Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s feature wins Best Picture, Best Actor honors
Gotham has a new hero: Birdman. The Alejandro G. Iñárritu-directed feature, the full title of which is Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), won the Best Picture and Best Actor (Michael Keaton) honors this evening at the 24th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. The ceremony was held at Cipriani Wall Street.
Backed by the Independent Filmmaker Project, the Gotham competition provides critical early recognition and media attention to worthy indie films. The awards also assist in catapulting award recipients prominently into national awards season attention, including recent winners and ultimate Oscar contenders. Past years have included such prime examples as The Hurt Locker and Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Joining Keaton in this year’s Gotham winners circle for actors were: Julianne Moore as Best Actress for her performance in Still Alice; and Tessa Thompson as Breakthrough Actor for Dear White People.
Additionally, the nominating committee for the Best Actor category voted to award a Special Jury Award jointly to the three leading actors in director Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher–Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum–for their ensemble work.
Director/producer Laura Poitras’ CITIZENFOUR earned Best Documentary distinction.
And taking the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award was Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.
In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes were given to actor Tilda Swinton, director Bennett Miller and Industry Tribute recipient Ted Sarandos of Netflix.
The Gotham Audience Award was bestowed upon director Richard Linklater's Boyhood.
Here’s a rundown of 2014 Gotham Independent Film Award winners:
Best Feature
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Best Documentary
CITIZENFOUR
Laura Poitras, director; Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky, producers (RADiUS, Participant Media, and HBO Documentary Films)
Elizabeth Martin, Matthew Van Dyke, producers (The Orchard and American Documentary / POV)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Kino Lorber)
Best Actor
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Best Actress
Julianne Moore in Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics)
Breakthrough Actor
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
The 2014 Best Actor nominating panel also voted to give a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum for their ensemble performance in Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics).
Audience Award
Boyhood
Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, producers (IFC Films)
Juliette Welfling Takes On A Musical, A Crime Thriller, Comedy and Drama In “Emelia Pérez”
Editor Juliette Welfling has a track record of close-knit, heartfelt collaboration with writer-director Jacques Audiard, a four-time BAFTA Award nominee for Best Film not in the English Language--starting with The Beat That My Heart Skipped in 2006, then A Prophet in 2010, Rust and Bone in 2013, and Dheepan in 2017. He won for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet.
Welfling cut three of those features: A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and Dheepan. And that shared filmography has since grown to most recently include Emelia Pérez, the Oscar buzz-worthy film from Netflix. Welfling herself is not stranger to Academy Award banter. In fact, she earned a Best Achievement in Film Editing Oscar nomination in 2008 for director Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Emelia Pérez is a hybrid musical/drama/thriller which introduces us to a talented but undervalued lawyer named Rita (portrayed by Zoe Saldana) who receives a lucrative offer out of the blue from a feared drug cartel boss who’s looking to retire from his sordid business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamt of being (Karla Sofía Gascón in a dual role as Manitas Del Monte/Emilia Pérez). Rita helps pull this off, orchestrating the faked death of Del Monte who leaves behind a widow (Jessi, played by Selena Gomez) and kids. While living comfortably and contently in her/their new identity, Pérez misses the children. Pérez once again enlists Rita--this time to return to family life, reuniting with the kids by pretending to be their aunt, the sister of Del Monte. Now as an aunt, Pérez winds up adopting a more altruistic bent professionally,... Read More