Guide to awards season 2023, from Golden Globes to the Oscars

The results of last night’s return to TV for the Golden Globes after years of scandals, boycotts and declining viewing figures may yet take some time to be known.

What we do know is that awards season is back after two years of cancellations, postponements, scaled-back or online events, and chaotically rearranged calendars courtesy of Covid-19. Traditionally, the Globes have marked the start of awards season.

Scroll through images of Golden Globe-winning films below

However, there’s plenty more to look forward to for fans of high fashion, emotive speeches, tearful farewells and big, boisterous musical numbers over the next couple of months.

If the Globes have whetted your appetite, or if you were boycotting it and waiting for the next one, here’s the pick of what’s coming up between now and the Oscars on March 12.

Critics Choice Awards, January 15, Fairmont Century Hotel, Los Angeles

If a Globes replacement is needed in future to open the awards season, it is surely the CCA. The ceremony has plenty of stardust — Chelsea Handler presents this year, assisted by Michelle Pfeiffer, Kate Hudson and Miles Teller, among others, and the nominations are led by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's Kung Fu-comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once with 14.

Ke Huy Quan with Golden Globe award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in any motion picture for Everything Everywhere All at Once. AP

About 200 critics from the US and Canada vote, so the panel is almost twice the size of the Globes's hurriedly expanded effort. The CCA threw down the gauntlet last year when it hopped into the Globes's traditional first-weekend-in-January slot, though it’s moved back to the second week this year. If the CCA has an obvious weakness, it’s that its 40+ categories, recognising both film and TV, can be an almighty slog for even the most devout celeb watcher.

Baftas, February 19, Royal Festival Hall, London

The Bafta s are the awards of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, but that doesn’t stop stars from attending. The movie industry has gone global, and few countries collaborate as frequently as the US and UK.

Take Star Wars, a quintessential British franchise. The original trilogy was shot at the UK’s Elstree Studios, taking a British crew on location shoots. When Disney re-energised the franchise with 2015’s The Force Awakens, it even classified it as British, albeit probably more for tax purposes rather than any great sense of pride in the space opera’s cultural heritage.

Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin. AP

It’s no surprise, then, to find all-American films such as Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis jostling for this year’s Best Film longlist with more obvious Brit fare including The Banshees of Inisherin and Aftersun.

There will be some changes to the ceremony this year, including a second presenter interviewing the stars backstage (presenters TBC — last year Rebel Wilson took the reins), live music from “newcomers and legends" and, for the first time, the live presentation of all four of the big final categories rather than the usual delayed BBC broadcast. Nominations will be announced on January 19.

Screen Actors Guild Awards, February 26, Fairmont Century Plaza, Los Angeles

The Sag Awards are the highest-profile of the awards handed out by Hollywood’s Guilds.

The faces are familiar, though the event can get a little melodramatic with tearful speeches, heart-wrenching calls to action and inspiring rags-to-riches tales aplenty. The judges number just over 4,000 actors from screen and TV, and they award prizes to ensemble casts and stunt performers too.

In a world as self-obsessed as that of your average Hollywood thespian, that should be applauded. Nominations are announced on January 11.

Independent Spirit Awards, March 4, Santa Monica Pier

From left, Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once. AP

The Independent Spirt Awards celebrate the best indie cinema and there are a few changes this year.

The qualifying budget has been increased from $22.5m to $30m, while the John Cassavetes Award has increased its ceiling from $500,000 to $1m — evidently inflation has hit Hollywood this year, too. Addtionally, this year's awards will be the first major event globally to end gender categories, awarding prizes simply for Best Performance or Supporting Performance.

This will also be the second year that categories for TV will feature, perhaps indicating the massive impact of streaming on the indie scene. Everything Everywhere All at Once leads the nominations with eight.

The Academy Awards, March 12, Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles

Last Academy Awards were remembered more for Will Smith's slap than the Oscar he won for best actor. AFP

Amid the glamour of the motherlode of awards ceremonies, this year’s Oscars presents some genuine intrigue. The Globes hasn’t been alone in attracting criticism for its lack of diversity, and the academy’s efforts to better align its voters with its audiences has helped deliver some refreshingly diverse winners recently.

In 2020, Parasite took the first Best Picture award for a foreign-language film, while 2021 and 2022 delivered only the second and third female Best Director winners, Chloe Zhao and Jane Campion.

This year, Indian film RRR is hotly tipped for the top prize by pundits including Jason Blum. However, Everything Everywhere All at Once has been hoovering up nominations wherever they’ve been announced thus far.

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans has fared surprisingly poorly where nominations have so far been announced, however it’s that old academy favourite — a film about making films — that may leave the season Oscar winner in good stead. Nominations are announced on January 24.

Scroll through images of this year's Golden Globe winners below