The 2021 Awards Season: Tessellating Campaigns
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Today’s article will be quick. I’ve noticed that the awards season as we once knew it is very different this year (obviously). By now, Academy Award nominations would have been announced, and Films Fatale would be releasing its rankings of every category. That clearly isn’t the case right now, considering that even the Golden Globes don’t have their nominations announced yet. However, AFI finally revealed its top ten films of 2020 just a few days ago (something they release early to mid December, if my memory is correct). The National Board of Review has given its awards out now (also a December event usually). Things are finally in motion.
Except they already have been, with some organizations not being too fazed at all. The Online Film Critics Society has given out its awards in late January, which isn’t too far from the early-to-mid January release they have been abiding to for the last couple of years (previously they were a December ceremony as well). The London Film Critics Circle Awards are well underway, as they are only one week (or so) off from their ceremony date from last year (an early February event rather than late January). Some events have been pushed, while others have occurred or will occur around their usual time slots.
So, what does this mean? Well, the awards season is being stretched out, with festivals and ceremonies tessellating rather than overlapping. It means that momentum can be a very dodgy ally this year; how can the string of wins from one time help bring a campaign all the way home to Academy Awards gold? This might not be a reliable source of staying power this year, with each festival and ceremony working strictly independently (for now). Maybe once we get into the postponed awards, things will feel a little more familiar.
For now, early predictions seem to be highly contested, thanks to the unpredictability of these spread out awards (well, outside of Nomadland claiming most Best Picture prizes, of course). Awards seasons will be normal next year (I hope), but 2021 is the year of the dark horse. The blueprints studios once used are crumpled, and they will have to make do with this year’s very different layout. I can guarantee the Academy Awards — the final stretch of the awards season race — will have surprises and upsets. I’m not sure how many (I’m not a gambler, so I don’t want to claim anything too erroneous), but I just know that the methods of old won’t work this year. It’s mightily interesting. How many of these smaller awards will affect the nomination and winning outcomes of their bigger siblings, especially when they’re all over the awards season timeline more than ever this year? I guess we shall see.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.