When the news broke that Dolly De Leon had snagged a Golden Globe Awards nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Motion Picture) for her performance in Triangle of Sadness, there was understandable joy within the local entertainment industry. She’ll be up against Angela Bassett, Kerry Condon, Jamie Lee Curtis and Carey Mulligan. And other than Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin, I’ve watched the other three in Wakanda Forever (Bassett), Everything Everywhere All At Once (Curtis) and She Said (Mulligan).

The 80th Golden Globe Awards will be held Jan. 10, 2023, and let’s not forget that this is the one organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - so it is a tarnished group, and NBC agreed to televise the Awards on a one year trial basis. The telecast was cancelled last year, amidst a scandal that involved ethics, finance and diversity issues. With sweeping reforms in place, this is the HFPA trying to clean up its image, and having its Golden Globes restored as a major award-giving body in the film industry.

If you asked me right now, I’d say the sentimental favorite would be Jamie Lee Curtis for her totally offbeat role in EEAAO. Does Dolly stand a chance of winning? Or are we going to play defeatist right away, and already make statements that sound like ‘It’s an achievement in itself to be nominated, as she’s the first Filipino actor or actress to gain that distinction.’ And say this, while hoping she also snags an Oscar nomination.

Call me a cynic, but I think the answer lies in whether a well-financed, all-out campaign is in place to make Dolly be noticed and seriously considered as a winner. Screeners should flying in the air like planes in the busiest of airports. Articles and features in the right magazines and periodicals abroad should be arranged and disseminated. TV interviews on the right shows should be forthcoming, and a constant barrage of recognition for just how sterling a performance she put in should be looped in as the media buzz for over the next month and a half. It’s a campaign of proportions we aren’t used to, and it should be supported by the government in the name of Philippine culture and the performing Arts. And I’m not kidding!

Why do I say all this? South Korea is my answer. Let’s all remember Parasite, and what it took to have it take Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars. It was a stage-managed ‘blitzkrieg’ that had Director Bong Jun-Hoo physically exhausted, as he had been on the ‘campaign trail’ from the moment his film won the Palme D’Or in Cannes in May 2019.

And the very next year, there was Youn Yuh-Jung taking Best Actress in a Supporting Role in the 2021 Oscars for Minari - a film I doubt many Academy members would have even watched, if left to their own devices. This Korean veteran actress was up against Amanda Seyfried for Mank, Olivia Colman in The Father, Maria Bakalova for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy. Before the 2021 Awards season started, most pundits would have installed Colman or Close as the favorites, right?

It’s obvious to me that South Korea doesn’t think in terms of ‘a nomination is enough to be proud about’. As a united force, a concerted effort is made to campaign for the win, and sure there are no guarantees that a win will be secured. But you’ll never be able to say it wasn’t for their lack of trying - or for leaving any stone unturned to make the win happen.

It’s Hollywood, and all things being equal, Dolly has as good a chance as any of the four. But things aren’t equal when it comes to spending to make a buzz, and generate the all-important noise. So what’s it going to be, Philippines? Isn’t this exactly what Paul Soriano should be orchestrating with his government appointment? I rest my case, and hope, for Dolly’s sake, it doesn’t fall on deaf ears. Right, Dolly?