The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier member organization of independent storytellers, announced the nominees for the 28th Annual IFP Gotham Awards. Ten competitive awards will be presented to independent features and series. In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Tributes will be given to actors Rachel Weisz and Willem Dafoe, director Paul Greengrass, and the Gotham Industry Tribute to Jon Kamen.
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 Gotham 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.
“There has been a rich abundance of great films, television, and performances in 2018, and we congratulate those being recognized in the nominations this year,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center.
Thirty-five films and series received nominations this year. In addition, the nominating committee for the Best Actress category voted to award a Special Jury Award jointly to Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz for their ensemble performance in The Favourite.
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 15 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 26th at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
The 2018 IFP Gotham Award nominations are:
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, director; 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
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 (Film, Series & Audio Storytelling), Filmmaker Magazine, IFP Gotham Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a tech and media incubator space developed with the New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
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
