Last night marked the 27th annual edition of IFP's Gotham Independent Film Awards and, while it's getting less and less clear what exactly constitutes an "independent film", it's becoming more and more clear that the awards are an incredibly accurate forecast for what Oscar night will turn out to be. Take last year's award winners for example: Barry Jenkins' Moonlight won Best Screenplay and Best Feature, Casey Affleck won Best Actor, and OJ: Made in America won Best Documentary.
This year, Jordan Peele's Get Outwent into the ceremony as the leader with four nominations, after what can only be described as an amazing year for independent film. The horror/comedy/documentary was followed closely by Greta Gerwig's acclaimed directorial debut Lady Birdand Kogonada's Columbus, which had three nominations each.
Get Out ended up winning three out of four of the categories it was nominated for, only losing out to the night's other big winner, Call Me By Your Name, for Best Feature. You can check out all the winners, as well as links to our coverage of their films, in the recap below.
"Call Me By Your Name"
Credit: Sony Pictures Classics
Best Feature
- Call Me by Your Name (WINNER)
- The Florida Project
- Get Out
- Good Time
- I, Tonya
More on the nominees for Best Feature:
- 'Call Me by Your Name': Luca Guadagnino on Finding a New Take on the World's Oldest Story
- 'The Florida Project': Sean Baker on Why You Need to Invest in Yourself When No One Else Will
- How the DIY Safdie Brothers Shot the Genre Thriller of the Year on 35mm Cinemascope
- How DP Toby Oliver 'Represented Consciousness' to Shoot 'Get Out'
Best Documentary
- Strong Island (WINNER)
- Ex Libris - The New York Public Library
- Rat Film
- Whose Streets?
- The Work
More about the nominees for Best Documentary:
- How to Use Documentary as a Call to Action: The Mobilization Tactics of 'Whose Streets?' [PODCAST]
- SXSW-Winning 'The Work,' The Movie That Will Change How You Think About Prison
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
- Jordan Peele for Get Out (WINNER)
- Maggie Betts for Novitiate
- Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
- Kogonada for Columbus
- Joshua Z Weinstein for Menashe
More about the nominees for Best Director:
- Jordan Peele's 'Get Out' Crosses $100 Million, But He Never Thought it Would Get Made
- 'Columbus': Video Essayist Kogonada on His Stunning Feature Debut and Why Critics Should Make Movies
- How an Unlikely Yiddish Indie Became A24's First Foreign Language Acquisition [PODCAST]
- 'Lady Bird': Greta Gerwig on Why a Screenwriter's Job is to Listen as Much as to Write
"Get Out"
Credit: Universal Pictures
Best Screenplay
- Get Out - Jordan Peele (WINNER)
- The Big Sick - Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
- Brad’s Status - Mike White
- Call Me by Your Name - James Ivory
- Columbus - Kogonada
- Lady Bird - Greta Gerwig
More about the nominees for Best Screenplay:
- 'Get Out': Jordan Peele Reveals How to Get from Sketch Comedy to Knockout First Feature
- 6 Pragmatic Screenwriting Tips From the Writers of 'The Big Sick', 'Get Out' and More
Best Actor
- James Franco in The Disaster Artist (WINNER)
- Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project
- Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out
- Robert Pattinson in Good Time
- Adam Sandler in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
- Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky
More about the nominees for Best Actor:
- John Carroll Lynch on How to Be an Actors' Dream Director and What it's Like Working with Harry Dean Stanton [PODCAST]
- How Noah Baumbach Builds Complex Characters Through Family Dysfunction in "The Meyerowitz Stories"
Best Actress
- Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird (WINNER)
- Melanie Lynskey in I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
- Haley Lu Richardson in Columbus
- Margot Robbie in I, Tonya
- Lois Smith in Marjorie Prime
"Lady Bird"
Credit: A24
Breakthrough Actor
- Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name (WINNER)
- Mary J. Blige in Mudbound
- Harris Dickinson in Beach Rats
- Kelvin Harrison Jr. in It Comes at Night
- Brooklynn Prince in The Florida Project
More about the nominees for Breakthrough Actor:
- Sundance's Biggest Deal: Netflix Vies for an Oscar Winner with 'Mudbound'
- 'Beach Rats': Sundance-Winning Director Eliza Hittman on Shooting Her Sexy, Controversial 16mm Movie
Breakthrough Series - Long Form
- Atlanta (WINNER)
- Better Things
- Dear White People
- Fleabag
- Search Party
More about the nominees for Breakthrough Series:
- How DP Christian Sprenger Embraced Imperfections on FX's 'Atlanta'
- How 'Dear White People' Cinematographer Shot the Netflix Series with 'Big Ambitions
"Atlanta"
Credit: FX Networks
Breakthrough Series - Short Form
- The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes (WINNER)
- 555
- Inconceivable
- Junior
- Let Me Die a Nun
More about the nominees for Breakthrough Series - Short Form:
Audience Award
- Get Out (WINNER)
- Call Me by Your Name
- Columbus
- Ex Libris - The New York Public Library
- The Florida Project
- Good Time
- I, Tonya
- Lady Bird
- Menashe
- Novitiate
- Rat Film
- Strong Island
- Whose Streets?
- The Work
