Still working toward bringing back the Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has updated its eligibility requirements, now permitting a hybrid approach of in-person, DVD and online screenings of films. This takes effect on June 15. In addition, films do not have to be submitted via the Golden Globes submission website for awards consideration. Instead, the HFPA will add qualifying content to its eligibility list if studios, networks or streamers are not officially doing so. The eligibility period runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, for English language films, and Oct. 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2022, for non-English language films.
“With the current relaxation of restrictions by federal, state and local health officials, the HFPA is reverting to its regular eligibility requirements but remains sensitive to the potential for increased COVID-19 case rates,” said Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA. “We will remain flexible in allowing eligibility through a combination of in-person screenings or submittal of screeners in DVD or online form for our jurors.”
The HFPA provided studios with options for screening its films for members, outlined below:
- Contact the HFPA office to arrange a screening date on the official HFPA calendar for all motion picture releases. For English-language motion pictures, that official screening date must be no later than seven days after the release of that English-language motion picture in Los Angeles. Unless the country of origin is the U.S., screenings of non-English language films do not have to follow this one-week-after-release standard but must take place prior to the final date for all 2022 motion picture screenings.
- Distributors must provide all HFPA jurors with the opportunity for an in-person screening in both Los Angeles and New York (these may also be part of the distributor’s premiere, junket, or all-media screenings) or distributors can provide jurors a screening link or a DVD copy of the motion picture so jurors may view it at home. This applies to English and non-English language films alike.
- A final date for all 2022 motion picture screenings (including all screenings of non-English language motion pictures) will be announced separately. Films released prior to June 15, 2022, can be eligible for consideration by submitting screening links or a DVD copy for jurors prior to the final submission date when available.
To be eligible for the Golden Globe motion picture awards, a film must be released and made available for exhibition in theaters, pay-per-view cable or pay-per-view digital delivery (not subscription cable or digital delivery).
Last year’s Golden Globe winners included Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” winning best picture (drama), and “West Side Story,” taking best picture (comedy or musical). The acting winners included eventual Oscar winners Will Smith (“King Richard”) and Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”).
