At the Golden Globes, a beautiful night to be an artist

Such formidable collaborations, which were celebrated that evening, are the force that shapes enduring cinematic narratives.

When George Clooney and Don Cheadle announced Hamnet as the winner of the Best Motion Picture — Drama category at the 83rd Golden Globes Awards, the movie’s co-writer and director Chloé Zhao looked stunned. She stood motionless as the film’s lead actor, Jessie Buckley, hugged her and producer Steven Spielberg guided her towards the stage. In his acceptance speech, Spielberg thanked director Sam Mendes for sending him the novel Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. He believed, he said, “there was really only one filmmaker who could tell the story of Agnes and Will and the spirits of the earth and the forest, and that was the exceptional Chloé Zhao.”

Hamnet, a top contender for most of the major awards this season, dramatises the story of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they fall in love, build a family and, later, cope with the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. This moving meditation on love and loss features two of the finest contemporary actors, Buckley and Paul Mescal. It is also an excellent example of the power of collaborations. In their acceptance speeches, Zhao and Buckley — who won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama — thanked the “village” that came together to make this film.

Several other striking collaborations — in front of the camera as well as behind it — competed for the top honours. With most released in 2025, many have hailed the year as one of the best for cinema in a while. The other major winner of the evening was Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which won in the Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy category. It was nominated alongside Blue Moon, the latest collaboration between director Richard Linklater and actor Ethan Hawke; Bugonia, which reunited director Yorgos Lanthimos with his muse Emma Stone for their fourth collaboration; the audacious Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie with Timothée Chalamet playing the titular protagonist; and Park Chan-wook’s black comedy No Other Choice starring Lee Byung-hun. Also competing for glory in this category was another Linklater directorial, Nouvelle Vague, a homage to the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. No wonder before announcing the winner, presenter Julia Roberts exclaimed: “What a beautiful night to be an artist.”

After receiving the top honour for best musical or comedy, Anderson gave a shout out to Warner Bros Discovery’s film division co-chair Mike De Luca. He praised De Luca for backing other Globes-nominated Warner features as well: “He had a dream of running a studio one day and was going to let directors do whatever they wanted. That’s how you get a Sinners. That’s how you get a Weapons. That’s how you get One Battle After Another.”

Neon studio, too, has thrown its weight behind several acclaimed titles including nominees for the motion picture-drama award: Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value.

The writer is associate editor, The Indian Express. alaka.sahani@expressindia.com