The Gotham awards is one of the leading awards for independent films and looks to kick off awards season with a bang.
The Independent Filmmaker Project, the nation’s premier organization of independent storytellers, announced the nominees for the 25th Annual IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards. The eight categories with the most competition this year are Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Actor, Best Actress, Breakthrough Actor, Best Screenplay, the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director award, and the Gotham Audience Award. In addition to this, Gotham Award Tributes will be awarded to such film classics as Helen Mirren and Robert Redford, director Todd Haynes, and Industry Tribute recipient producer Steve Golin. The film festival will be the first to kick off film award season and will surely add buzz and attention to under appreciated or lesser known independent films of the year. What makes this awards event unique is it’s ability to put award recipients into the spotlight. For the first time, serialized television and web content categories will be added, the nominations for which will be announced soon. The Gotham Awards ceremony will be on Monday, November 30th at Cipriani Wall Street. Check out the nominees below:
Best Feature
Carol
Todd Haynes, director; Elizabeth Karlsen, Tessa Ross, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley, producers (The Weinstein Company)
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Marielle Heller, director; Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit, Miranda Bailey, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Heaven Knows What
Josh and Benny Safdie, directors; Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear-McClard, producers (RADiUS)
Spotlight
Tom McCarthy, director; Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagan Faust, producers (Open Road Films)
Tangerine
Sean Baker, director; Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou, Marcus Cox & Karrie Cox, producers (Magnolia Pictures)
Best Documentary
Approaching the Elephant
Amanda Rose Wilder, director; Jay Craven, Robert Greene, Amanda Rose Wilder, producers (Kingdom County Productions)
Cartel Land
Matthew Heineman, director; Matthew Heineman, Tom Yellin, producers (The Orchard and A&E IndieFilms)
Heart of a Dog
Laurie Anderson, director; Dan Janvey, Laurie Anderson, producers (Abramorama and HBO Documentary Films)
Listen to Me Marlon
Stevan Riley, director; John Battsek, RJ Cutler, George Chignell, producers (Showtime Documentary Films)
The Look of Silence
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge Sørensen, producer (Drafthouse Films)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Desiree Akhavan for Appropriate Behavior (Gravitas Ventures)
Jonas Carpigano for Mediterranea (Sundance Selects)
Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)
John Magary for The Mend (Cinelicious Pics)
Josh Mond for James White (The Film Arcade)
Best Screenplay
Carol, Phyllis Nagy (The Weinstein Company)
The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller (Sony Pictures Classics)
Love & Mercy, Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Open Road Films)
While We’re Young, Noah Baumbach (A24)
Best Actor*
Christopher Abbott in James White (The Film Arcade)
Kevin Corrigan in Results (Magnolia Pictures)
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Peter Sarsgaard in Experimenter (Magnolia Pictures)
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes (Broad Green Pictures)
Best Actress*
Cate Blanchett in Carol (The Weinstein Company)
Blythe Danner in I’ll See You in My Dreams (Bleecker Street)
Brie Larson in Room (A24 Films)
Bel Powley in The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)
Lily Tomlin in Grandma (Sony Pictures Classics)
Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me (Alchemy)
Breakthrough Actor
Rory Culkin in Gabriel (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Arielle Holmes in Heaven Knows What (RADiUS)
Lola Kirke in Mistress America (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)
Mya Taylor in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)
* The 2015 Best Actor/Best Actress nominating panel also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D’Arcy James for their ensemble work in Spotlight. (Open Road Films).
Twenty writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The Nominating Committees for the 2015 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards were:
Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Breakthrough Director:
Ty Burr, Film Critic, The Boston Globe
Eric Kohn, Deputy Editor & Chief Film Critic, Indiewire
Christy Lemire, Film Critic, ChristyLemire.com and co-host, What the Flick?!
Andrew O’Hehir, Film Critic, Salon.com
Joshua Rothkopf, Film Editor, Time Out New York
Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Joanne Feinberg, Curator and Consultant, FeinFilm
Cynthia Fuchs, Film-TV Editor, PopMatters
Mike Maggiore, Programmer, Film Forum
Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, San Francisco Film Society
David Wilson, Co-Conspirator, True/False Film Fest
Nominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress:
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic, New York Magazine and Vulture
Mark Harris, Editor-at-Large, Entertainment Weekly
Ann Hornaday, Film Critic, The Washington Post
Amy Nicholson, Chief Film Critic, L.A. Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Freelance Journalist and Critic
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor:
Florence Almozini, Associate Programmer, Film Society of Lincoln Center
Cara Cusumano, Senior Programmer, Tribeca Film Festival
David Ehrlich, Staff Writer, Rolling Stone
Rodrigo Perez, Founder and Editor, The Playlist
Ray Pride, Film Critic, Newcity; Editor, MovieCityNews.com; Contributing Editor, FILMMAKER.
Spotlight on Women Directors ‘Live the Dream’ Grant
For the sixth consecutive year, IFP is proud present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Directors ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs or IFP’s Screen Forward Lab. In 2015, Screen Forward Lab directors have been included in this opportunity for the first time. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film or episodic series. The nominees are:
Claire Carré, director, Embers
Deb Shoval, director, AWOL
Chanelle Aponte Pearson, director, 195 Lewis
Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
IFP members will determine the 7th Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award with nominees comprised of the 15 nominated films in the Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award categories. All IFP current, active members at the Individual Level and above will be eligible to vote. Voting will take place online from November 18th at 12:01 AM EST and conclude on November 25th at 5:00 PM EST. In addition, IFP will be scheduling screenings of the nominated films for IFP members in the theater at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP in Brooklyn. These screenings will take place from November 4-11. The winner of the Audience Award will be announced at the Gotham Awards Ceremony on November 30, 2015.
Gotham Appreciation Award
A Gothams Appreciation Award will be given to Ellen Cotter for her contribution to theatrical distribution, including leadership of the Angelika Film Centers.
The 2015 IFP Gotham Independent Film Award Breakthrough Series nominations are:
Breakthrough Series – Long Form*
A continuing or limited series with episodes running 30 minutes or longer.
Jane the Virgin, Jennie Snyder Urman, Creator (The CW)
Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail, Creator (USA Network)
Transparent, Jill Soloway, Creator (Amazon)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, Creators (Netflix)
UnREAL, Marti Noxon, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, Creators (Lifetime)
*Additional nominee credits to be determined.
Breakthrough Series – Short Form*
A continuing or limited series new digital media programming comprised of 5 or more episodes with the majority under 20 minutes.
Bee and PuppyCat, Natasha Alllegri, Creator (Cartoon Hangover)
The Impossibilities, Anna Kerrigan, Creator (seriesofimpossibilities.com)
Qraftish, Christal, Creator (Blackgirldangerous.com)
Shugs and Fats, Nadia Manzoor and Radhka Vaz, Creator (ShugsandFats.TV)
You’re So Talented, Sam Bailey, Creator (Open TV)
*Additional nominee credits to be determined.
Twelve writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The Nominating Committees for the 2015 IFP Gotham Breakthrough Series Awards were:
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Long Form:
Andy Greenwald, Staff Writer, Grantland
Tim Goodman, Chief TV Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
KC Ifeanyi, Assistant Editor/General Assignment Reporter, Fast Company
Matthew Gilbert, TV Critic, The Boston Globe
David Sims, Senior Associate Editor, Culture, The Atlantic
Liz Shannon Miller, TV Editor, Indiewire
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Short Form:
Randi Kleiner, Founder & CEO, SeriesFest
Micah Gottlieb, Blackbook
Jon Korn, Shorts Programmer, Sundance Film Festival
Rich Goldstein, Producer, The Daily Beast
Paula Mejia, Reporter & Culture Writer, Newsweek
Aymar Jean Christian, Founding Editor, Televisual
Sponsors
The Premier Sponsors of the 25th Anniversary IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsors are euphoria Calvin Klein and Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward Office of Film, Music and Entertainment. The Official Water Sponsor is FIJI Water and the Official Wine Partner is Line 39 by O’Neill. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times in November 2015.