Diversity at Globes with India voter

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), based in Los Angeles, US, which gives the awards, had only US voters till this year. The idea was to double the number of voters and expand globally, while increasing diversity and inclusion. The Golden Globes is significant as one of the few awards to recognise both motion picture and television achievements. The 80th Golden Globe Awards ceremony for the winners will take place on January 10, 2023.

Mumbai: It is a big honour for me to be invited by the 80th Golden Globe Awards as International Voter this year. In fact, I am the sole Indian invited as International Voter from 103 new voters from 62 nations in 2022, and that makes it even more special. It is a milestone in India’s voting presence in prestigious international film circles.

Diversity at Globes with India voter

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), based in Los Angeles, US, which gives the awards, had only US voters till this year. The idea was to double the number of voters and expand globally, while increasing diversity and inclusion. The Golden Globes is significant as one of the few awards to recognise both motion picture and television achievements. The 80th Golden Globe Awards ceremony for the winners will take place on January 10, 2023.

While I have been on the international juries of over 25 film festivals, including the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals, it is the first time, as a Golden Globes International Voter, I’m trying to tackle about 345 feature films!

It has been mind-boggling. Every year, I’m used to looking at 250-350 South Asian films for the Berlin Film Festival alone, for whom I’m India and South Asia Delegate, but that is spread over some months. So, in fact as I was doing both overlapping assignments, it meant I was trying to look at 600 films—phew! The Golden Globes, with a tighter deadline, demanded highly concentrated energy and very little sleep.

Now I’m curious if my tastes will match the Golden Globe’s winners.

The Golden Globes are far more egalitarian in their criteria than the Europeans, and include large numbers of mainstream films, and in some categories -- a key criterion is that you have to be released in a theatre in Los Angeles for a certain number of days. Theatrical release is irrelevant to most A-list festival juries.

The HFPA, keen to expand its voters beyond the US, as well as aim for gender equality and diversity, put out a call inviting applications for International Voters through FIPRESCI worldwide, routed through the India branch, of which I am a member. So I responded by sending in my application in a rush, as I was about to leave for Toronto and the US. Right after I returned to India that month, I received an email from Helen Hoehne, President, HFPA, confirming my selection. Am grateful to the Golden Globes, as well as FIPRESCI, for the opportunity.

All the three big film awards organisations—the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences-the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have faced a backlash of #SoWhite campaigns, and were accused of being greatly skewed, with mainly white, senior, male voters, which often translated into largely male, white-dominated award winners. And all three, including the Golden Globes, have taken measures to ensure a more gender balanced, ethnically diverse and inclusive voter base, and updated regulations. In fact, the Golden Globe’s total voting body, including 103 new international voters from 62 nations, now actually has a majority of women voters (52%) and 51.8% racially and ethnically diverse voters, including LGBTQIA+ voters, which is quite an achievement.

This diversity of voters globally has translated into a degree of global diversity in the nominations announced on December 12, with films and talents from various nations. This includes SS Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ from India earning two nominations, for Best Film-Non English Language and Best Original Song-Film for ‘Naatu Naatu’, composed by MM Keeravani, with lyrics by Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj.

As you see from the Golden Globe nominations, the Best Film-Drama nominations are dominated by top US studio productions —‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, ‘The Fabelmans’, ‘Tar’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis’ (directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann, but is a Warner Bros film). There’s a tad more elbow room for global talent in the Best Director nominations, which went to James Cameron (‘Avatar: The Way of Water’), Steven Spielberg (‘The Fabelmans’), American directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’.

There is a smidgen of global diversity and inclusion with Viola Davis getting Best Actress-Drama nomination for ‘The Woman King’, Jeremy Pope getting a Best Actor-Drama nomination for ‘The Inspection’, and British actor Bill Nighy getting a Best Actor-Drama nomination for ‘Living’.

It will be some years before we are able to see the full impact of diversity and gender equality reflected in the Golden Globe Awards. But it is a much-needed move in the right direction.

Earlier, festivals did not take Bollywood and mainstream Indian films too seriously, but in recent decades, all the major A-list festivals and most awards have included mainstream Indian films. The Berlin Film Festival, for whom I am India and South Asia Delegate, for instance, has regularly included in its mainly arthouse programme, mainstream Indian films like ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Don-The King is Back’; the Cannes Film Festival has shown ‘Devdas’, the Venice Film Festival has shown ‘Raavanan’ and Toronto Film Festival has shown ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’.

We should be seeing more of India globally, as Indian filmmakers are determined to seek global markets, especially in the post-Covid OTT-dominated world.

(Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin Film Festival, and independent curator based in Mumbai. She is a National Award winning film critic and International Voter on the Golden Globes.)