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2021 Gotham Award nominations: Female breakthroughs break out

Updated: Oct 22, 2021


Ruth Negga in Rebecca Hall's directorial debut Passing, nominated for four 2021 Gotham Awards
Ruth Negga in Passing

The last awards season isn't even over six months past, but the next one's already underway. Voters for the Gotham Film & Media Institute's 31st annual Gotham Awards have picked their nominees for the best achievements in American independent film for 2021, and female breakthrough directors are leading the pack. Best Feature nods are scored for actors-turned-directors Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Lost Daughter and Rebecca Hall's Passing, each securing five shots at Gotham gold, while Shatara Michelle Ford's Test Pattern earns three, all also turning up in the Breakthrough Director category. For the first time, acting categories were gender-neutral, and international features were permitted to compete for the Documentary prize. The 2021 Gotham Awards will take place on 29 November.


Best Feature

THE GREEN KNIGHT (David Lowery, Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Tim Headington and Theresa Steele Page)

THE LOST DAUGHTER (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler and Charles Dorfman)

PASSING (Rebecca Hall, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker and Margot Hand)

PIG (Michael Sarnoski, Nicolas Cage, Steve Tisch, David Carrico, Adam Paulsen, Dori Roth, Joseph Restiano, Dimitra Tsingou, Thomas Benski, Ben Giladi and Vanessa Block)

TEST PATTERN (Shatara Michelle Ford, Liu Pin Chun and Su Yu Hao)


Outstanding Lead Performance

Olivia Colman (THE LOST DAUGHTER)

Frankie Faison (THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN)

Michael Greyeyes (WILD INDIAN)

Brittany S. Hall (TEST PATTERN)

Oscar Isaac (THE CARD COUNTER)

Taylour Paige (ZOLA)

Joaquin Phoenix (C'MON C'MON)

Simon Rex (RED ROCKET)

Lili Taylor (PAPER SPIDERS)

Tessa Thompson (PASSING)


Outstanding Supporting Performance

Reed Birney (MASS)

Jessie Buckley (THE LOST DAUGHTER)

Colman Domingo (ZOLA)

Gaby Hoffmann (C'MON C'MON)

Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Marlee Matlin (CODA)

Ruth Negga (PASSING)


Best Screenplay

Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch (RED ROCKET)

Maggie Gyllenhaal (THE LOST DAUGHTER)

Rebecca Hall (PASSING)

David Lowery (THE GREEN KNIGHT)

Paul Schrader (THE CARD COUNTER)

Amalia Ulman (EL PLANETA)


Best Documentary Feature

ASCENSION (Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell)

FAYA DAYI (Jessica Beshir)

FLEE (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellstrom, Signe Byrge Sorensen and Charlotte de la Gournerie)

PRESIDENT (Camilla Nielsson, Signe Byrge Sorensen and Joslyn Barnes)

SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) (Questlove, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein)


Best International Feature

AZOR (Andreas Fontana, Eugenia Mumenthaler and David Epiney)

DRIVE MY CAR (Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Yamamoto Teruhisa)

THE SOUVENIR: PART II (Joanna Hogg, Ed Guiney, Emma Norton, Andrew Low and Luke Schiller)

TITANE (Julia Ducournau and Jean-Christophe Reymond)

WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY? (Alexandre Koberidze and Mariam Shatberashvili)

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Joachim Trier, Thomas Robsham, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar and Dyveke Bjorkly Graver)


Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Shatara Michelle Ford (TEST PATTERN)

Maggie Gyllenhaal (THE LOST DAUGHTER)

Rebecca Hall (PASSING)

Edson Oda (NINE DAYS)

Emma Seligman (SHIVA BABY)


Breakthrough Performer Award

Emilia Jones (CODA)

Natalie Morales (LANGUAGE LESSONS)

Rachel Sennott (SHIVA BABY)

Suzanna Son (RED ROCKET)

Amalia Ulman (EL PLANETA)


Director's Tribute

Jane Campion


Ensemble Tribute

THE HARDER THEY FALL


Industry Tribute

Eamonn Bowles


Performer Tribute

Kristen Stewart

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