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Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight Top Nominations for 26th Annual Gotham Awards

Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea (Photo courtesy of Claire Folger, K Period Media)

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP, and Filmmaker‘s publisher) announced today the nominees for its 26th annual Gotham Awards. Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea tops the list with four nominations, including Best Feature and, for Casey Affleck, Best Actor. Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight also placed highly, scoring a Best Feature nomination as well as Best Screenplay, Breakthrough Actor for Lucas Hedges and a special Gotham Jury Award for its acting ensemble (actors Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Rhodes, and Ashton Sanders).

This is the second year the Gotham Awards have included episodic series, both short-form and long-form, and the these two Breakthrough Series categories are especially strong, including Lodge Kerrigan, Amy Seimetz and Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, Melissa Rosenberg’s Marvel’s Jessica Jones, and Louis CK’s Horace and Pete. Notably, one long-form series — Ezra Edelma’s O.J.: Made in America — snuck into the Best Documentary category, where it will compete against Cameraperson, Tower, Weiner and I A Not Your Negro.

Also to be feted at the November 28 ceremony, which takes place at Cipriani New York, are four previously announced Gotham Award Tributes: Amy Adams and Ethan Hawke, director Oliver Stone, and Industry Tribute recipient, producer Arnon Milchan.

The complete list of nominees, from the press release, follows:

Best Feature

Certain Women
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani, producers (IFC Films)

Everybody Wants Some!!
Richard Linklater, director; Megan Ellison, Ginger Sledge, Richard Linklater, producers (Paramount Pictures)

Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan, director; Kimberly Steward, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck, Kevin J. Walsh, producers (Amazon Studios)

Moonlight
Barry Jenkins, director; Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, producers (A24)

Paterson
Jim Jarmusch, director; Joshua Astrachan, Carter Logan, producers (Amazon Studios)

Best Documentary

Cameraperson
Kirsten Johnson, director; Marilyn Ness, producer (Janus Films)

I Am Not Your Negro
Raoul Peck, director; Rémi Grellety, Raoul Peck, Hébert Peck, producers (Magnolia Pictures)

O.J.: Made in America
Ezra Edelman, director; Caroline Waterlow, Ezra Edelman, Tamara Rosenberg, Nina Krstic, Deirdre Fenton, Erin Leyden, producers (ESPN Films)

Tower
Keith Maitland, director; Keith Maitland, Megan Gilbride, Susan Thomson, producers (Kino Lorber, Independent Lens)

Weiner
Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg, directors and producers (Sundance Selects and Showtime Documentary Films)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Robert Eggers for The Witch (A24)
Anna Rose Holmer for The Fits (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert for Swiss Army Man (A24)
Trey Edward Shults for Krisha (A24)
Richard Tanne for Southside with You (Roadside Attractions and Miramax)

Best Screenplay

Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan (CBS Films)
Love & Friendship, Whit Stillman (Amazon Studios)
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan (Amazon Studios)
Moonlight, Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney; Screenplay by Barry Jenkins (A24)
Paterson, Jim Jarmusch (Amazon Studios)

Best Actor*
Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea (Amazon Studios)
Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water (CBS Films)
Adam Driver in Paterson (Amazon Studios)
Joel Edgerton in Loving (Focus Features)
Craig Robinson in Morris from America (A24)

Best Actress*
Kate Beckinsale in Love & Friendship (Amazon Studios)
Annette Bening in 20th Century Women (A24)
Isabelle Huppert in Elle (Sony Pictures Classics)
Ruth Negga in Loving (Focus Features)
Natalie Portman in Jackie (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Breakthrough Actor*
Lily Gladstone in Certain Women (IFC Films)
Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea (Amazon Studios)
Royalty Hightower in The Fits (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Sasha Lane in American Honey (A24)
Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch (A24)

* The 2016 Best Actor/Best Actress and Breakthrough Actor nominating panels also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award for ensemble performance to Moonlight, “in which actors at all levels of experience give outstanding performances that speak eloquently to one another both within and across each chapter of the story.” The awards will go to actors Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Rhodes, and Ashton Sanders.

Breakthrough Series – Long Form

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rachel Bloom & Aline Brosh McKenna, creators; Marc Webb, Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna, Erin Ehrlich, executive producers (The CW)

The Girlfriend Experience, Lodge Kerrigan, Amy Seimetz, creators; Steven Soderbergh, Philip Fleischman, Amy Seimetz, Lodge Kerrigan, Jeff Cuban, Gary Marcus, executive producers (Starz)

Horace and Pete, Louis C.K., creator; M. Blair Breard, Dave Becky, Vernon Chatman, Dino Stamatopoulos, executive producers (louisck.net)

Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Melissa Rosenberg, creator; Melissa Rosenberg, Liz Friedman, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, Dan Buckley, Jim Chory, Jeph Loeb, Howard Klein, executive producers (Netflix)

Master of None, Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, creators; Michael Schur, David Miner, Dave Becky, executive producers (Netflix)

Breakthrough Series – Short Form

The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, Brian Jordan Alvarez, creator (YouTube)
Her Story, Jen Richards and Laura Zak, creators (herstoryshow.com)
The Movement, Darnell Moore, Host (Mic.com)
Sitting in Bathrooms with Trans People, Dylan Marron, creator (Seriously.TV)
Surviving, Reagan Gomez, creator (YouTube)

Twenty-nine writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The
Nominating Committees for the 2016 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards were:

Nominating Committee for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and Breakthrough Director:
Justin Chang, Film Critic, Los Angeles Times
Ann Hornaday, Chief Film Critic, The Washington Post
Eric Kohn, Deputy Editor & Chief Film Critic, Indiewire
Dana Stevens, Movie Critic, Slate
Stephanie Zacharek, Film Critic, TIME

Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Joanne Feinberg, Producer, Consultant, and Curator, FeinFilm
Ben Fowlie, Executive Director of the Points North Institute; Founder of the Camden International Film Festival
Cynthia Fuchs, Film-TV Editor, PopMatters; Director of Film & Media Studies, George Mason University
Tom Hall, Executive Director, The Montclair Film Festival
Sky Sitney, Professor, Film and Media Studies, Georgetown University; Co-Director, Double Exposure Festival

Nominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress:
A.A. Dowd, Film Editor, The A.V. Club
Mark Harris, Columnist, Vulture
Jessica Kiang, Features Editor & Festival Critic, The Playlist; Film Critic, Variety
David Rooney, Chief Theater Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Alison Willmore, Critic, BuzzFeed

Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor:
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic, Village Voice
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
Katie Walsh, Film Critic, Tribune Content Agency, Los Angeles Times

Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Long Form:
Matthew Gilbert, TV Critic, The Boston Globe
Liz Shannon Miller, TV Editor, Indiewire
Sonia Saraiya, TV Critic, Variety
David Sims, Senior Associate Editor, The Atlantic
Tim Goodman, Chief Television Critic, The Hollywood Reporter

Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Short Form:
Rich Goldstein, Producer, The Daily Beast
Randi Kleiner, Founder & CEO, SeriesFest
Paula Mejia, Reporter & Culture Writer, Newsweek
Aymar Jean Christian, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern University

deep euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” Grant
For the sixth consecutive year, euphoria Calvin Klein is proud to present the Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs or IFP’s Screen Forward Lab. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film or episodic series. The nominees are:

Shaz Bennett, director, Alaska is a Drag
Katie Orr, director, Poor Jane
Roxy Toporowych, director, Julia Blue

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