, addressed the topic early in the evening, saying, "Even with stupid things, inclusivity is important." The duo mentioned that "a number of Blackled projects were overlooked." For example, there were no
best picture nominations for season frontrunners, including Judas and the Black Messiah, Da 5 Bloods, One Night in Miami, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Throughout the evening, actors and actresses made calls for diversity throughout the event, most powerfully Jane Fonda, who made it the theme of her acceptance speech for the honorary Cecil B. DeMille award. "There's a story we've been afraid to see and hear about ourselves,'' she said, "a story about which voices we respect and elevate and which we tune out: A story about who's offered a seat at the table and who's kept out of the rooms where decisions are made."
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association made an on-stage apology for its lack of diversity — but did not mention how the organization would make changes.
A royal winner
On the TV front, the big winner was The Crown, the historical fiction series about the British royal family, which took home the Golden Globe for best TV drama.
Golden Globes also went to the actors playing major characters from season four: Emma Corrin as Princess Diana and Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles. It was the first Golden Globe win for both.
Another Netflix series, The Queen’' Gambit, which tells of the trials and tribulations of a chess prodigy, won in the best limited TV series category. Anya TaylorJoy, who plays the series' protagonist, won best actress in the category.
With such wins under its belt, one could say that streaming service Netflix was the champion of the evening, with shows and movies it hosted garnering 42 nominations, leading to 10 wins.
Yet on Sunday night, there was one big TV category winner that is not under the streaming service's dominion: Schitt's Creek won best TV comedy, with actress Catherine O'Hara seeing victory as best actress in the category, as well.
Better luck next time, Zengel
Award-winning 12-year-old German actress Helena Zengel,nominated for her role in the Netflix film News of the World, where she played alongside Tom Hanks, went home
empty-handed.
Veteran actress Jodie Foster took home the award for best supporting actress for her role in the political thriller The Mauritanian, kissing her wife on-screen when she heard the news. The Golden Globes have a particular significance for Foster, who came out of the closet eight years ago at the event.
Other highlights of the evening included wins in the best motion picture - musical or comedy category for comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who was deemed best actor for his role in Borat Subsequent Movie lm. The movie also won best film in the same category.
The 78th awards ceremony, which took place two months later than originally scheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic, was the first-ever virtual Golden Globes event. Naturally, the evening was not without Zoom fails, which began early in the evening: The first winner, Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah, was initially on mute when he accepted his award.
The Berlinale has a certain number of established rituals. Braving the normally bitter endof-February weather — when the international film festival usually takes place — there's always a crowd of die-hard autograph collectors flocking at the corner of the street where actors and filmmakers are dropped off from limousines ahead of their movie's press conference. And before the premiere of a film, fans spend hours waiting to see their favorite stars walk up the red carpet, hoping to get a selfie or simply to soak up the exciting atmosphere of the festival, even if it's freezing outside.
Meanwhile, journalists usually run around from one press screening to the other, scrambling to fit in press conferences and interviews into their packed schedule, all while quickly filing stories on deadline.
All that won't be happening this year — at least not during the part of the festival kicking off next week.
Film industry first
Due to the pandemic, the organizers of the Berlinale have decided to split the festival into two separate events. An industry event, restricted to film professionals and the press, is happening online from March 1 to 5, while the "summer special," which will feature public screenings, is set for June 9-20.
The industry rvent primarily
serves as an alternative platform for the European Film Market (EFM), which is one of the top three meeting places of the international film and media industries, along with Cannes and the American Film Market.
As these events have an established order in the film industry calendar, Berlin's market — barring a complete cancellation — definitely had to take place in the first quarter of the year. Holding the entire festival in June to allow the usual Berlinale synergy between the public and the filmmakers "would have been too late," explained Frauke Greiner, the festival's press spokesperson. "It wouldn't have been good for the film industry."
A filmmakers' hub
But even without the hordes of film fans, it will be a busy week: Over 470 companies from nearly 60 countries have registered for the digital version of the EFM. Without the usual travel expenses, the format is also attracting many new players, with nearly 200 companies participating in the EFM for the first time, according to the
market's website.
Those registered industry insiders will have access to a dizzying list of 780 films available for market screenings, not to mention the 90 "EFM Industry Sessions" planned during the week — which include discussions, workshops and pitching opportunities.
A streamlined selection
Meanwhile, the Berlinale has streamlined its official selection. Although the program's different sections still feature way more films than a human can possibly watch in a day, there are for instance only 15 films in the official competition this year. The selection of works usually vying for the Golden and Silver Bear awards usually includes around 20 titles.
While the press has also been invited to cover the festival, not all titles are directly available for media coverage. Film producers — and not the festival — were entitled to determine whether they wanted to have their production available online for press screenings, or restrict them through geo-blocking for specific regions.
Including film critics in this part of the festival "was above all an offer to the productions, in order to support those who already wanted to create a certain media visibility for their films," Greiner told DW. Some films, she said, willingly took on the offer, while others decided that they would rather keep their media launch for the summer, during the public festival. "We're now in the industry event, that always needs to be emphasized," Greiner added.
Two German films with a special status
Most productions chose to include press promotion in this phase of the Berlinale. Among the 15 competition titles, only two films are not included on the media's screening platform.
They both happen to be German movies: actor Daniel Brühl's directorial debut, titled Next Door, and Dominik Graf's Fabian–Going to the Dogs, based on the 1931 novel by Erich Kästner, set in Berlin just before the Nazis took power.
In Germany, these few keywords alone are enough to create a media buzz. But unless the films win an award, the movie directors and actors are keeping their public appearances and interviews for the June festival.
Online streaming vs. film theaters
The decision to sidestep the Berlinale's media service in March was in no way related to fears of having the films illegally copied by allowing them to be streamed online ahead of the premiere. Lupa Film producer Felix von Boehm, who's behind
Fabian–Going to the Dogs, told DW he absolutely trusted the Berlinale's server. With several festivals being held completely online since the beginning of the pandemic, there are meanwhile "extremely high security standards, with watermarking," confirmed the Berlinale's spokesperson.
For producer Boehm, it was rather because "the film was made for the big screen, for the cinema," and, respecting current coronavirus hygiene restrictions, their production preferred to organize press screenings in different German cities ahead of the festival. "I'm personally a great advocate of cinema, and of cinemas as a venue," said Boehm, "That's why I chose that option."
Producers with Warner Bros. Germany were not available to comment on their specific reasons for keeping Next Dooroff the Berlinale's media platform. But with Daniel Brühl being one of Germany's most recognizable names on the list of directors, strategically speaking, it does make sense to focus on celebrating the film's actual world premiere in June with him, and with the fans, on the red carpet.