Helen Hoehne, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, during the reading of the Golden Globe nominations, on December 13 in Los Angeles.ROBYN BECK (AFP)
How relevant can an awards show be without celebrities, audiences, or television broadcasts?
The Golden Globes are required to answer this question on Sunday.
Considered for decades one of the most important events in cinema, the awards organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) strive to demonstrate in its 79th edition that the
show
it must always continue.
The gala, which will not have a presenter or a red carpet, has replaced glamor with damage control.
Not only has it been the pandemic that has forced the changes, but also the drag of a year of controversy due to the lack of diversity and suspicions of bad practices of some of the members of the organization.
The Globes fight against oblivion in their year with the least luster.
Sunday's winners will be read in an austere ceremony that will take place at 6:00 p.m. (local time, 3:00 a.m. on Monday in Spain) at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
Opened in 1955, the hotel has been the home of the Golden Globes for 45 years.
The low-key 2022 ceremony will inevitably fill many of those who lived through the nights of yore with nostalgia: dinner for 1,300 guests and 900 bottles of champagne.
In 2017, chef Alberico Nunziata had nearly 200 kilos of Parmesan cheese brought from Italy for diners, many of them Hollywood royalty.
More information
The 2022 Golden Globes want to turn the page on the crisis with their new nominations
Being a member of the HFPA was the best passport to this world. The group, of only 87 people until a few months ago, concentrated a lot of power. They were courted by public relations agencies with gifts and exclusive access to movie stars, in the hope that they would make up for the favors with nominations. In 2015, the #OscarSoWhite movement broke out in Hollywood, the demand of minorities for greater representation in film and television. The Globes and their organizers failed to adapt to the speed demanded by the winds of change. Until last February they did not have any black person among their members, something that penetrated deeply in the middle of the debate that the United States maintains on racism. This scandal was joined by another caused by a series of revelations of corruption and mismanagement published by
Los Angeles Times
.
The HFPA has put itself at the center of this year's ceremony.
The organization, criticized because few members are dedicated full-time to reporting on the industry, included 21 new journalists as part of its reforms and reorganized itself with a new council.
The association also recalled this week that in 25 years they have donated 50 million dollars (about 44 million euros) to more than 70 initiatives related to the restoration of films, scholarships and humanitarian efforts.
02:19
Trailer of 'The Power of the Dog'
Benedict Cumberbatch, in 'The Power of the Dog', by Jane Campion, who aspires to seven Golden Globes.
“We accept the mistakes of the past, but there is also a commitment to the present and the future. There were sanctions and expelled people ”, explains a member of the organization that joined in October and asks not to be mentioned by name. The new member, who has a track record of several decades covering film, believes that the association has made the right adjustments. “We were told from day one that we cannot accept gifts from studies,” he says, while defending the tradition of awards: “We believe that a legacy must be preserved. If World War II didn't interrupt the Globes, why do it now? The spirit is to celebrate the best of film and television. That's all that matters".
Jane Campion's western
The Power of the Dog
starts as a favorite in the film categories alongside Kenneth Branagh's most recent play,
Belfast
. Both aspire to seven awards. Javier Bardem is nominated for his performance in Aaron Sorkin's
Ser los Ricardo,
about the television comedian couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Parallel Mothers,
by Pedro Almodóvar, has been selected in the non-English-language film section along with
Fue la mano de Dios,
by Italian Paolo Sorrentino. Composer Alberto Iglesias is also competing in the music category for his work on the Spanish director's tape. At the television awards,
Succession
leads with five nominations. Big Emmy winner
Ted Lasso
follows with four, as does the second season of
The Morning Show
.
Present at Sunday's ceremony will be Kyle Bowser, head of the Hollywood chapter of the NAACP, an organization against discrimination against African Americans, who will speak about efforts for inclusion. It remains to be seen who will hear the message. NBC announced in May that it was canceling its television broadcast (which it had been doing since 1996) and the association has confirmed that there will be no audience at the ceremony either. In addition, the specialized medium
Variety
reported that no famous person had agreed to present the ceremony, another sign that the stars have decided to turn their backs on this edition.
The Balloons crisis this year has left a void that is trying to be filled quickly. The Critics' Choice Awards have been the first to raise their hands at the opportunity. Its founder, Joey Berlin, who started in 1995 a group with some 500 radio and television film critics, has considered that the moment is ideal for the
sorpasso
. Berlin had his nominations - 14 more than his competitors - announced within hours of the HFPA unveiling theirs, unthinkable under normal circumstances. He also tried to have his ceremony at the Beverly Hilton. The pandemic, however, has put a stop to their fantasies. The organization announced on December 22 that the advancement of the omicron variant has forced the face-to-face gala to be postponed to a date yet to be defined.
The future of awards
LPB
The years of the pandemic have left a paradox.
They have increased the consumption of hours of movies and television series.
The figures, however, indicate that viewers have lost their appetite for the award galas.
Almost all have registered their worst audience data.
The Oscars suffered a 51% drop from the previous year, with just nine million viewers.
What future will the pandemic leave for the awards?
"We have known for years that audiences are falling because young people do not approach this format due to their consumption habits. Also because we know that the most popular films are not always represented," says a new member of the Foreign Press Association of Hollywood.
For him, the awards, however, must continue to function as talent scouts.
"The Golden Globes have great international value. Filmmakers from other countries are always looking for showcases where people can see their work and we continue to be that showcase."