US: Irish film producer Julie le Brocquy shared this year's Golden Globe award for best foreign-language film when the prize was given to the Afghan drama Osama at the awards ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday night.
Ms le Brocquy is one of the three producers on the film, along with Julia Fraser, her partner in leBrocquy Fraser Productions, and Siddiq Barmak, who also directed the film.
Shot in Kabul, Osama is the first feature film to be made in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era. Charged by some extraordinary imagery, it presents an appalling picture of life under the Taliban regime. Featuring an entirely non-professional cast, the film sets its focus on a 13-year-old girl who poses as a boy named Osama to earn some money for her widowed mother.
The major winner in the Golden Globes, presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which took the awards for best film (drama), director, music score and original song.
The low-budget Lost in Translation took two awards in the category of comedy or musical - best film and best actor (Bill Murray) - along with the screenplay award for its director Sofia Coppola.
South African actress Charlize Theron received the best actress (drama) award for her portrayal of the executed serial killer Alieen Wuornos in Monster, while Sean Penn was named best actor (drama) for Mystic River. Diane Keaton took the best actress (comedy or musical) award for Something's Gotta Give.
Cold Mountain had received eight nominations but won just one prize, best supporting actress for Renee Zellweger, while Mystic River also took the best supporting actor award for Tim Robbins.
In the Golden Globe television awards, the six-hour HBO drama Angels in America, which will be shown by Channel 4 over February 7th and 8th, swept the board in the category of best TV movie or mini-series, taking the best series award and all four acting awards in that category, which went to Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Jeffrey Wright and Mary-Louise Parker.
The surprise winner of best TV comedy series was UK series The Office, which also won best comedy actor for Ricky Gervais. In the TV drama category, Frances Conroy was named best actress for Six Feet Under, and Anthony LaPaglia took the best actor award for Without a Trace, currently running on TG4 and Channel 4.