Three film Directors, two event hosts and one history-making awards show. The 78th Golden Globes is one that will go down in history for all the right reasons. Forget demeaning wardrobe malfunctions, trips, slips and misogynistic speeches, this year the women are doing all the talking.
Three female directors made history earlier this week receiving Golden Globes nominations for their work behind the camera. The ‘Best Director’ nominations are Regina King for ‘One night in Miami’, Emerald Fennell for ‘Promising Young Woman’, and Chloe Zhao for ‘Nomadland’.
2021 marks the first time more than one woman has been shortlisted in a single year. The last time a woman was nominated in this category was Ava DuVernay for ‘Selma’ in 2014. The only woman to have won the gong is Barbara Streisand for ‘Yentl’ in 1984.
In 2018 Natalie Portman made headlines while presenting the award for Best Director, “Here are all the male nominees’ she quipped. Fast forward three years and the tables are beginning to turn.
“The industry needs to change to allow women the space to succeed. So often I was treated like I wasn’t as skilled as others on set. One time while working as a producer, the director told me to make everyone a cuppa, I outranked him!
Alice Walker is a Liverpool-based producer who studied Film production at the University of Salford.
“Women are just as capable, just as skilled, and just as creative as men. At university I was able to form a women-led film group which was amazing. Most other groups at the time had only one female member. We formed a team, and we went for it, it was a really empowering experience.”
Asked whether the news of the nominations will have an impact on the industry, Alice said: “It’s great to see female directors are on the rise, but I think previously if you asked the public to name three women directors off the top of their head, they would struggle.
“I’ve been lucky to work with many female directors, they are out there and it is most definitely a field that needs to become more equal.”
Planning permission was granted for two 20,000 sq. ft sound studios on Liverpool’s Littlewoods site in December 2020. With plans to redevelop the site into a centre for film and TV, Littlewoods Film Studios is a real boost for both film students and independent film creators in the north of England.
The history of Littlewoods Studios is nothing without women. More than 10,000 people were employed to count The Football Pools coupons at Littlewoods HQ when the building opened in 1938. Staffed mainly by women, they became the backbone of recovery and a ray of hope in the wake of the Depression, which had left thousands facing a future of abject poverty.
Alice is hopeful that Littlewoods Film Studios will build on its incredible legacy and become a beacon for equality within the film industry. The development will also enable more talented students from the city’s universities and colleges to realise their career goals without having to migrate to London.
With more skilled jobs and training opportunities in the film industry, and more women being recognised for their work on the world stage, Alice, and young creatives like her are confident it is their time to shine, she said: “I think it’s an awesome development, especially seeing an old building being used in such a modern, progressive way. I feel inspired.”
As the 78th Golden Globes ceremony draws closer, it will be all eyes on the results and not the red carpet.
You can find out more about Littlewoods Film Studios online here.