Last week the first show in the annual film awards calendar - The Golden Globes - announced its nominations. As usual, there were some shock snubs (where were the nominations for I May Destroy You, arguably the most innovative TV series we’ve seen in years) and there were also some causes for celebration (history was made as three women were nominated in the Best Director category for the first time), but I’m really interested in which film nominations offer us a glimmer of hope for what’s to come in 2021.

Most of the time, if a film distributor thinks their film is a shoo-in for a prize, they will try to time the film’s release to capitalise on all the press a film will get if it wins. Last year, Parasite was released in the UK the week it won, and that strategy worked wonders (it was released many months earlier in the USA, and there were some murmurings of worry that buzz would die down by the time it reached our shores). That’s why the first months of the year are always a squeeze, with a bumper selection of spectacular films all coming at once. This year, a number of awards bodies have decided to postpone their ceremonies (the Oscars will now take place at the end of April), so it’s quite possible that we’ll still be able to enjoy the anticipation in planning to see that new film that’s sweeping up the gongs and about to hit the big screen.

I’ve sifted through the nominations and pulled out the titles that haven’t had a UK release yet, and aren’t likely to drop online before cinemas open.

Judas and the Black Messiah

This electrifying film tells the true story of assassinated Black Panther activist Fred Hampton who is played by Daniel Kaluuya. An urgent condemnation of racial injustice and an eye-opening exploration of what it truly means to be a revolutionary.

The Father

Starring two acting powerhouses, Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins, this is an incredibly bold new drama based on the award-winning play of the same name. Coleman plays Hopkins’ daughter, on the edge of despair as she tries to organise care for a man who vehemently refuses it. He is living with dementia, and the film is largely told from his perspective: characters and locations shift and we, as viewers, experience the confronting confusion of dementia right alongside him.

Nomadland

Hot-tipped to claim Best Picture at multiple ceremonies, this is a breath-taking film starring Frances McDormand as a woman who travels across America, living in a van after the death of her husband. A heart-wrenching portrait of how our connections with others give us strength, and the ways we deal with loneliness, isolation, and grief. After the year we’ve had, seeing Nomadland on the big screen will be nothing short of cathartic group therapy.

Minari

Controversially nominated in the foreign language category despite being an American film (the dialogue is a mix of Korean and English), Minari is a genuinely spectacular journey into the Asian-American immigrant experience. Following a family that start their own farm in Arkansas in the 1980s.

This article first featured in the Sheffield Telegraph on Thursday 11 February 2021.