With the dearth of new studio movies in theatres this year, for obvious reasons, many have speculated that the 2020-'21 awards season will be dominated by indie releases, potentially with a lot of minority representation. And while women may not necessarily make up a minority of humans on Earth, they do make up a minority of directors in the film industry, so it's extremely encouraging to note that the directors of all five Gotham Award nominees for 2020 are female. Leading the field is Kelly Reichardt's First Cow with four nominations from the Independent Film Project, whose selections are limited to titles budgeted under $35 million. Kudos to the IFP for mentioning Cuties in Best International Feature, given the ridiculous furore over that film's release. Winners will be announced at the Gotham Awards ceremony on the 11th of January, an unusually late date for this group, something that's set to become a common feature of this season. And they're off!
Best Feature “The Assistant” “First Cow” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” “Nomadland” “Relic”
Best Documentary “76 Days” “City Hall” “Our Time Machine” “A Thousand Cuts” “Time”
Best International Feature “Bacurau” “Beanpole” “Cuties (Mignonnes)” “Identifying Features” “Martin Eden” “Wolfwalkers”
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Carlo Mirabella-Davis, “Swallow” Rhada Blank, “The Forty Year Old Version” Andrew Patterson, “Vast of Night” Channing Godfrey Peoples, “Miss Juneteenth” Alex Thompson, “Saint Frances”
Best Screenplay “Bad Education,” Mike Makowsky “First Cow,” Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” Radha Blank “Fourteen,” Dan Sallitt “The Vast of Night,” James Montague and Craig Sanger
Best Actor Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal” Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Jude Law, “The Nest” John Magaro, “First Cow” Jesse Plemons, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
Best Actress Nicole Beharie, “Miss Juneteenth” Jessie Buckley, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari” Carrie Coon, “The Nest” Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Breakthrough Actor Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” Jasmine Batchelor, “The Surrogate” Kelly O’Sullivan, “Saint Frances” Orion Lee, “First Cow” Kingsley Ben-Adir, “One Night in Miami”
Breakthrough Series – Long Form “The Great” “Immigration Nation” “P-Valley” “Unorthodox” “Watchmen”
Breakthrough Series – Short Form “Betty” “Dave” “I May Destroy You” “Taste the Nation” “Work in Progress”