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Source: CNN
With the Academy Awards only weeks away, it shouldn’t be any surprise that there are also several other awards shows taking place beforehand that many are hoping will give some greater insight as to how the Oscars will play out. However, it was just recently that quite a few awards shows took place, perhaps a few more than one would expect to take place over such a short period of time. Some of these awards shows narrowed the focus to a specific subsection of the filmmaking industry, others were broader in focus but were held and judged by a specific group of individuals. With there being so many awards shows taking place over the past couple days, it would not be fair to spotlight only one in particular, so what will happen here instead is a recap of each of the major awards that recently took place. The results of these awards shows (and any patterns or trends that can be determined from them) will be discussed, as will whether or not these results can serve as a trustworthy indicator of what will go down at the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 27th. Of course, even if one excludes Oscar predictions from the discussion, these various awards shows are all prestigious and commendable in their own way, and they are more than worthy of being talked about here today.
To start things off, there is the Annie Awards, which was held by ASIFA-Hollywood on Saturday, March 12th and gave out a variety of awards related to the multiple components of the animation industry. When it came to awards for feature films, the documentary “Flee” was awarded Best Independent Animated Feature, and the popular Disney musical “Encanto” also received three awards of its own. The big winner, however, was the Sony/Netflix film “The Mitchells vs the Machines”, which won a total of eight awards, including Best Animated Feature. Having acquired so many awards at what many consider to be the animation industry’s most renowned ceremony, one might be led to believe that “The Mitchells vs the Machines” would be a shoo-in for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. However, in recent years, the Annies and the Oscars have not always seen eye to eye, often choosing different films as their respective Best Animated Feature winner (such as in 2019, when the Annie went to “Klaus”, but the Oscar went to “Toy Story 4”). This is not to say “The Mitchells vs the Machines” doesn’t have a shot at the Oscars, but considering “Encanto” winning at the Critics Choice Awards and the BAFTAs (both of which are to be discussed) among others, a win is far from guaranteed.
Another recent awards show that centered itself around one specific component of filmmaking was the DGA Awards, which was held by the Directors Guild of America on Saturday, March 12th and honored members of the nation’s largest guild of film and television directors. When it came to film, only three awards were given out, two of which went to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who won Best Director – First Time Feature Film for her film “The Power of the Dog”, and Stanley Nelson, Jr., who won Best Director – Documentary for his film “Attica”. However, when it came to the biggest award of the bunch, Best Director – Feature Film, the award went to Jane Campion for her film “The Power of the Dog”, who ended up beating out such directors as Paul Thomas Anderson for “Licorice Pizza”, Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast”, Steven Spielberg for “West Side Story”, and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune”. This is far from the first Best Director award Campion has won over the past couple months (and far from the last, if the next awards to be discussed are any indication), so it should not be too surprising if Campion does win the Oscar as well, as is currently expected.
Next, there is the Critics Choice Awards, held on Sunday, March 13th, which covered many of the same categories that are to be found at the upcoming Academy Awards but were decided upon by professional film critics rather than Academy members. Of the films that took home multiple awards, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “West Side Story” each took home two awards (the former winning Best Actress for Jessica Chastain and Best Hair and Makeup, the latter winning Best Supporting Actress for Ariana DeBose and Best Editing), and “Belfast” and “Dune” won three awards each (the former winning Best Young Actor/Actress for Jude Hill, Best Acting Ensemble, and Best Original Screenplay; the latter winning Best Production Design, Best Score, and Best Visual Effects). However, “The Power of the Dog” was the biggest winner of the bunch with four awards: Best Director for Jane Campion, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and the biggest award of them all, Best Picture.
Similar events played out at another awards ceremony that took place on the same day, the British Academy Film Awards (often shortened to BAFTAs), although in terms of award distribution, the number of awards won by certain films did differ quite a bit. When looking at the total number of awards won by film, “Dune” won more than twice what its nearest competition achieved with five awards overall: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects. Also winning multiple awards were three movies, each of which won two awards. “CODA” received awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Troy Kotsur, and “West Side Story” won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ariana DeBose and Best Casting. Once again, however, it was “The Power of the Dog” that won the biggest awards of the evening, with Jane Campion once again winning for Best Director and the film being named Best Picture. With these successes, as well as those previously mentioned both here and in previous discussions, there’s a very strong chance that, barring any major upset, “The Power of the Dog” will reign supreme as the big winner at the upcoming Academy Awards.
The presence of four different awards over a span of two days proves just how close the end of the film awards season is, and there are less than two weeks until the biggest of the bunch, the Academy Awards, is set to take place. If what has happened so far is any indication, this year’s event will most likely be quite an interesting event, perhaps even more so than usual.
