PAST LIVES Wins Best Feature and FOUR DAUGHTERS Wins Best Documentary Feature

ANATOMY OF A FALL Wins Best International Feature and Best Screenplay 

BEEF Wins Breakthrough Series and Outstanding Performance in a Series for ALI WONG

Outstanding Performance Awards go to LILY GLADSTONE and CHARLES MELTON 

New York, NY (Monday, November 27, 2023) – The Gotham Film & Media Institute (The Gotham) tonight announced the winners of the 33^rd Annual Gotham Awards at a ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. 

Winning Best Feature was Past Lives, the nuanced and poignant drama by Celine Song about destiny, memories and identity, in which two childhood friends reconnect in NYC after one of them had emigrated from South Korea decades before.

Winning the award for Best International Feature was Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet’s gripping Cannes Palme d’Or-winning film. Anatomy of a Fall also scored a second Gotham Award win for its screenplay, co-written with Justine Triet by Arthur Harari, which digs deep into the complexities of marriage and institutions, the responsibilities of parents and the repercussions of their mistakes on their children.

The winner for Outstanding Lead Performance in feature films was Lily Gladstone in The Unknown Country for her poetic performance in Morissa Maltz’s naturalistic road-trip. Gladstone also accepted the Tribute to Killers of a Flower Moon on behalf of the cast during the ceremony.

Charles Melton scored the Gotham Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance 

for his unexpected turn in May December, Todd Haynes’ multi-layered and meta melodrama, as a man who’s married to a 20-years older woman he met when he was much younger.

The Breakthrough Director Award, presented by Cadillac, went to A.V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One. Her intense and Sundance-winning feature debut tells the story of a mother who, after kidnapping her son from a foster care, is determined to raise him by herself amidst the ever-challenging and evolving backdrop of New York City. 

The award for Best Documentary was presented to Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, a moving plea against extremism that revolves around Tunisian mother Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters. After two of them disappear, the feature team decides to use professional actresses to portray them, culminating in a provocative mix of nonfiction and fictional techniques about humanity, trauma and storytelling.

Winning the award for Breakthrough Series (Over 40 minutes) was A Small Light, based on the true story of Miep Gies, the woman who hid and sheltered Anne Frank’s family and others from Nazis. Breakthrough Series (Under 40 minutes) was awarded to Beef, a nail biting and twisted look at modern obsessions and escalating feuds from creator Lee Sung Jin. The show scored a second Gotham Award with the Outstanding Performance in a New Series awarded to Ali Wong for her fierce portrait of a small business owner who gets tangled into a nonstop crescendo of madness with her new ‘rival,’ portrayed by Steven Yeun.

This year The Gotham awarded the inaugural Icon & Creator Tributes to the films Air, Barbie, Ferrari, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro and Rustin. The Icon & Creator Tribute was created for this year’s Gotham Awards in order to recognize cultural icons and the filmmakers responsible for bringing that icon’s story to life. 

Air received the Visionary Icon & Creator Tribute; Barbie received the Global Icon & Creator Tribute; Ferrari received the Innovation Icon & Creator Tribute; Killers of The Flower Moon received the Historical Icon & Creator Tribute; Maestro received the Cultural Icon & Creator Tribute; and Rustin received the Social Justice Icon & Creator Tribute. 

Tonight The Gotham also announced ViacomCBS’ MTV Entertainment Group will continue to underwrite the Gotham EDU Schumacher Cranshaw Scholarship as part of The Gotham EDU Career Development Program. The scholarship is in honor of the legacy of filmmaker Joel Scumacher and MTV Creative Director Sophia Cranshaw, for undergraduate students who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color and LGBTQ+. The Gotham EDU Career Development program offers support in the form of classes and mentorship.

The Gotham’s Sidney Poitier Initiative, which supports The Gotham’s equity programs, also received funding from Moviepass. The Sidney Poitier Initiative fuels the careers of and expands opportunities for trailblazing film and media creators from historically excluded backgrounds.

The Gotham Awards ceremony was live streamed on Variety’s YouTube channel.

For photo selects from the event, visit:

BFA: https://bfa.com/events/42767/share/73a1088b4dac18 

GETTY Selects: https://dam.gettyimages.com/assignments/2023-gotham-awards-at-cipriani-wall 

The 33rd Annual Gotham Award recipients are:

For Best Feature, presented by Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman 

Past Lives 

Directed by Celine Song

Produced by David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

Released by A24

The Best Feature jury included: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Danielle Deadwyler, Beau Flynn, Edward Shults Trey & Olivia Wilde  

For Best Documentary Feature, presented by Carla Cugino and Rebecca Hall

Four Daughters 

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania

Produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha

Released by Kino Lorber 

The Best Documentary jury included: Yoni Golijov, Teddy Leifer, Andrew Rossi, Nanfu Wang & Jamila Wignot

For Best International Feature, presented Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Stan Walker 

Anatomy of a Fall 

Directed by Justine Triet

Produced by Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion

Released by NEON  

The Best International Feature jury included: Gracija Filipovic, Asher Goldstein, André Holland, Danilea Taplin Lundberg & Giancarlo Nasi 

For Outstanding Lead Performance, presented by Willem Dafoe and Danielle Deadwyler

Lily Gladstone in The Unknown Country 

Released by Music Box Films 

The Outstanding Lead Performance jury included: Thomas Benski, Liz Cardenas, Ethan Hawke, David Lowery & Alfre Woodard

For Outstanding Supporting Performance, presented by Jamie Bell and Shailene Woodley 

Charles Melton in May December 

Released by Netflix 

The Outstanding Supporting Performance jury included: Juan Pablo Gonzalez, Alma Har’el, Stephan James, Anya Taylor-Joy & Julie Yorn

For Breakthrough Director Award Presented by Cadillac, presented by Radikha Jones and Andrew Scott

A.V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One 

Released by Focus Features 

The Breakthrough Director Award Presented by Cadillac jury included: Anna Boden, Chinonye Chukwu, Ricky D’Ambrose, Richard Gladstein & Anne Rosellini 

For Best Screenplay, presented by Stephanie March and Jeffrey Sharp 

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall 

Released by NEON 

The Best Screenplay jury included: Lee Daniels, Lena Dunham, Sian Heder, Scott Lambert & Diego Luna 

For Breakthrough Series (Over 40 Minutes), presented by Bob Odenkirk and Steven Yeun 

A Small Light 

Created by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater

Executive Produced by Susanna Fogel, William Harper, Avi Nir, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Lisa Roos, Alon Shtruzman, and Peter Traugott

National Geographic

The Breakthrough Series (Over 40 Minutes) jury included: DeMane Davis, Frankie Faison, Sanaa Hamri, Haley Lu Richardson & Paul Thureen

For Breakthrough Series (Under 40 Minutes), presented by Nicole Beharie and Morgan Spector 

Beef

Created by Lee Sung Jin

Executive Produced by Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Jake Schreier, Ali Wong, and Steven Yeun

Netflix

The Breakthrough Series (Under 40 Minutes) jury included: Adam Arkin, Sterlin Harjo, Jordana Mollick, Taylour Paige & Susanna Styron 

For Outstanding Performance in a New Series, presented by Greta Lee and Teyana Taylor

Ali Wong in Beef

Netflix

The Outstanding Performance in a New Series jury included: Danielle Brooks, Kim Coleman, Aaron Cooley & Soo Hugh

Sponsors

The Premier Sponsor of the 2023 Gotham Awards is Vanity Fair, Official Vehicle is Cadillac, and Official Water is FIJI Water. 

About The Gotham Film & Media Institute

The Gotham celebrates and nurtures independent film and media creators, providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition. The organization, under the leadership of Executive Director and award-winning producer Jeffrey Sharp, fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Gotham Week, Gotham Labs, Filmmaker Magazine, the Gotham Awards, Gotham EDU, Owning It, and Expanding Communities.

About the Gotham Awards

The Gotham Awards is the first major awards show of the awards season that honors outstanding and groundbreaking voices in storytelling. For over 30 years, The Gotham Awards provides support for the work that The Gotham Film & Media Institute does year-round to celebrate and nurture film and media creators with vital resources to bring their work to fruition.

 For more information: https://thegotham.org/

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