The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier member organization of independent storytellers, announced today the nominees for the 27th Annual IFP Gotham Awards. For 2017, ten competitive awards will be presented to independent features and series. In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes will be given to actors Nicole Kidman and Dustin Hoffman, director Sofia Coppola, producer Jason Blum, cinematographer Ed Lachman, and a Gotham Humanitarian Tribute to Al Gore.
The Gotham Awards is one of the leading awards for independent film and signals the kick-off to the film awards season. As the first major awards ceremony of the film season, the IFP Awards provide critical early recognition and media attention to worthy independent films. The awards are also unique for their ability to assist in catapulting award recipients prominently into national awards season attention.
“This year offered a bountiful array of diverse, creative work that represents the very best from this community. We’re thrilled to celebrate these achievements,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center.
Thirty-four films and series received nominations this year. In addition, the nominating committee for the Best Actor and Best Actress categories voted to award a Special Jury Award to the ensemble cast of Mudbound.
Nominees are selected by committees of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films will determine the final Gotham Award recipients.
The Gotham Audience Award nominees are comprised of the 14 films nominated for Best Feature, Best Documentary, and the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award. The winners will be selected by online voting of IFP members. Voting for that award begins November 17th. In addition this year, the winner of the Breakthrough Series – Short Form (all available on the web) will be selected by online IFP member voting.
The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 27th at Cipriani Wall Street.
The 2017 IFP Gotham Independent Film Award nominations are:
Best Feature
Call Me by Your Name
Luca Guadagnino, director; Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory, Howard Rosenman, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Florida Project
Sean Baker, director; Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Duncan, Alex Saks, Francesca Silvestri, Shih-Ching Tsou, producers (A24)
Get Out
Jordan Peele, director; Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm, Jr., Jordan Peele, producers (Universal Pictures)
Good Time
Josh and Benny Safdie, directors; Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas, Sebastian Bear-McClard, Oscar Boyson, producers (A24)
I, Tonya
Craig Gillespie, director; Bryan Unkeless, Steven Rogers, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, producers (NEON)
Best Documentary
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library
Frederick Wiseman, director and producer (Zipporah Films)
Rat Film
Theo Anthony, director; Riel Roch-Decter, Sebastian Pardo, producers (MEMORY and Cinema Guild)
Strong Island
Yance Ford, director; Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes, producers (Netflix)
Whose Streets?
Sabaah Folayan, Damon Davis, directors; Sabaah Folayan, Damon Davis, Jennifer MacArthur, Flannery Miller, producers (Magnolia Pictures)
The Work
Jairus McLeary, director; Gethin Aldous, co-director; Alice Henty, Eon McLeary, Jairus McLeary, Miles McLeary, producers (The Orchard and First Look Media)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Maggie Betts for Novitiate (Sony Pictures Classics)
Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird (A24)
Kogonada for Columbus (Superlative Films/Depth of Field)
Jordan Peele for Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Joshua Z Weinstein for Menashe (A24)
Best Screenplay
The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (Amazon Studios)
Brad’s Status, Mike White (Amazon Studios)
Call Me by Your Name, James Ivory (Sony Pictures Classics)
Columbus, Kogonada (Superlative Films/Depth of Field)
Get Out, Jordan Peele (Universal Pictures)
Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig (A24)
Best Actor*
Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project (A24)
James Franco in The Disaster Artist (A24)
Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Robert Pattinson in Good Time (A24)
Adam Sandler in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Netflix)
Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky (Magnolia Pictures)
Best Actress*
Melanie Lynskey in I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (Netflix)
Haley Lu Richardson in Columbus (Superlative Films/Depth of Field)
Margot Robbie in I, Tonya (NEON)
Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird (A24)
Lois Smith in Marjorie Prime (FilmRise)
Breakthrough Actor
Mary J. Blige in Mudbound (Netflix)
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Harris Dickinson in Beach Rats (NEON)
Kelvin Harrison, Jr. in It Comes at Night (A24)
Brooklynn Prince in The Florida Project (A24)
* The 2017 Best Actor/Best Actress nominating committee also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award for ensemble performance to Mudbound, The award will go to actors Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks.
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Atlanta, Donald Glover, creator; Donald Glover, Dianne McGunigle, Paul Simms, executive producers (FX Networks)
Better Things, Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K., creators; Dave Becky, M. Blair Breard, Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon, executive producers (FX Networks)
Dear White People, Justin Simien, creator; Yvette Lee Bowser, Justin Simien, Stephanie Allain, Julia Lebedev, executive producers (Netflix)
Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator; Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Harry Williams, Jack Williams, executive producers (Amazon)
Search Party, Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, Michael Showalter, creators; Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, Michael Showalter, Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, executive producers (TBS)
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
555, Kate Berlant, Andrew DeYoung and John Early, creators (Vimeo)
Inconceivable, Joel Ashton McCarthy, creator (YouTube)
Junior, Zoe Cassavetes, creator (Blackpills and VICE)
Let Me Die a Nun, Sarah Salovaara, creator (Vimeo)
The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes, Nancy Andrews, creator (YouTube)
(Additional credits to be determined.)
Twenty-eight writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The Nominating Committees for the 2017 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards were:
Nominating Committee for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and Breakthrough Director:
Justin Chang, Film Critic, Los Angeles Times
Peter Debruge, Chief Film Critic, Variety
Christy Lemire, Film Critic, RogerEbert.com; Co-host of What the Flick?!
David Rooney, Chief Theater Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Joshua Rothkopf, Global Deputy Film Editor, Time Out New York
Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Ben Fowlie, Executive Director, Points North Institute; Founder, Camden International Film Festival
Cynthia Fuchs, Film & TV Reviews, PopMatters; Director of Film & Media Studies, George Mason University
Eric Kohn, Deputy Editor & Chief Critic, Indiewire
Mike Maggiore, Programmer, Film Forum
Alissa Wilkinson, Film Critic, Vox
Nominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress:
A.A. Dowd, Film Editor, The A.V. Club
David Ehrlich, Senior Film Critic, Indiewire
Tim Grierson, Senior U.S. Critic, Screen International; Chief Film Critic, Paste
Sheila O’Malley, Writer/Film Critic, RogerEbert.com, The Sheila Variations
Alison Willmore, Film Critic, BuzzFeed News; Co-host Filmspotting: Streaming Video Unit
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor:
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic, Village Voice
David Sims, Senior Associate Editor, The Atlantic
Brian Tallerico, Film Editor, RogerEbert.com
Katie Walsh, Film Critic, Tribune Content Agency, Los Angeles Times
Emily Yoshida, Film Critic, New York Magazine/Vulture.com
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, Variety
Matt Zoller Seitz, Editor-in-Chief, RogerEbert.com; TV Critic, New York Magazine/Vulture.com
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Short Form:
Jude Dry, Reporter, Critic, Indiewire
Randi Kleiner, Founder & CEO, SeriesFest
Paula Mejia, Associate Editor, Atlas Obscura; Author, Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy
Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
IFP members will determine the Gotham Independent Film Audience Award with nominees comprised of the 14 nominated films in the Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award categories.
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
IFP members will determine the winner from among the five nominees for this award by viewing and voting for them online.
All IFP current, active members at the Individual Level and above will be eligible to vote for these audience-determined categories. Voting will take place online from November 17th at 12:01 AM EST and conclude on November 25th 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 10-21.
Sponsors
The Premier Sponsor of the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards is The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsors are the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Office of Film, Music and Entertainment and Greenslate. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times in November 2017.
2017 IFP Gotham Awards – Alphabetical List of Nominated Films & Series
555
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Atlanta
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Beach Rats
Breakthrough Actor
Better Things
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Big Sick
Best Screenplay
Brad’s Status
Best Screenplay
Call Me by Your Name
Best Feature
Best Screenplay
Breakthrough Actor
Columbus
Breakthrough Director
Best Screenplay
Best Actress
Dear White People
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Disaster Artist
Best Actor
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library
Best Documentary
Fleabag
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Florida Project
Best Feature
Best Actor
Breakthrough Actor
Get Out
Best Feature
Breakthrough Director
Best Screenplay
Best Actor
Good Time
Best Feature
Best Actor
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
Best Actress
I, Tonya
Best Feature
Best Actress
Inconceivable
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
It Comes at Night
Breakthrough Actor
Junior
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Lady Bird
Breakthrough Director
Best Screenplay
Best Actress
Let Me Die a Nun
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Lucky
Best Actor
Marjorie Prime
Best Actress
Menashe
Breakthrough Director
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Best Actor
Mudbound
Jury Award Ensemble Performance
Breakthrough Actor
Novitiate
Breakthrough Director
Rat Film
Best Documentary
Search Party
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Strong Island
Best Documentary
Whose Streets?
Best Documentary
The Work
Best Documentary
About IFP
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include IFP Week, IFP Labs, Filmmaker Magazine, IFP Gotham Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. IFP represents an ever-growing network of 10,000+ storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 39-year history, IFP has supported over 12,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000+ filmmakers. More info at www.ifp.org
About the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards
The IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards, 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 on attending: http://gotham.ifp.org
