New York, NY (October 11, 2017) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier member organization of independent filmmakers and storytellers, announced today that John Cameron Mitchell will host the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards. The first awards show of the season, the IFP Gotham Awards is one of the leading honors for independent film and media, providing critical early recognition to groundbreaking independent films and their writers, directors, producers, and actors with ten competitive awards categories.  The IFP Gotham Awards also honors selected film industry icons as tributes each year. The ceremony will be held on Monday, November 27, 2017, at Cipriani Wall Street, New York City. 

“We eagerly anticipate a fun, exciting and entertaining night with John Cameron Mitchell leading us through it,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “John’s unique gift to entertain will be a brilliant addition to the lineup of stellar Tributes and to the highly anticipated movies and nominees of 2017.” 

John wrote and starred in the groundbreaking musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch that began its Off-Broadway run at the Jane Street Theatre in 1998, which John won an Obie Award. In 2014 it opened on Broadway, where it garnered 8 Tony® nominations, winning for Best Revival of a Musical and John receiving a Special Tony® for his return to the role, Hedwig. John’s 2001 film adaptation of Hedwig won him Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, and the 2001 IFP Gotham Awards Open Palm Award for Best Directorial Debut. In 2006 he directed the sexually frank ensemble-piece Shortbus, and in 2011 he directed the David Lindsay-Abaire adapted Rabbit Hole, produced by and starring Nicole Kidman in an Oscar®-nominated performance. His most recent film, the punk romance How to Talk to Girls at Parties, premiered at the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival and stars Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman. A24 will release the film in the spring 2018. John currently can be seen in CBS’s The Good Fight and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle. 

IFP recently announced that Dustin Hoffman will receive the Actor Tribute, Nicole Kidman the Actress Tribute, Sofia Coppola the Director Tribute, former Vice President Al Gore the Humanitarian Tribute, Ed Lachman the Cinematographer Tribute, and Film Producer and Founder of Blumhouse Productions Jason Blum the Industry Tribute at the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards.  

This year’s honorees will join a distinguished group of previous honorees, including Oliver Stone, Arnon Milchan, Ethan Hawke, Amy Adams, Helen Mirren, Robert Redford, Tilda Swinton, Todd Haynes, Jeff Skoll, Ted Sarandos, James Schamus, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sheila Nevins, Jonathan Sehring, Roger Ebert, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, David O. Russell, David Cronenberg, Mira Nair, Gus Van Sant, and more. 

Each year IFP chooses a jury of veteran and award-winning peers from the documentary, feature film and TV industry to award the Gotham’s competitive awards. The ten competitive IFP Gotham Awards for 2017 include Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Audience Award, Best Screenplay, Breakthrough Series – Short Form, and Breakthrough Series – Long Form. As in past years, the IFP Gotham Audience Award will be open to voting by IFP Members worldwide as a benefit of membership. Voting will take place online in November. 

Nominees will be announced on October 19th and winners will be honored at the star-studded ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on November 27th. To purchase tables or tickets to attend, please contact Steven Pfeiffer by email at [email protected], or by phone at (212) 465-8200 Ext. 219. 

The Premier Sponsor of the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards is The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsors are Underground Lauderdale/Film, Music, Fashion & Create and Greenslate. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times in November 2017. 

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Independent Film Week, Filmmaker Magazine, the IFP Gotham Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a tech and media incubator space developed with the New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. 

IFP represents a growing network of storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 38-year history, IFP has supported over 10,000+ projects and offered resources to more than 20,000+ filmmakers, including Barry Jenkins, Laura Poitras, Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin. More info at www.ifp.org. 

About the IFP Gotham Awards  

The IFP Gotham Awards, selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that IFP does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition. 

For information on attending: http://gotham.ifp.org 

Press Contact 

FRANK PR, 646.861.0843 

Stephanie Davidson 

[email protected]