23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Winners Announced
by Website Update on December 5, 2013
Top Awards go to INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS and THE ACT OF KILLING for Best Feature and Best Documentary
Matthew McConaughey and Brie Larson Win Best Actor and Best Actress Awards
FRUITVALE STATION Wins Two Awards
New York, NY (December 2, 2013) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) tonight announced the winners of the 23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards at its awards ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street, in New York City. Winning the Best Feature award was Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel and Ethan Coen’s film about a struggling folk singer in 1961-set Greenwich Village. It is the Coen’s first Gotham Award win for Best Feature, having been previously nominated for A Serious Man in 2009. They also received a Gotham Career Tribute from IFP in 1994. In addition to the Coens as directors and producers, the award went to producer Scott Rudin, marking the second consecutive Gotham Best Feature win for Rudin, who was a producer on the 2012 Best Feature winner, Moonrise Kingdom. The award for Best Documentary went to The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s unsettling journey into the imaginations of mass-murderers, in which Indonesia’s death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass-killings.
For the first time in 2013, Gotham Award categories were added for Best Actor and Best Actress.
Winning the inaugural award for Best Actor was Matthew McConaughey for his role as Ron Woodroof,
who defiantly fights an AIDS death sentence in Dallas Buyers Club. Brie Larson was voted Best Actress
for Short Term 12, in which she plays a dedicated but anguished supervisor at a group foster home for
at-risk teens.
Fruitvale Station, based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was killed by transit police in Oakland,
California in 2009, won both of the Gotham “Breakthrough” awards. Lead actor Michael B. Jordan
received the Breakthrough Actor award for portraying Oscar Grant, and first time feature director Ryan
Coogler won the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director award. In addition to the award, Coogler received
an unrestricted grant of $15,000, courtesy of presenting sponsor Royal Bank of Canada.
The Gotham Independent Film Audience Award powered by Festival Genius, and voted by film fans,
went to Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, a documentary portrait of the popular ukulele virtuoso
shot during a tour of the U.S and Japan.
Also presented by IFP for the third year at the ceremony was the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on
Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent
Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the
completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film. The winner of
the 2013 grant was Gita Pullapilly, director of Beneath the Harvest Sky, which premiered at the 2013
Toronto International Film Festival.
In addition to the competitive awards presented, career tributes were given during the ceremony to
actor Forest Whitaker; director Richard Linklater; Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of
Media and Entertainment, Katherine Oliver; and a posthumous tribute was given to actor James
Gandolfini.
The ceremony was streamed live to a global audience at www.ifp.org.
The 23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Award™ recipients are:
For Best Feature, presented by Darren Aronofsky and Jared Leto:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Produced by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, and Scott Rudin
Released by CBS Films
The Best Feature jury included: Scott Franklin, Jon Kilik, Melissa Leo, Mira Nair, and Robert Yeoman.
For Best Documentary, presented by Morgan Spurlock
THE ACT OF KILLING
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
Produced by Signe Byrge and Joshua Oppenheimer
Released by Drafthouse Films
The Best Documentary jury included: Howard Gertler, Rachel Grady, Gary Hustwit, Steve James, and Stanley Nelson.
For Best Actor, presented by Rashida Jones
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Released by Focus Features
The Best Actor Jury included Mary Harron, Ted Hope, Patton Oswalt, Amy Ryan, and Zac Stuart-Pontier
For Best Actress, presented by John Goodman and Oscar Isaac
(presenting sponsor euphoria Calvin Klein)
BRIE LARSON in SHORT TERM 12
Released by Cinedigm
The Best Actress Jury included Miguel Arteta, Steve Buscemi, Rashida Jones, Nathan Larson, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
For Breakthrough Actor, presented by Natasha Lyonne and Zosia Mamet
MICHAEL B. JORDAN in FRUITVALE STATION
Released by The Weinstein Company
The Breakthrough Actor Jury included: Mike Birbiglia, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass, Debra Granik, and Anthony Mackie
For Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, presented by director Mira Nair and Mark Standish, CEO of The Royal Bank of Canada. The award comes with an unrestricted grant of $15,000, courtesy of presenting sponsor Royal Bank of Canada:
RYAN COOGLER for FRUITVALE STATION
Released by The Weinstein Company
The Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Jury included: Lisa Cortes, Adam Kimmel, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Mezey, and Sam Pollard
For the Gotham Independent Film Audience Award powered by Festival Genius, presented by Mike Birbiglia and Kathryn Hahn
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS
Directed by Tadashi Nakamura
Produced by Donald Young
A production of the Center for Asian American Media and Pacific Islanders in Communications in association with Paliku Documentary Films with support by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Audience Award was voted for on-line by filmgoers worldwide.
For the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ Grant, presented by Shailene Woodley
GITA PULLAPILLY for BENEATH THE HARVEST SKY
The euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers’ ‘Live the Dream’ grant jury included: Ashley
Bennett, Mynette Louie, Ira Sachs, and Shailene Woodley
The Gotham Award winners were chosen from a total of 26 films that received nominations in seven competitive categories.
The Premier Sponsors of the 23rd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards are Royal Bank of Canada
(RBC) and The New York Times, Platinum Sponsor euphoria Calvin Klein, Official Water FIJI Water, Official Spirit Russian Standard Vodka, Official Wine Partner Mionetto Prosecco, Official Hotel Andaz Wall Street.
DOWNLOADING VIDEO OF GOTHAM AWARDS
http://gotham.ifpupload.org/public/index.cfm?page=147
DOWNLOADING IMAGES OF GOTHAM AWARDS
http://gotham.ifpupload.org/public/index.cfm?page=133
About IFP
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) is the premier advocacy organization for independent filmmakers, championing the future of storytelling in the digital age by fostering a vibrant and sustainable independent filmmaking community. IFP has supported over 7,000 films and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers over its 34-year history, developing 350 new feature and documentary films each year. IFP represents a growing network of 10,000 filmmakers in New York City and around the world.
IFP guides filmmakers in the art, technology, and business of independent filmmaking through its year-
round programming and with the introduction of the state-of-the-art Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where storytellers from multiple disciplines, industries, and platforms create, collaborate, and connect.
In addition to its workshops, seminars, conferences, mentorships, and Filmmaker Magazine, IFP’s annual programs include Independent Film Week, Envision, The Gotham Independent Film Awards, and the Independent Filmmaker Labs.
Founded in 1979, IFP is the largest and oldest not-for-profit dedicated to independent film.
More info at www.ifp.org
About the Gotham Independent Film Awards by IFP
The Gotham Independent Film Awards by IFP, 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: http://gotham.ifp.org
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