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Diary of a Teenage Girl, Carol, Spotlight Top 25th Annual IFP Gotham Award Nominations
Diary of a Teenage Girl For its 25th anniversary year, the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards served up an eclectic mix of nominees from films all over the budgetary and aesthetic map. The best picture nominees include two films budgeted well under $1 million — with one of them shot on an iPhone — and are split between titles consisting of star-driven casts and casts comprised of total newcomers. The Best Feature nominees announced today are Todd Haynes’s Carol; Marielle Heller’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl; Josh and Benny Safdie’s Heaven Knows What; Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight; and Sean Baker’s Tangerine. Heller’s film, in addition, was the most notable today, scoring four nominations. In addition to Best Feature it received nominations for the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award as well as Best Screenplay for Heller; and Best Actress for Bel Powley.
In addition to Best Feature, McCarthy’s Spotlight was cited by the Acting nominating committees for a special award to be given to its ensemble cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D’Arcy James.
Previously announced Tribute Awards will be presented at the Gothams ceremony November 30, at Cipriano Wall Street, to actors Helen Mirren and Robert Redford, Carol director Todd Haynes and Spotlight producer Steve Golin.
Best Documentary nominees are Amanda Rose Wilder’s Approaching the Elephant; Matthew Heinemann’s Cartel Land; Laurie Anderson’s Heart of a Dog; Stevan Riley’s Listen to Me Marlon; and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence.
Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP — which is Filmmaker‘s parent organization, and the Made in New York Media Center said in a statement, “We congratulate this year’s nominated independent storytellers, who represent a richly diverse range of cinematic achievements that are bold, risk-taking, and beautifully crafted.”
From the press release, the full list of nominees and jury members:
Best Feature
Carol
Todd Haynes, director; Elizabeth Karlsen, Tessa Ross, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley, producers (The Weinstein Company)The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Marielle Heller, director; Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit, Miranda Bailey, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)Heaven Knows What
Josh and Benny Safdie, directors; Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear-McClard, producers (RADiUS)Spotlight
Tom McCarthy, director; Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagan Faust, producers (Open Road Films)Tangerine
Sean Baker, director; Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou, Marcus Cox & Karrie Cox, producers (Magnolia Pictures)Best Documentary
Approaching the Elephant
Amanda Rose Wilder, director; Jay Craven, Robert Greene, Amanda Rose Wilder, producers (Kingdom County Productions)Cartel Land
Matthew Heineman, director; Matthew Heineman, Tom Yellin, producers (The Orchard and A&E IndieFilms)Heart of a Dog
Laurie Anderson, director; Dan Janvey, Laurie Anderson, producers (Abramorama and HBO Documentary Films)Listen to Me Marlon
Stevan Riley, director; John Battsek, RJ Cutler, George Chignell, producers (Showtime Documentary Films)The Look of Silence
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge Sørensen, producer (Drafthouse Films)Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Desiree Akhavan for Appropriate Behavior (Gravitas Ventures)
Jonas Carpigano for Mediterranea (Sundance Selects)
Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)
John Magary for The Mend (Cinelicious Pics)
Josh Mond for James White (The Film Arcade)Best Screenplay
Carol, Phyllis Nagy (The Weinstein Company)
The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller (Sony Pictures Classics)
Love & Mercy, Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Open Road Films)
While We’re Young, Noah Baumbach (A24)Best Actor*
Christopher Abbott in James White (The Film Arcade)
Kevin Corrigan in Results (Magnolia Pictures)
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Peter Sarsgaard in Experimenter (Magnolia Pictures)
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes (Broad Green Pictures)Best Actress*
Cate Blanchett in Carol (The Weinstein Company)
Blythe Danner in I’ll See You in My Dreams (Bleecker Street)
Brie Larson in Room (A24 Films)
Bel Powley in The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)
Lily Tomlin in Grandma (Sony Pictures Classics)
Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me (Alchemy)Breakthrough Actor
Rory Culkin in Gabriel (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Arielle Holmes in Heaven Knows What (RADiUS)
Lola Kirke in Mistress America (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)
Mya Taylor in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)* The 2015 Best Actor/Best Actress nominating panel also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D’Arcy James for their ensemble work in Spotlight. (Open Road Films).
Twenty writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The Nominating Committees for the 2015 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards were:
Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Breakthrough Director:
Ty Burr, Film Critic, The Boston Globe
Eric Kohn, Deputy Editor & Chief Film Critic, Indiewire
Christy Lemire, Film Critic, ChristyLemire.com and co-host, What the Flick?!
Andrew O’Hehir, Film Critic, Salon.com
Joshua Rothkopf, Film Editor, Time Out New YorkNominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Joanne Feinberg, Curator and Consultant, FeinFilm
Cynthia Fuchs, Film-TV Editor, PopMatters
Mike Maggiore, Programmer, Film Forum
Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, San Francisco Film Society
David Wilson, Co-Conspirator, True/False Film FestNominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress:
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic, New York Magazine and Vulture
Mark Harris, Editor-at-Large, Entertainment Weekly
Ann Hornaday, Film Critic, The Washington Post
Amy Nicholson, Chief Film Critic, L.A. Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Freelance Journalist and CriticNominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor:
Florence Almozini, Associate Programmer, Film Society of Lincoln Center
Cara Cusumano, Senior Programmer, Tribeca Film Festival
David Ehrlich, Staff Writer, Rolling Stone
Rodrigo Perez, Founder and Editor, The Playlist
Ray Pride, Film Critic, Newcity; Editor, MovieCityNews.com; Contributing Editor, FILMMAKER.Spotlight on Women Directors ‘Live the Dream’ Grant
For the sixth consecutive year, IFP is proud present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Directors ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs or IFP’s Screen Forward Lab. In 2015, Screen Forward Lab directors have been included in this opportunity for the first time. 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:Claire Carré, director, Embers
Deb Shoval, director, AWOL
Chanelle Aponte Pearson, director, 195 Lewis
Gotham Independent Film Audience AwardIFP members will determine the 7th Annual Gotham Independent Film 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 at the Individual Level and above will be eligible to vote. Voting will take place online from November 18th at 12:01 AM EST and conclude on November 25th 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 4-11. The winner of the Audience Award will be announced at the Gotham Awards Ceremony on November 30, 2015.
Gotham Appreciation Award
A Gothams Appreciation Award will be given to Ellen Cotter for her contribution to theatrical distribution, including leadership of the Angelika Film Centers.Sponsors
The Premier Sponsors of the 25th Anniversary IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsors are euphoria Calvin Klein and Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward Office of Film, Music and Entertainment. The Official Water Sponsor is FIJI Water and the Official Wine Partner is Line 39 by O’Neill. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times in November 2015.
