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On The Scene: Highlights From the Gotham Awards Red Carpet [Part 1]

by The Knockturnal
written by The Knockturnal

The Gotham Film & Media Institute (The Gotham) announced the winners of the 31st Annual Gotham Awards at a ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

The Lost Daughter won four awards including Best Feature. Squid Game and Reservation Dogs won series awards and Olivia Colman, Frankie Faison, Ethan Hawke, Thuso Mbedu, Emilia Jones, & Troy Kotsur won performance awards.

The Gotham Awards, one of the leading honors for independent film and television, provides early acknowledgement to groundbreaking independent films and television series. Selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, the Gotham Awards are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that The Gotham Film & Media Institute does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition.

 

Kino Lorber’s Test Pattern director  Shatara Michelle Ford was nominated for the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award. The film was also nominated for Best Feature. Actress Brittany S. Hall was nominated for outstanding lead performance.  We spoke with Brittany on the red carpet. Check out our interviews below: 

We also spoke with Test Pattern producer Pin-Chun Liu. Get to know more about her career below:

We also spoke with filmmaker Jessica Beshir. The Janus Films release Faya Dayi was nominated for best documentary. Check out what she had to say about working on her debut film:

Next up we spoke with Jeremy O. Harris. He co-wrote Zola and is best known for Slave Play. He spoke about working on Zola, appearing in the Emily in Paris new season and the Gossip Girl reboot. He has so many exciting upcoming projects and we even spotted him chatting with Jennifer Coolidge about a potential role in his next play. Taylour Paige and Colman Domingo were nominated for their performance in Zola. 

In the Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes) Blindspotting was nominated. The Starz show was created by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs. It is EP’d by Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann. We spoke with Rafael and Daveed on the red carpet. They said season 2 is in the works and they are trying out new concepts for it! 

Another Starz show Run the World was also nominated in the same category. Leigh Davenport, creator; Yvette Lee Bowser, Leigh Davenport, Nastaran Dibai, executive producers were acknowledged. We spoke with Leigh and cast Bresha Webb, Amber Stevens West and Corbin Reid on the red carpet. Check out our chat below:

The Premier Sponsor of the 2021 Gotham Awards was The New York Times and the Platinum Sponsors were GreenSlate and AV Club. The Official Auto Partner was Cadillac, the Official Water Partner was FIJI Water, the Official Airline Partner was JetBlue, the Official Wine Partner was Robert Hall Winery, and the Official Tequila Partner was Komos Tequila.

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On The Scene: Hamilton ‘Behind The Camera’ Awards Recap [Video]

by Nastacia Nickolaou
written by Nastacia Nickolaou

On Saturday, Kristen Stewart, Jamie Dornan, Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, along with other A-list talent presented awards to their fellow cinema colleagues at the 11th annual Hamilton Behind The Camera Awards sponsored by Hamilton Watches and Los Angeles Confidential magazine. Kirsten Dunst, who was also in attendance, graced the most recent cover of LA Confidential mag and Hamilton watches are best known for their watches making an appearance in blockbuster films such as Intersteller and The Martian.

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Exclusive: Ruth Negga, Andre Holland, Nina Yang Bongiovi & Rebecca Hall Talk ‘Passing’ at NYFF Premiere [Video]

by The Knockturnal
written by The Knockturnal

The Knockturnal was on the scene for the NYFF premiere of Director/Producer/Writer Rebecca Hall’s “Passing” at Alice Tully Hall. 

Cast Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga and Andre Holland were in attendance. They were joined by producers Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker and Margot Hand.

Lesli Klainberg (FLC Executive Director), Eugene Hernandez (Director of NYFF) and Dennis Lim (FLC & NYFF Director of Programming) were also in attendance.

The Netflix release and awards season contender is based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing. Writer/Director Rebecca Hall makes an impressive debut with this beautifully shot black and white picture. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga play as middle-class reacquainted childhood friends Irene and Clare whose lives have taken divergent paths. Clare has decided to “pass” as white to maintain her social standing, even hiding her identity from her racist white husband, John (Alexander Skarsgård); Irene, on the other hand, is married to a prominent Black doctor, Brian (André Holland), who is initially horrified at Clare’s choices.

Thompson told reporters on the red carpet, “I feel so privileged to be in this film, to be screening it at New York Film Festival and I’m so excited and nervous for people to see it. To be honest – I’ve missed cinema, I’ve missed gathering and to watch stories collectively. So I’m also so excited to get to do that, never mind that it’s a film that I’m proud of.” She spoke on the film’s themes. “Yes completely there are themes of race and gender. But, I also think it’s a film that is about ways in which we all pass, which is to say that sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to be the fullest expression of who we are – we pretend to be things that we are not and that is a kind of prison in a way … you could read the source material Nella’s Larson beautiful slim 93 pages of a novela and then soon Clare’s character is passing. In fact Irene (the character I play) I think is passing for so many things. I think it’s like a cautionary tale … you are privileged enough to live in a time where you can really show up and be who you are. It’s probably the best thing to try and do for everyone’s sanity.”

We also spoke with EP Joseph Restaino. He shared, “as soon as I read it I just fell in love with the script, the story, Rebecca Hall’s vision. And then I spoke Nina Yang Bongiovi. I’ve been following her and I wanted to work with her – and I
really enjoyed talking to her about the story and I could just see this being very cinematic and meaningful. We like new films that are very important and this felt like that … This is my first time at the New York Film festival and actually seeing
a film on the big screen, it was awesome. It was a great screening, a lot of energy, the audience seemed thrilled with the movie, and we’re excited for it be released soon via Netflix.”

A fantastic party followed at the Empire Hotel Roof where guests celebrated the NYFF premiere and Tessa Thompson’s birthday. DJ MOS was on the turntables.

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