Gotham Awards Remove Budget Cap for Eligibility — So Yes, It’s ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ vs. the Indies

Brian Welk
·3 min read

The Gotham Awards have removed the budget cap requirement for movies to qualify for its honors, opening the door for big-budget studio darlings like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and more contenders in the Oscar race to submit for awards consideration.

The Gotham Awards, now entering their 33rd year, have previously set a cap on movies submitted to have a budget no higher than $35 million, and that’s been the case for the last decade. That’s still produced winners like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Spotlight,” which later went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

More from IndieWire

But after “The Departed” was nominated for the top prize in 2006, losing to indie “Half Nelson,” the Gotham Awards modified its mission statement to recognize movies by filmmaker, not committee, and made within “an economy of means.” That’s helped the awards show, the first in the film awards season, to stand out from the larger Oscars race and celebrate more indie darlings.

In a statement, the awards body said that the move was intended to be more inclusive and to “broaden our reach in terms of recognition and accessibility.” But the news also follows IndieWire’s report of layoffs on the awards team and the cancellation of The Project Market, all at a time when awards shows across the board are fighting for relevance and survival.

“For the 33rd Annual Gotham Awards, we’re excited to include more voices from around the globe by expanding eligibility for the many brilliant international films and filmmakers who deserve to be in consideration this year,” said Jeffrey Sharp, executive director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute. “Additionally, with shifting budgets, we’ve decided to eliminate arbitrary budget caps for submission eligibility — first instituted over a decade ago — to broaden our reach in terms of recognition and accessibility to the wider community.”

“The entire Gotham team is thrilled to kick off another year of the Gotham Awards, which has the distinct role of being the first honors of the film awards season,” said Anthony Bregman, Board of Directors Co-Chair of The Gotham Film & Media Institute. “With the decision by the Board to eliminate the budget cap and make international films eligible for more categories this year, we are excited to welcome more of the world’s best storytellers and projects into the awards season conversation.”

Among other tweaks to the eligibility requirements, international films for the first time will be eligible for Outstanding Lead Performance, Outstanding Supporting Performance, Best Screenplay, and the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award. Best Feature will remain for U.S. features only and Best International Feature will be open to all non-U.S. features. International films are once again eligible for Best Documentary Feature.

The Gotham Awards are scheduled for November 27, and nominees will be announced on October 24. The deadline for submissions is September 14.

Variety first reported the news.

Best of IndieWire

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.