The Great Prizes of Cinema

Njabulo Maseko • March 20, 2024

The Big Ones

As you read this, both the Academy Awards and the Golden Raspberry Awards will have announced the winners of the Best Picture awards and ended the awards season for most casual spectators. The awards season of 2024 has made for an interesting watch with noteworthy snubs causing controversy and increased interest, especially because of the films and people in contention: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer; Greta Gerwig’s Barbie; Emma Stone-led Poor Things; Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon; and many more. And while most commentators predict a first Best Picture win for Nolan, the race will be tight. To celebrate the most interesting awards season in a while, it would be interesting to consider which awards would be most significant for the films:

The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs Awards)

Founded by a group of British filmmakers in 1947, with David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia) as chairman, these awards are meant to recognise those who had contributed outstanding creative work towards the advancement of British film.” As a result, they have categories such as “Outstanding British Film” (in addition to the usual Best Film) and “Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer”. Judi Dench is the most successful individual with 6 wins and a huge 15 nominations for films like Mrs Brown and Iris. While Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is the most successful film with nine wins, the most nominated film being Gandhi. A notable feature of the BAFTAs is they’ll ability to predict the Oscars for categories like Best Actor or Best Director, as members of both the Academy of Motion Picture and the British Academy have several mutual members who vote on both sides; despite this, massive differences in Best Film – Dance with Wolves winning Best Picture against Goodfellas’ win at the BAFTAs – can still occur now and then.

The Golden Globe Awards

Founded by the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association in early 1944, the Golden Globes are one of the few awards to reward both films and television. Like the BAFTAS, they also award the best Dramas and Comedies rather than just the Best Film. Meryl Streep is the most nominated individual, earning a massive 33 nominations for films and shows such as Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady. Barbara Streisand has won the most Globes as an individual, winning for the likes of A Star is Born (one of three reboots) and Yenti, which she directed rather than acted in. The most successful film is Damien Chazelle’s La La Land which won Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actress – Musical or Comedy for Emma Stone, and Mest Actor – Musical or Comedy for Ryan Gosling among its seven wins. while Nashville (1975) is the most nominated ever, with eleven overall. The Globes have also had a more significant focus on international films than the Oscars, though 2024 suggests this may not be the case for long as both he Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, a German-language British film and a French film respectively, were nominated for Best Picture, following on All Quiet on the Western Front, a German film, earning nods the previous year.

The Academy Awards (Oscars)

While they’ve had their controversies – the infamous Will Smith slap, and La La Land being accidently named Best Picture instead of Moonlight – the Oscars are the most well-known film award show on the planet. Founded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and first held in 1929, the show has grown in popularity and is seen as the ultimate prize in cinema. Disney founder, animator, and producer Walt Disney is the most nominated individual with an unimaginable 59 and the most successful alongside VFX artist Dennis Muren (both 22). The most nominated films are the musical La La Land, box office juggernaut Titanic, and drama All About Eve all on 14. The most successful films are Titanic (again), Ben-Hur (one of five film adaptations), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) all on eleven, though The Return of the King is the only film in Oscar history to sweep the awards, winning all eleven awards it was nominated for.

While there are a lot more coveted awards for filmmakers to win, such as Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, these are the crowning jewels that mark just how successful a film truly was (and they give us a great many debates too!)