Ones to WATCH

Summer in the southern hemisphere might be synonymous with salt, sand and sunburn, but there’s something else that happens at the start of every year that our staffroom small talk wouldn’t be the same without, and that’s awards season. Kicking off with the Golden Globes in early January and wrapping up with the Oscars on February 9, the month in between provides a near-constant spectacle of red-carpet hits, a fair few misses, upsets, controversies, and if recent years are anything to go by, a decent amount of politicking.

While all of this is going on, it’s easy to forget the reason for the awards in the first place, which is to celebrate those in the film and TV industry who have made outstanding contributions to the craft in the year just been. To say nothing of female directors like Greta Gerwig (), Lorene Scafaria () and Lulu Wang () who, despite some eyebrow raising snubs in certain awards categories, are winning over audiences for their tireless championing of women’s stories, the pool of fresh, female acting and writing talent coming through is nothing short of phenomenal.