Well everyone, it’s official: awards season has officially begun. Last night, the Gotham Independent Film Awards, run by the Independent Filmmaker Project, gave out the first awards of the season and anointed two frontrunners in the Best Picture race. Fasten you seatbelts, everyone – things are about to get interesting.
For most of the night, it seemed the clear favorite was Jordan Peele’s horror-thriller-comedy-extravaganza Get Out. The film almost tied the Gotham record of four wins, taking home Best Screenplay, Best Breakthrough Director, and the Audience Award given out through a nationwide poll (all three going to Peele, who seemed more and more shocked each time). However, despite heavy evidence in its favor, Get Out failed to win Best Feature. That award went to Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino’s queer romance epic. The film also won Best Breakthrough Actor for Timothée Chalamet, and both should go on to success at other award shows, including the Oscars. Meanwhile, the highly-competitive acting categories were won by James Franco for The Disaster Artist and Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird. I have seen both of these films, and quite frankly, I’m ecstatic. These are wonderful, caring performances given by two talented actors, and I love seeing them receive love. Strong Island took home Best Documentary Feature, and Atlanta took home Best Breakthrough Series – Long Form (with the creators texting the producer from the season two set, where they’ve set their goals on “jumping the shark”). The show also gave out an overabundance of tribute awards, including to Michael Kenneth Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Blum, Sofia Coppola, Ed Lachman, and Nicole Kidman, each of whom gave an incredibly powerful speech. And Mudbound took home the Ensemble Award, as a tribute to its incredible cast.
This is an important shakeup to the Oscar race, and perfectly compliments my predictions posted earlier this morning. Get Out and Call Me By Your Name are here to stay, guys, and they’re not going to give in until one of them bests Dunkirk at the Oscars. You can see the full list of winners below, and get excited, guys. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Best Feature
- Call Me By Your Name
- The Florida Project
- Get Out
- Good Time
- I, Tonya
Best Documentary
- Strong Island
- Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
- Rat Film
- Whose Streets?
- The Work
Best Actor
- James Franco-The Disaster Artist
- Willem Dafoe-The Florida Project
- Daniel Kaluuya-Get Out
- Robert Pattinson-Good Time
- Adam Sandler-The Meyerowitz Stories
- Harry Dean Stanton-Lucky
Best Actress
- Saoirse Ronan-Lady Bird
- Melanie Lynskey-I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
- Haley Lu Richardson-Columbus
- Margot Robbie-I, Tonya
- Lois Smith-Marjorie Prime
Best Screenplay
- Get Out
- The Big Sick
- Brad’s Status
- Call Me By Your Name
- Columbus
- Lady Bird
Best Breakthrough Actor
- Timothée Chalamet-Call Me By Your Name
- Mary J. Blige-Mudbound
- Harris Dickinson-Beach Rats
- Kelvin Harrison Jr.-It Comes at Night
- Brooklyn Prince-The Florida Project
Best Breakthrough Director
- Jordan Peele-Get Out
- Margaret Betts-Novitiate
- Greta Gerwig-Lady Bird
- Kogonada-Columbus
- Joshua Z. Weinstein-Menashe
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
- Atlanta
- Better Things
- Dear White People
- Fleabag
- Search Party
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
- The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes
- 555
- Inconceivable
- Junior
- Let Me Die A Nun
Special Jury Award – Ensemble Performance: Mudbound
Audience Award: Get Out
Made In New York Award: Michael Kenneth Williams
Gotham Tributes:
- Jason Blum
- Sofia Coppola
- Al Gore
- Dustin Hoffman
- Nicole Kidman
- Ed Lachman
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