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“One Battle After Another,” “My Father’s Shadow,” Jafar Panahi Win at 2025 Gotham Awards
Vahid Mobasseri, Majid Panahi and Hadis Pakbaten in A Simple Accident International titles dominated at last night’s Gotham Awards, with films from Iran, France, the UK and Ireland, including one that was entirely Lagos-shot, winning seven of ten competitive categories. It Was Just an Accident‘s Jafar Panahi, who, it was revealed by his lawyer shortly before the event, has been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison and a two-year travel ban for engaging in “propaganda activities” against the state, was on hand to accept awards for Best Director, Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay. Akinola Davies Jr.’s My Father’s Shadow, a 2025 Cannes selection and MUBI release that won’t open in the US until February, 2026, won two awards, for Sopé Dìrísù’s lead performance and for Davies as a breakthrough director. Harry Lighton’s Pillion, a UK/Ireland production, is another Cannes 2025 title scheduled for a US release in February, 2026; the A24 acquisition won Best Adapted Screenplay. And Abou Sangaré won Breakthrough Performer for Souleymane’s Story, an October, 2025 Kino Lorber release that premiered in Cannes two years ago, in the 2024 edition.
The Gotham Awards previously relegated international titles to a “Best International Feature” category but in 2023 opened up four additional categories to international submissions; this year, international titles won three of those categories.
Of the U.S. productions, Wunmi Mosaku won Outstanding Supporting Performance for Warner Bros.’s Sinners, which also received an ensemble Tribute. Julia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, independently produced and self-distributed, was shot entirely in Russia and Ukraine; it won Best Documentary. And, finally, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Warner Bros. production One Battle After Another won Best Feature, with Anderson commenting that he was surprised by the award. “I didn’t expect this actually,” Anderson said from the podium. “I started to think, I don’t know what was going on.”
The complete list of winners follows.
Best Feature
One Battle After Another: Paul Thomas Anderson, Sara Murphy, Adam Somner, producers (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Best Director
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (Neon)
Outstanding Lead Performance
Sopé Dìrísù, My Father’s Shadow (Mubi)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Breakthrough Performer
Abou Sangaré, Souleymane’s Story (Kino Lorber)
Best Documentary Feature
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow: Julia Loktev, director; Julia Loktev, producer (self-distributed)
Breakthrough Director
Akinola Davies Jr., My Father’s Shadow (Mubi)
Best International Feature
It Was Just an Accident: Philippe Martin, Jafar Panahi, producers (Neon)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Pillion, Harry Lighton (A24)
Best Original Screenplay
It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi (Neon)
