'Nomadland,' satire 'Borat 2' win top Golden Globes

Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' from Amazon Studios was named best comedy movie actor

Nomadland, director Chloe Zhao's moving drama about van dwellers and Sacha Baron Cohen's satire Borat 2 won top movie honours at a scaled-down virtual ceremony at the Golden Globes, which was held bi-coastally due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Zhao, a Chinese-American filmmaker, also won the best director trophy, becoming the only second woman director and the first woman director of Asian descent to win at the Globes.

Her film Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand as a widow who hits the road in a van after losing her job, has been a critics favourite since its world premiere at Venice Film Festival 2020. It also won the top prize of the Golden Lion at the European gala.

Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was posthumously honoured with a Globe for his performance as the strong-willed trumpet player Levee in the musical period drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", his swansong.

Boseman, who died last year at the age of 43 following a four-year-long private battle with colon cancer, won the award in the best performance by an actor in a motion picture drama category.

Boseman's wife, Simone Ledward, accepted the award, his first Globe, on the actor's behalf.

"He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices," an emotional Ledward said.

Andra Day emerged as the surprise best actress motion picture drama winner for her role of singer Billie Holliday in “The United States vs Billie Holliday”.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the body that conducts the Golden Globes which is facing fire over its lack of Black representation among its ranks, tried to douse the flames as it awarded people of colour in top acting categories.

During their opening monologue co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who hosted the ceremony from New York and Los Angeles, made fun of HFPA.

"The HFPA is made up of around 90 international -- no Black -- journalists who attend movie junkets each year in search of a better life," Fey said.

They also mentioned that "a number of Black-led projects were overlooked" as awards-season frontrunners Judas and the Black Messiah, Da 5 Bloods, One Night in Miami and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom were not nominated for best picture.

Cohen, the creator of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, was named best comedy movie actor and Rosamund Pike clinched the best actress Globe for her role of a crooked legal guardian of the elderly in I Care a Lot.

"Thank you to the all-white Hollywood Foreign Press," Cohen said in his speech.

Daniel Kaluuya won best supporting role Globe, his first, for playing the Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.

Jodie Foster won the best supporting actress award, her fourth trophy, for her role in The Mauritanian, a story about illegal detention in the US.

Aaron Sorkin won his career's third Globe in the best screenplay category for his true-story legal drama The Trial of the Chicago 7.

The screenwriter quipped he would "not forgive" fellow nominees Zhao, Emerald Fennell and Regina King for inspiring his daughter to pursue filmmaking.

Jamie Foxx-voiced animated drama Soul, about a musician trapped in a strange land between earth and the afterlife, won the best animated as well as the score trophy.

Korean-American drama Minari, whose exclusion from main categories during nominations had led to a controversy, was named the best foreign language film.

Hinting at the controversy, director Lee Isaac Chung said the film is about a family trying to speak a language of its own.

"It goes deeper than any American or foreign language. It's a language of the heart," Chung added.

"Io Sì (Seen)" from the Sophia Loren-starrer Italian drama "The Life Ahead" was declared the best song at the Globes.

In TV categories, Netflix's royal drama The Crown scored four trophies -- the best drama series, best drama actress and actor to Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor for playing young Prince Charles and Diana, and best supporting actress-drama to Gillian Anderson for her role as former British PM Margaret Thatcher.

"The Queen's Gambit", a popular drama about a chess prodigy, won the Globe for best television motion picture while its lead Anya Taylor-Joy was named best actress.

"Star Wars" actor John Boyega won his first Globe as best actor in a television supporting role in Steve McQueen's acclaimed Small Axe.

Marvel star Mark Ruffalo won the best actor trophy in the television motion picture for his role in I Know This Much Is True.

Schitt's Creek, a hilarious but reflective riches-to-rags story of a family, landed the best musical/ comedy series award as well as the best actress in the musical/comedy series for Catherine O'Hara.

Dan Levy, co-creator and star of Schitt's Creek, called upon the HFPA to organise the next Globes "in the spirit of inclusion".

Jason Sudeikis was named the best television actor musical/comedy series for his role in Ted Lasso

Veteran actor-activist Jane Fonda, who was awarded the Cecil B DeMille Award for her lasting impact in entertainment world, highlighted the need of diversity.

"So let's all of us make an effort to expand that tent so that everyone rises and gets a chance to be seen and heard," Fonda said.

TV icon Norman Lear, known for classic sitcoms All in the Family and Good Times, became the third recipient of the Carol Burnett Award for his contributions to the television medium.