The International Film Project Thursday morning announced the 30th Annual Gotham Award nominations. Kelly Reichardt’s quiet western tale, First Cow, led the way with four nominations including Best Feature, Best Screenplay for Reichardt and co-writer Jon Raymond, Best Actor for John Magaro, and Breakthrough Actor for Orion Lee.
If the awards season started with the fall festivals, it really kicks into gear with the announcement of the Gotham Award nominations. Celebrating independent film, the IFP considers films with budget under $35 million. With the exception of the International Feature category, all submissions must be primarily American productions.
THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION: RADHA BLANK (WRITER, DIRECTOR) as RADHA. Cr. JEONG PARK/NETFLIX ©2020
It was also a good morning for Radha Blank and her breakthrough film, The Forty-Year-Old Version, which was purchased by Netflix after its strong debut at Sundance. IFC Films did well with The Nest, scoring nominations for both stars, Jude Law and Carrie Coon. And, as many predicted, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland also did well, with nominations for Best Feature and for star Frances McDormand. In a stunning feat that proves it can be done, all five nominees for Best Feature were directed by women.
This year, IFP followed the AMPAS lead and extended the eligibility period to films releasing between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. A record 505 entries were submitted for consideration this year, which is an increase of more than 100 films from 2019.
Here is the full list of nominees:
BEST FEATURE
- The Assistant, dir. Kitty Green (Bleecker Street)
- First Cow, dir. Kelly Reichardt (A24)
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always, dir. Eliza Hittman (Focus Features)
- Nomadland, dir. Chloé Zhao (Searchlight Pictures)
- Relic, dir. Natalie Erika James (IFC Midnight)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
- 76 Days, dir. Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, Anonymous
- City Hall, dir. Frederick Wiseman
- Our Time Machine, dir. Yang Sun, S. Leo Chiang
- A Thousand Cuts, dir. Ramona S. Diaz
- Time, dir. Garrett Bradley
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
- Bacurau, dir. Kleber Mendonça, Juliano Dornelles (Brazil)
- Beanpole, dir. Kantemir Balagov (Russia)
- Cuties (Mignonnes), dir. Maïmouna Doucouré (France)
- Identifying Features, dir. Fernanda Valadez (Mexico)
- Martin Eden, dir. Pietro Marcello (Italy)
- Wolfwalkers, dir. Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart (Ireland)
BEST ACTRESS
- Nicole Beharie, Miss Juneteenth
- Jessie Buckley, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
- Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
- Carrie Coon, The Nest
- Frances McDorman, Nomadland
BEST ACTOR
- John Magaro, First Cow
- Jesse Plemons, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
- Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
- Jude Law, The Nest
- Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
BEST SCREENPLAY
- Mike Makowsky, Bad Education
- Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
- Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
- Dan Sallitt, Fourteen
- James Montague and Craig Sanger, The Vast of Night
BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD
- Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
- Channing Godfrey Peoples, Miss Juneteenth
- Alex Thompson, Saint Frances
- Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Swallow
- Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night
BREAKTHROUGH ACTORS
- Orion Lee, First Cow
- Sydney Flanagan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
- Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami
- Kelly O’Sullivan, Saint Frances
- Jasmine Batchelor, Surrogate
BREAKTHROUGH SERIES UNDER 40 MINUTES
- Betty (HBO)
- Dave (FX)
- I May Destroy You (HBO)
- Taste the Nation (Hulu)
- Work in Progress (Showtime)
BREAKTHROUGH SERIES OVER 40 MINUTES
- The Great (Hulu)
- Immigration Nation (Netflix)
- P-Valley (Starz)
- Unorthodox (Netflix)
- Watchmen (HBO)
The Gotham Awards will also present the Audience Award, which is a category comprised of the 20 nominees for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best International Feature, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director. Members of IFP are eligible to vote, which will be conducted online next month.
Jeffrey Sharpe, executive director of IFP, introduced the nominations this morning, and explained that this year’s ceremony will be a hybrid of online and in-person presentations. It will also be streamed for public viewing for the first time.
