As we head into December, awards season is well under way, and though we’ll have to wait until the spring for really big fish like the Oscars and the Golden Globes, this month has a respectable number of ceremonies of its own. Last night, celebrities gathered at Cipriani Wall Street in New York for the 2014 Gotham Independent Film Awards.
It was a long, casual ceremony for those in attendance, but when the night finally wrapped up, few could argue with the results. Birdman spread its wings and took home Best Feature, while Michael Keaton nabbed Best Actor for his revelatory role in the Alejandro G. Iñárritu-directed film. Meanwhile, Julianne Moore continued her unstoppable march to the Oscars, receiving Best Actress for her devastating work as an Alzheimer’s-afflicted linguistics professor in Still Alice. And Laura Poitras was awarded Best Documentary Feature for her eye-opening Edward Snowden doc CITIZENFOUR.
Honored during the show were Snowpiercer actress Tilda Swinton, Foxcatcher director Bennett Miller and Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.
Check out the full list of winners and nominees below:
Best Feature
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — WINNER
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Boyhood
Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, producers (IFC Films)
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson, director; Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Love Is Strange
Ira Sachs, director; Lucas Joaquin, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Under the Skin
Jonathan Glazer, director; Nick Wechsler, James Wilson, producers (A24 Films)
Best Actress
Julianne Moore in Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics) — WINNER
Patricia Arquette in Boyhood (IFC Films)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Beyond the Lights (Relativity Media)
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin (A24 Films)
Mia Wasikowska in Tracks (The Weinstein Company)
Best Actor*
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures) — WINNER
Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood (IFC Films)
Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year (A24 Films)
Miles Teller in Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)
*The 2014 Best Actor nominating panel also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum for their ensemble performance in Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics).
Best Documentary
CITIZENFOUR — WINNER
Laura Poitras, director; Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky, producers (RADiUS, Participant Media, and HBO Documentary Films)
Actress
Robert Greene, director; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, Robert Greene, producers (The Cinema Guild
Life Itself
Steve James, director; Zak Piper, Steve James, Garrett Basch, producers (Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films)
Manakamana
Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, directors; Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, producers (The Cinema Guild)
Point and Shoot
Marshall Curry, director; Marshall Curry, Elizabeth Martin, Matthew Van Dyke, producers (The Orchard and American Documentary / POV)
Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” Grant
For the fourth consecutive year, IFP is proud to present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. 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.
Chloé Zhao, director, Songs My Brothers Taught Me — WINNER
Garrett Bradley, director, Below Dreams
Claire Carré, director, Embers
Independent Film Audience Award
Boyhood — WINNER
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Kino Lorber) — WINNER
James Ward Byrkit for Coherence (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)
Eliza Hittman for It Felt Like Love (Variance Films)
Justin Simien for Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
Breakthrough Actor
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions) — WINNER
Riz Ahmed in Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)
Macon Blair in Blue Ruin (RADiUS)
Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood (IFC Films)
Joey King in Wish I Was Here (Focus Features)
Jenny Slate in Obvious Child (A24 Films)
