The Hollywood Foreign Press handed out nearly $2.1 million in grants to an array of non-profits and scholarship programs at its annual Grants Banquet, which was held Aug. 13 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.
HFPA president Lorenzo Soria welcomed guests and then began the evening by introducing Nick Jonas, who set the tone for the gift-giving that followed with a performance of “What a Wonderful World.”
Jamie Lee Curtis kicked off a veritable chorus line of stars who were on hand to announce the various grants. Noting that she was just a decade or so younger than the HFPA itself, she spoke of her affinity for the journalists’ group, better known for holding the free-wheeling Golden Globe Awards, saying, “We’ve matured, we’ve deepened and I think we’ve found our voices.” And then she enthused, “I love them so much because we’re going to give away f___ing $2 million.”
After announcing grants for children’s health-related charities like Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, The Lollipop Theater Network and the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Curtis also invited the room to raise a glass to toast the late marketing executive Nadia Bronson, testifying, “She was wise and generous and a mentor for many.”
Over the past 25 years, the HFPA, which earns about $10 million annually from the Globes broadcast on NBC, has handed out more than $23.9 million in grants, funding more than 1,000 scholarships and helping to restore 92 films, including such titles as Shadow of a Doubt, King Kong and Woman on the Run.
Presenters for its current round of donations included Halle Berry, who spoke of grants given to groups like FilmAid International, which brings films to refugee camps; Lady Gaga, who said, “I get to help recognize the next generation of musicians and actors who have set their sights on the entertainment industry,” by revealing grants to groups like the Young Musicians Foundation; and Jane Fonda, who first paid tribute to her Barefoot in the Park costar Robert Redford before announcing a grant to the Sundance Institute and then proved adept at comic ad libbing when the next presenters she called to the stage, Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro were late in making their entrance. “Benicio, he does seem a little unreliable, doesn’t he?,” Fonda teased.
After Blunt struggled to read a distant teleprompter, the teleprompter itself became one of the night’s running gags. But the biggest laughs went to Sarah Silverman and John Krasinksi, who silently mimed a bit of presenter-banter before announcing a gift to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
This year, the largest single recipient among the 67 grants that were announced at the celebrity-studded dinner was The Film Foundation and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, which together received $350,000 for their film preservation efforts. Grants of $125,000 were presented both to the University of California, Los Angeles for fellowships and institutional support and to the film program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for promoting cultural exchange. The Sundance Institute received $100,000 for its training and mentoring programs.
Earlier this year, the HFPA announced a separate pledge of $2 million, the largest individual donation in its history, to Los Angeles City College’s cinema and television department. That gift will go toward both scholarships and upgrading studio, postproduction and theater facilities at the school, which will be renamed the HFPA Center for Cinema and Television at LACC. That, Soria promised, was “the first of several more major grants and endowments we will be announcing in the next few months.”
As part of a deal struck last year between the HFPA and Dick Clark Productions — which produces the Golden Globes for the HFPA and handles licensing to international broadcasters — DCP, and its parent company, Guggenheim Partners (which also owns THR), will donate $7.5 million over six years to match HFPA’s charity efforts beginning this year.
A complete list of the grant recipients follows:
HIGHER EDUCATION FELLOWSHIPS & INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) – $60,000
Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation – $15,000
Cal State Long Beach – $60,000
Cal State Los Angeles – $60,000
Cal State Northridge – $60,000
Columbia University – $60,000
Los Angeles City College – $25,000
Mt. San Antonio College Foundation – $5,000
New York University – $48,000
University of California, Los Angeles – $125,000
HFPA SCHOLARSHIP/FELLOWSHIP ENDOWMENTS
American Film Institute – $20,000
CalArts – $12,500
Cal State Fullerton – $5,000
Cal State Long Beach – $5,000
Cal State Los Angeles – $2,650
Cal State Northridge – $5,000
Columbia University – $20,000
Los Angeles City College – $4,000
Loyola Marymount – $20,000
Mt. San Antonio College Foundation – $5,000
New York University – $20,000
UCLA – $20,000
University of North Carolina – $5,000
University of Southern California – $20,000
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & MENTORING
Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment – $15,000
Film Independent, Project: Involve – $40,000
Independent Filmmaker Project (Brooklyn, NY) – $20,000
International Documentary Association – $10,000
Motion Picture & Television Fund – $10,000
New Filmmakers Los Angeles – $10,000
Screen Actors Guild Foundation – $10,000
Streetlights – $10,000
Women Make Movies – $10,000
Sundance Institute – $100,000
PRE-PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & EDUCATION
California State Summer School Arts Foundation – $25,000
Echo Park Film Center – $10,000
Ghetto Film School – $30,000
GlobalGirl Media – $10,000
Inner-City Arts (Downtown LA) – $30,000
Inner City Filmmakers (Santa Monica) – $30,000
Los Angeles County High School for the Arts – $25,000
Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles (Music Center) – $5,000
PRESERVE THE CULTURE & HISTORY OF FILM
The Film Foundation, Inc./UCLA Film & Television Archive – $350,000
Film Noir – $25,000
Outfest (UCLA LGBT project) – $35,000
PROMOTE CULTURAL EXCHANGE THROUGH FILM
American Cinematheque – $45,000
American Film Institute – $30,000
FilmAid International – $60,000
Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles – $10,000
Library Foundation of Los Angeles – $10,000
Museum of the Moving Image – $10,000
Los Angeles Conservancy – $35,000
Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Film – $125,000
San Francisco Silent Film Festival – $10,000
Toronto International Film Festival – $15,000
University of California, Berkeley Film Archive – $20,000
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (Ebertfest) – $10,000
SPECIAL PROJECTS
Children’s Hospital – $25,000
Ensemble Studio Theatre – $15,000
Gingold Theatre Group/Shaw Festival – $10,000
Lollipop Theater Network – $20,000
Pablove Foundation – $7,500
Young Musicians Foundation – $10,000
Young Storytellers Foundation – $10,000
ONE TIME GRANTS
CalArts – $58,672
Exceptional Minds – $15,000
LAUSD/USC Arts & Engineering Magnet – $25,000
