The 29th Independent Film Gotham Awards were held Monday, Dec. 2, celebrating the best in independent film and television. A precursor to The Academy Awards, many consider Gotham’s winners as early predictions for who will take home the Oscar gold come February.
This year’s awards saw Noah Baumbach’s marital drama Marriage Story rack up three awards from three different nominations, including Best Feature, Best Actor for Adam Driver, and Best Screenplay for writer/director Baumbach. Awkwafina was awarded Best Actress for her portrayal of Billie Wang in The Farewell, based on real-life director Lulu Wang. Streaming services also found success on the television front, with Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries When They See Us, based on the true case of the Central Park Five, taking home the award for Long Format (over 40 minutes) Breakthrough Series, and Hulu’s PEN15 winning the same for Short Format (under 40 minutes).
Additional awards included Taylor Russell winning Breakthrough Actor for her performance in Waves, American Factory winning Best Documentary, and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre winning the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award for directing The Mustang. Gotham tribute awards went to producer Glen Basner, DuVernay, Marriage Story‘s Laura Dern, and Richard Jewell‘s Sam Rockwell.
Marriage Story and The Farewell continue to gain Oscar buzz but we won’t know of their inclusion until the official nominations are announced Jan. 13. The 92nd annual Academy Awards will be broadcast Feb. 9, 2020.
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