If you want to understand Hollywood, you have to understand its awards season. And if you want to understand its awards season, there are few events that better encapsulate all of its elements – among them showmanship, glamour, desperation and strategy – than the palm Springs International Film Festival’s annual Awards Gala, the moast recent edition of which took place on Saturday night.

The event is always held shortly after New Year’s Day in the cavernous Palm springs Convention Center, wiht some 2,400 guests spread across 212 tables in front of a giant stage backed by three huge screens; a chipper TV personality serving as emcee (usually Mary Hart, but this year nischelle Turner); and a constant din of disrespectful chatter and clanking throughout a three-hour ceremony, during which some 12 prenegotiated awards (“We want you to show up, so if you show up we’ll give you an award”) are accepted by Oscar hopefuls.

The Oscar hopefuls in the room – the people accepting the awards and also, more often than not, the people who they have asked to present them with the awards – do not trek three hours from Los Angeles out to the desert because it’s a beautiful place (although it certainly is). They don’t come for a free meal (although they receive one – beef, potatoes and veggies this year). And in some cases, they don’t even come because they want to be there (it’s a long ceremony, plus many of them have to rush back as soon as the show – or at least their portion of it – is over in order to be back in L.A. for other obligations, such as Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards).

Rather, they come as several hundred members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – also known as Oscar voters – have a home or second home or third home in the Coachella Valley, and quite a few of them attend the Awards Gala (or read coverage of it locally), and the Awards Gala takes place just days before voting to determine Oscar nominations commences (Jan. 12-16 this year).

In other words, someone who would like an Oscar nomination – and who wouldn’t? – would be silly not to.

And if you’re going to bother to show up to accept an award, the Oscar hopefuls – and the awards strategists behind their Oscar campaigns – reason, then why not make the very most of it?

doing so entails, among other things, securing someone cool to present the award (frequently enough another person associated with and in Oscar contention for the same movie as the honoree); preparing a compelling montage that will make an Oscar voter want to vote for the honoree (or at least prioritize checking out the honoree’s film, one of hundreds available for their consideration); and scripting a speech, for the presenter and honoree, that will underscore the personal narrative of the Oscar hopeful (as in, the reasons to be impressed by that person – they don’t call it a “campaign” for nothing).

The purpose of this co

Awards Season Heats Up: Key Players See a Boost

Ethan Hawke’s chances for an Oscar are looking up. He’s a household name these days, even though he’s been gone since 1943. while everyone who sees the film is impressed by Hawke’s performance, getting people to watch it isn’t easy-even hitting “play” on the app Academy members use to view contenders can be a hurdle.

The montage following Mahershala Ali’s introduction of Hawke, and before hawke’s acceptance speech, reminded everyone just how long he’s been working and how consistently great he’s been. From 1989’s Dead Poets Society to 2001’s Training Day and the Before trilogy (1995-2013), his range is remarkable. Plus, Hawke delivered a smart, eloquent speech, mentioning past collaborators like the late River Phoenix and Sidney Lumet as people who “will always be a part of me.” It’s possible this was enough to convince a hesitant voter to give hawke’s latest film a chance.

Timothée Chalamet returned to the Awards Gala for the fourth time in a decade. He previously received the rising Star Award – Actor for Call Me by Your Name in 2018, the spotlight Award for Beautiful Boy in 2019, and the Chairman’s Award for A Complete Unknown last year. He gave thoughtful, soft-spoken remarks, dedicating much of his time to praising his film’s co-writer/director, Josh Safdie, who introduced him. Safdie’s best director nomination is less secure than Chalamet’s best actor nomination, so it was a savvy move.

Michael B. Jordan’s presenter, Colman Domingo, and a montage highlighted the challenge of playing twins in Sinners.The montage showed jordan’s film’s writer/director…