While we were eagerly waiting for the Golden Globes ceremony, a rehearsal of some sort for the event took place 100 miles east of Los Angeles in the California desert at the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF). Many of the Golden Globes nominees and future wiiners marched down the red the carpet in Palm Springs in their shimmering gowns, sharp tuxedos and dazzling diamonds to the Festival Awards Gala, which was held at the city’s convention center on Saturday, January 3rd, evening.

Every year, some of Hollywood’s brightest stars descend on Palm Springs to receive their first – sometimes last – honor of the awards season. Many of the honorees end up scooping more trophies at subsequent events including the Academy Awards and of course the Globes. Past winners includes Ben Affleck, Danny Boyle, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Apart from the star of Black Mass, Johnny Depp, who won the Desert Palm Achievement award, all the PSIFF honorees this year have been nominated for Golden Globes awards in different categories, with the highest honor, the Chairman's award, bestowed on Matt Damon, Golden Globe winner in the best performance by an actor in a musical or a comedy category and the star of the Golden Globe nominated comedy, The Martian. The award was handed to him by Golden Globe nominee and director of The Martian, Ridley Scott.

Matt Damon seized the moment to campaign for Oscar glory for his director saying: “He’s just a master director. There are a handful of them on planet earth, but he is one of them. Gladiator won best picture but he wasn’t a producer on Gladiator. He’s given more than enough to cinema, so I hope that this year is his year.”

Other honorees were Golden Globe nominees in the Best Performance by an Actor in Drama, Michael Fassbender and Bryan Cranston, for their roles in the biopics Steve Jobs and Trumbo respectively. The Spotlight award was given to Cranston by his co-star, Helen Mirren, and the International star awards was handed to Fassbender by his co-star Kate Winslet. Both Mirren and Winslet are competing in the Golden Globe category of best performance by an actress in a supporting role in any motion picture.

Amazingly, all the Golden Globes nominated actresses in the best performance in a drama were recognized by PSIFF for their last year’s work. The two stars of Carol, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara took the Desert Palm achievement award and the Spotlight award respectively, while Room’s Golden Globe winner Brie Larson, Brooklyn’s Saoirse Ronan and The Danish Girl ’s Alicia Vikander collected the Breakthrough Performance award, the International Star award and the Rising Star award respectively.

Golden Globe nominee in the Best Director and Best Screenplay categories, Tom McCarthy, was honored with a Sonny Bono visionary award for his Golden Globe nominated drama, Spotlight, while the cast of the Golden Globe nominated comedy The Big Short, which included Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Golden Globe nominees for Best Performance for an Actor in Musical Steve Carell and Christian Bale, received the Ensemble Performance award.

The following morning, more Golden Globe nominees received recognition from the entertainment trade magazine Variety, at its annual luncheon. Will Smith, who has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in the NFL drama Concussion, was accorded the Creative Impact in Acting award, while the co-writer and co-director of the Golden Globe nominated animation Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman, was granted the Creative Impact in Directing Award.

The co-director of Anomalisa, Luke Johnson, alongside the directors of Golden Globe nominated foreign language films, winner Son of Saul’s Laszlo Nemes and Mustang’s Deniz Gamze Erguven were among the Ten Emerging American and International Directors, a distinction awarded by Variety.

Unlike other awards, the SPIFF awards are announced prior to the ceremony, which Blanchet said was “a relief.”

Ironically, Hollywood is present only by its stars and not by its movies at the SPIFF, which mainly offers foreign films to its patrons. In fact, the festival opened on Friday, January 1st, with the Golden Globe nominated Finnish film The Fencer. Needless to say, all the Golden Globe nominated Foreign Language pictures were on the festival’s screenings program.

SPIFF started in 1989 and is held annually in January. It is run by the Palm Springs International Film Society, which also runs the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, a festival of short films and film market in June.

Sam Asi