First the good news – that Paul Schrader’s First Reformed comes in with three – Feature, Screenplay and Actor for Ethan Hawke. The Favorite is also in with three, Feature, Screenplay and Ensemble Female Lead (easy way not to have to choose between the actresses, which makes it even more difficult to figure out how the three – Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz will go down, Oscars wise).
The disappointing news is the lack of love for BlackKklansman – the only nomination is for Adam Driver.
I for one am pleased that First Reformed got a boost. I think this might be enough to push it into some of the Oscars categories, like Screenplay and maybe Picture. Nice upticks for both Leave No Trace and Eighth Grade, two very worthy films that came out earlier this year. Chloe Zhao’s The Rider, which was floating around last year, is being held aloft by those who love it and keep trying to push it to the top to gain recognition. They have made an effort to be as inclusive as possible, specifically with women of color behind the camera.
The Gothams have, in Oscar’s recent past, been a decent enough indicator of how Best Picture might go. But since this year’s Oscars will likely be dominated by bigger budget and higher box office films like A Star is Born, there might not be as much as an overlap.
Best Feature
The Favourite
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Yorgos Lanthimos, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
First Reformed
Paul Schrader, director; Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton, Deepak Sikka, Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, producers (A24)
If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins, director; Adele Romanski, Sara Murphy, Barry Jenkins, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Megan Ellison, producers (Annapurna Pictures)
Madeline’s Madeline
Josephine Decker, director; Krista Parris, Elizabeth Rao, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
The Rider
Chloé Zhao, director; Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Mollye Asher, Chloé Zhao, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Best Documentary
Bisbee ‘17
Robert Greene, producer; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott, producers (4th Row Films)
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
RaMell Ross, director; RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim, producers (The Cinema Guild)
Minding the Gap
Bing Liu, director; Diane Quon, Bing Liu, producers (Hulu & Magnolia Pictures)
Shirkers
Sandi Tan, director; Sandi Tan, Jessica Levin, Maya Rudolph, producers (Netflix)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Morgan Neville, director; Morgan Neville, Caryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma, producers (Focus Features)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Ari Aster for Hereditary (A24)
Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade (A24)
Jennifer Fox for The Tale (HBO)
Crystal Moselle for Skate Kitchen (Magnolia Pictures)
Boots Riley for Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
Best Screenplay
The Favourite, Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
First Reformed, Paul Schrader (A24)
Private Life, Tamara Jenkins (Netflix)
Support the Girls, Andrew Bujalski (Magnolia Pictures)
Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley (Focus Features)
Best Actor
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
Ben Foster in Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Ethan Hawke in First Reformed (A24)
Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
Best Actress*
Glenn Close in The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics)
Toni Collette in Hereditary (A24)
Kathryn Hahn in Private Life (Netflix)
Regina Hall in Support the Girls (Magnolia Pictures)
Michelle Pfeiffer in Where is Kyra? (Paladin and Great Point Media)
*The 2018 Best Actress nominating committee also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award to Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz for their ensemble performance in The Favourite. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Breakthrough Actor
Yalitza Aparicio in Roma (Netflix)
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (A24)
Helena Howard in Madeline’s Madeline (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
KiKi Layne in If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie in Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Alias Grace, Sarah Polley, Mary Harron, Noreen Halpern, executive producers (Netflix)
Big Mouth, Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin, creators; Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin & Jennifer Flackett, executive producers (Netflix)
The End of the F***ing World, Andy Baker, Murray Ferguson, Petra Fried, Ed MacDonald, Dominic Buchanan, Jonathan Entwistle, executive producers (Netflix)
Killing Eve, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, executive producers (BBC America)
Pose, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Steven Canals, creators; Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall, Sherry Marsh, executive producers (FX Networks)
Sharp Objects, Marti Noxon, creator; Marti Noxon, Jason Blum, Gillian Flynn, Amy Adams, Jean-Marc Vallée, Nathan Ross, Gregg Fienberg, Charles Layton, Marci Wiseman, Jessica Rhoades, executive producers (HBO)
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
195 Lewis, Chanelle Aponte Pearson and Rae Leone Allen, creators
Cleaner Daze, Tess Sweet and Daniel Gambelin, creators
Distance, Alex Dobrenko, creator
The F Word, Nicole Opper, creator
She’s the Ticket, Nadia Hallgren, creator
Twenty-seven writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The
Nominating Committees for the 2018 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards were:
Nominating Committee for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and Breakthrough Director:
Justin Chang, Film Critic, Los Angeles Times
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic & Writer, New York Magazine/Vulture
Eric Kohn, Executive Editor & Chief Critic, IndieWire
Christy Lemire, Film Critic, RogerEbert.com; Co-host of What the Flick?! podcast
Alison Willmore, Critic & Culture Writer, BuzzFeed News
Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Tom Hall, Executive Director, Montclair Film
Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, SFFILM
Sky Sitney, Co-creator & Co-director, Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival
Basil Tsiokos, Director of Programming: DOC NYC & Nantucket Film Festival, Documentary Programming Associate, Sundance Film Festival
David Wilson, Co-Conspirator, True/False Film Fest
Nominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress:
David Fear, Senior Editor/Critic, Rolling Stone
Mark Harris, Columnist, New York Magazine/Vulture
Ann Hornaday, Chief Film Critic, The Washington Post
Brian Tallerico, Editor, RogerEbert.com
Alissa Wilkinson, Film Critic, Vox
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor:
K. Austin Collins, Film Critic, Vanity Fair
David Ehrlich, Senior Film Critic, Indiewire
Jon Frosch, Reviews Editor, The Hollywood Reporter
Katie Walsh, Film Critic, Tribune Content Agency, Los Angeles Times
Emily Yoshida, Film Critic, New York Magazine/Vulture
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Long Form:
Sophie Gilbert, Staff Writer, Culture, The Atlantic
Tim Goodman, Chief Television Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Liz Shannon Miller, TV Editor, Indiewire
Sonia Saraiya, TV Critic, Vanity Fair
Alan Sepinwall, Chief TV Critic, Rolling Stone
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Short Form:
Jude Dry, Staff Writer, IndieWire
Randi Kleiner, Founder & CEO, SeriesFest
Gotham Audience Award
IFP members will determine the Gotham Audience Award with nominees comprised of the 15 nominated films in the Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award categories. All IFP current, active members will be eligible to vote. Voting will take place online from November 19th at 12:01 AM EST and conclude on November 24th at 5:00 PM EST. In addition, IFP will be scheduling screenings of the nominated films for IFP members in the theater at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP in Brooklyn. These screenings will take place from November 9-19. The winner of the Breakthrough Series – Short Form (all available on the web) will also be selected by online IFP member voting.
Sponsors
The Premier Sponsor of the 2018 IFP Gotham Awards is The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsor is GreenSlate. The Official Water Partner is FIJI Water, the Official Chocolate Partner is Lindt Chocolate and the Official Wine Partner is Robert Hall Winery. The Official After-Party Sponsor is Allbirds. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times in November 2018.
2018 IFP Gotham Awards – Alphabetical List of Nominated Films & Series
195 Lewis
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Alias Grace
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Bisbee ‘17
Best Documentary
Big Mouth
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
BlacKkKlansman
Best Actor
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Best Actor
Cleaner Daze
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Distance
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Eighth Grade
Breakthrough Director
Breakthrough Actor
The End of the F***ing World
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The F Word
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
The Favourite
Best Feature
Best Screenplay
Jury Award Ensemble Performance
First Reformed
Best Feature
Best Screenplay
Best Actor
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Best Documentary
Hereditary
Best Actress
Breakthrough Director
If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Feature
Breakthrough Actor
Killing Eve
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Leave No Trace
Best Actor
Breakthrough Actor
Madeline’s Madeline
Best Feature
Breakthrough Actor
Minding the Gap
Best Documentary
Pose
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Private Life
Best Actress
Best Screenplay
The Rider
Best Feature
Roma
Breakthrough Actor
Sharp Objects
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
She’s the Ticket
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Shirkers
Best Documentary
Skate Kitchen
Breakthrough Director
Sorry to Bother You
Best Actor
Breakthrough Director
Support the Girls
Best Actress
Best Screenplay
The Tale
Breakthrough Director
Thoroughbreds
Best Screenplay
Where is Kyra?
Best Actress
The Wife
Best Actress
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Best Documentary
Nominating Committee for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and Breakthrough Director:
Justin Chang, Film Critic, Los Angeles Times
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic & Writer, New York Magazine/Vulture
Eric Kohn, Executive Editor & Chief Critic, IndieWire
Christy Lemire, Film Critic, RogerEbert.com; Co-host of What the Flick?! podcast
Alison Willmore, Critic & Culture Writer, BuzzFeed News
Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Tom Hall, Executive Director, Montclair Film
Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, SFFILM
Sky Sitney, Co-creator & Co-director, Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival
Basil Tsiokos, Director of Programming: DOC NYC & Nantucket Film Festival, Documentary Programming Associate, Sundance Film Festival
David Wilson, Co-Conspirator, True/False Film Fest
Nominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress:
David Fear, Senior Editor/Critic, Rolling Stone
Mark Harris, Columnist, New York Magazine/Vulture
Ann Hornaday, Chief Film Critic, The Washington Post
Brian Tallerico, Editor, RogerEbert.com
Alissa Wilkinson, Film Critic, Vox
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor:
K. Austin Collins, Film Critic, Vanity Fair
David Ehrlich, Senior Film Critic, Indiewire
Jon Frosch, Reviews Editor, The Hollywood Reporter
Katie Walsh, Film Critic, Tribune Content Agency, Los Angeles Times
Emily Yoshida, Film Critic, New York Magazine/Vulture
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Long Form:
Sophie Gilbert, Staff Writer, Culture, The Atlantic
Tim Goodman, Chief Television Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Liz Shannon Miller, TV Editor, Indiewire
Sonia Saraiya, TV Critic, Vanity Fair
Alan Sepinwall, Chief TV Critic, Rolling Stone