'Spotlight,' 'Love & Mercy' Win Top Gotham Awards
The 25th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Monday night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York yielded moving speeches and jabs at GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Spotlight took home best feature and best screenplay. Spotlight’s ensemble cast also received a special Gotham jury award, which was shared by Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D'Arcy James.
Bel Powley from Diary of a Teenage Girl won best actress; the film received a leading four nominations, including one for best feature, where it faced Carol, Heaven Knows What, Spotlight and Tangerine. All of those films received multiple nominations, as did James White and Love & Mercy.
Paul Dano took home the best actor award for playing the young Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy.
Todd Haynes, Steve Golin, Robert Redford and Helen Mirren received this year’s director, industry, actor and actress tributes, respectively.
Numerous presenters and award winners managed to take jabs at Trump in their speeches, including Mirren, who mentioned Trump when talking about “stupidity.” Redford also worked in a shot, but he was much more broad. While taking about how important it was for him to have humility throughout his career, he added: “[That’s] something missing in the political debates these days.”
This year, for the first time, the Gotham Awards also handed out two awards for breakthrough TV and web series.
A Gotham appreciation award was given to Ellen Cotter for her contribution to theatrical distribution, including leadership of the Angelika Film Centers.
Related: Gotham Awards: The Winners’ Reactions
The list of this year’s winners and nominees are as follows:
Best Feature :
Spotlight (WINNER)
Tom McCarthy, director; Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagan Faust, producers (Open Road Films)
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)
Tangerine
Sean Baker, director; Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou, Marcus Cox and Karrie Cox, producers (Magnolia Pictures)
Best Documentary :
The Look of Silence (WINNER)
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge Sorensen, producer (Drafthouse Films)
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)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award:
Jonas Carpignano for Mediterranea (Sundance Selects) (WINNER)
Desiree Akhavan for Appropriate Behavior (Gravitas Ventures)
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 :
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Open Road Films) (WINNER)
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)
While We’re Young, Noah Baumbach (A24)
Best Actor*:
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy (WINNER) (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Christopher Abbott in James White (The Film Arcade)
Kevin Corrigan in Results (Magnolia Pictures)
Peter Sarsgaard in Experimenter (Magnolia Pictures)
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes (Broad Green Pictures)
Best Actress* :
Bel Powley in The Diary of a Teenage Girl (WINNER) (Sony Pictures Classics)
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)
Lily Tomlin in Grandma (Sony Pictures Classics)
Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me (Alchemy)
Breakthrough Actor :
Mya Taylor in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures) (WINNER)
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)
Audience Award (voted for online by IFP members):
Tangerine (WINNER)
Directed by Sean Baker
Produced by Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou, Marcus Cox & Karrie Cox
Released by Magnolia Pictures
Breakthrough Series – Longform :
A continuing or limited series with episodes running 30 minutes or longer.
Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail, creator (WINNER) (USA Network)
Jane the Virgin, Jennie Snyder Urman, creator (The CW)
Transparent, Jill Soloway, executive producer; Andrea Sperling, co-executive producer; Bridget Bedard, supervising producer; Victor Hsu, produced by; Rick Rosenthal, Nisha Ganatra, consulting producers (Amazon)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, creators (Netflix)
UnREAL, Marti Noxon, co-creator and executive producer; Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, co-creator and supervising producer; Sally DeSipio and Robert M. Sertner, executive producers; Stacy Rukeyser, co-executive producer (A+E Studios for Lifetime)
Breakthrough Series – Shortform:
A continuing or limited-series new digital media programming comprising five or more episodes with the majority under 20 minutes.
Shugs and Fats, Nadia Manzoor and Radhika Vaz, creators (WINNER)(ShugsandFats.TV)
Bee and PuppyCat, Natasha Allegri, creator (Cartoon Hangover)
The Impossibilities, Anna Kerrigan, creator; Ashley Springer, Kati Rediger, producers (seriesofimpossibilities.com)
Qraftish, Christal and Black Girl Dangerous Media, creators (Blackgirldangerous.com)
You’re So Talented, Sam Bailey, creator; Samantha Lee, Mateo Gonzales, producers (Open TV)
Disclosure: The Hollywood Reporter’s chief TV critic, Tim Goodman, was on the nominating committee for the breakthrough series — longform category.
* 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).
Watch the trailer for ‘Spotlight’ below:
