27th Annual IFP Gotham Awards Nominations

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier member organization of independent storytellers, announced yesterday the nominees for the 27th Annual IFP Gotham Awards. For 2017, ten competitive awards will be presented to independent features and series.

In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes will be given to actors Nicole Kidman and Dustin Hoffman, director Sofia Coppola, producer Jason Blum, cinematographer Ed Lachman, and a Gotham Humanitarian Tribute to Al Gore.

The Gotham Awards is one of the leading awards for independent film and signals the kick-off to the film awards season. As the first major awards ceremony of the film season, the IFP Awards provide critical early recognition and media attention to worthy independent films. The awards are also unique for their ability to assist in catapulting award recipients prominently into national awards season attention.

“This year offered a bountiful array of diverse, creative work that represents the very best from this community. We’re thrilled to celebrate these achievements,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center.

Thirty-four films and series received nominations this year. In addition, the nominating committee for the Best Actor and Best Actress categories voted to award a Special Jury Award to the ensemble cast of Mudbound.

Surprisingly a scary movie, Get Out by Jordan Peele, leads with four (4) nominations but four strong contenders follow very close with three (3) noms each, Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig, Call Me by Your Name by Luca Guadagnino, Columbus by Kogonada and The Florida Project by Sean Baker.

As many do, I also believe that 2017 is a great year for independent filmmaking but we have to see what happens as the rule of thumb is that when it comes to major awards, independent films tend to cease to be visible.  Perhaps this year is the exception to the rule as there are films by well-known filmmakers plus debut films by renown actors.  Besides the previous paragraph films there are several others to be considered, for example, Graig Gillespie's I, Tonya, the Safdie brothers' Good Time and Dee Rees' Mudbound which already collected a special ensemble award.

The 2017 IFP Gotham Independent Film Award nominations are:

Feature Films

Best Feature
Call Me by Your Name, Luca Guadagnino
Get Out, Jordan Peele
Good Time, Josh and Benny Safdie
I, Tonya, Craig Gillespie
The Florida Project, Sean Baker

Best Documentary
Ex Libris - The New York Public Library, Frederick Wiseman
Rat Film, Theo Anthony
Strong Island, Yance Ford
Whose Streets?, Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis
The Work, Jairus McLeary

Bingham Ray Breaktrhrough Director Award
Maggie Betts for Novitiate
Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
Kogonada for Columbus
Jordan Peele for Get Out
Joshua Z Weinstein for Menashe

Best Screenplay
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani for The Big Stick, Michael Showalter
Mike White for Brad's Status, Mike White
James Ivory for Call Me by Your Name, Luca Guadagnino
Kogonada for Columbus, Kogonada
Jordan Peele for Get Out, Jordan Peele
Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Best Actress
Melanie Lynskey in I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Macon Blair
Haley Lu Richardson in Columbus, Kogonada
Margot Robbie in I, Tonya,  Craig Gillespie
Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig
Lois Smith in Marjorie Prime, Michael Almereyda

Best Actor
William Dafoe in The Florida Project, Sean Baker
James Franco in The Disaster Artist, James Franco
Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out, Jordan Peele
Robert Pattinson in Good Time, Safdie brothers
Adam Sandler in The Meherowitz Stories (New and Selected), Noah Baumbach
Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky, John Carroll Lynch

Breakthrough Actor
Mary J. Blige in Mudbound, Dee Rees
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name, Luca Guadagnino
Harris Dickinson in Beach Rats, Eliza Hittman
Kelvin Harrison Jr. in It Comes at Night, Trey Edward Shults
Brooklyn Prince in The Florida Project, Sean Baker

Special Gotham Jury Award for Ensemble Performance: Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks in Mudbound


Series (TV and Online)

Breakthrough Series - Long Form
Atlanta
Better Things
Dear White People
Fleabag
Search Party

Breakthrough Series - Short Form
555
Inconceivable
Junior
Let Me Die a Nun
The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes

Nominees are selected by committees of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films will determine the final Gotham Award recipients.

The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 27th at Cipriani Wall Street.

Twenty-eight writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process. The Nominating Committees for the 2017 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards were:

Nominating Committee for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and Breakthrough Director
Justin Chang, Film Critic, Los Angeles Times
Peter Debruge, Chief Film Critic, Variety
Christy Lemire, Film Critic, RogerEbert.com; Co-host of What the Flick?!
David Rooney, Chief Theater Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Joshua Rothkopf, Global Deputy Film Editor, Time Out New York

Nominating Committee for Best Documentary
Ben Fowlie, Executive Director, Points North Institute; Founder, Camden International Film Festival
Cynthia Fuchs, Film & TV Reviews, PopMatters; Director of Film & Media Studies, George Mason University
Eric Kohn, Deputy Editor & Chief Critic, Indiewire
Mike Maggiore, Programmer, Film Forum
Alissa Wilkinson, Film Critic, Vox

Nominating Committee for Best Actor and Best Actress
A.A. Dowd, Film Editor, The A.V. Club
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
Alison Willmore, Film Critic, BuzzFeed News; Co-host Filmspotting: Streaming Video Unit

Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Actor
Bilge Ebiri, Film Critic, Village Voice
David Sims, Senior Associate Editor, The Atlantic
Brian Tallerico, Film Editor, RogerEbert.com
Katie Walsh, Film Critic, Tribune Content Agency, Los Angeles Times
Emily Yoshida, Film Critic, New York Magazine/Vulture.com

Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Sophie Gilbert, Staff Writer, Culture, The Atlantic
Tim Goodman, Chief Television Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Liz Shannon Miller, TV Editor, Indiewire
Sonia Saraiya, TV Critic, Variety
Matt Zoller Seitz, Editor-in-Chief, RogerEbert.com; TV Critic, New York Magazine/Vulture.com

Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Jude Dry, Reporter, Critic, Indiewire
Randi Kleiner, Founder & CEO, SeriesFest
Paula Mejia, Associate Editor, Atlas Obscura; Author, Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy

Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
IFP members will determine the Gotham Independent Film Audience Award with nominees comprised of the 14 nominated films in the Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award categories.

Breakthrough Series – Short Form
IFP members will determine the winner from among the five nominees for this award by viewing and voting for them online.

All IFP current, active members at the Individual Level and above will be eligible to vote for these audience-determined categories. Voting will take place online from November 17th 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 10-21.

Appendix
2017 IFP Gotham Awards – Alphabetical List of Nominated Films & Series

4 Nominations
Get Out
Best Feature
Breakthrough Director
Best Screenplay
Best Actor

3 Nominations

Call Me by Your Name
Best Feature
Best Screenplay
Breakthrough Actor

Columbus
Breakthrough Director
Best Screenplay
Best Actress

The Florida Project
Best Feature
Best Actor
Breakthrough Actor

Lady Bird
Breakthrough Director
Best Screenplay
Best Actress

2 Nominations

Good Time
Best Feature
Best Actor

I, Tonya
Best Feature
Best Actress

Mudbound
Jury Award Ensemble Performance
Breakthrough Actor

1 Nomination
555 -Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Atlanta - Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Beach Rats -Breakthrough Actor
Better Things - Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Big Sick -  Best Screenplay
Brad’s Status -Best Screenplay
Dear White People -Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Disaster Artist - Best Actor
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library - Best Documentary
Fleabag - Breakthrough Series – Long Form
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore - Best Actress
Inconceivable - Breakthrough Series – Short Form
It Comes at Night - Breakthrough Actor
Junior - Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Let Me Die a Nun - Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Lucky - Best Actor
Marjorie Prime - Best Actress
Menashe - Breakthrough Director
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) -Best Actor
Novitiate - Breakthrough Director
Rat Film - Best Documentary
Search Party - Breakthrough Series – Long Form
The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes - Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Strong Island - Best Documentary
Whose Streets? - Best Documentary
The Work - Best Documentary

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43e cérémonie des César du Cinéma Poster

The 43rd César Awards ceremony will be next March 2nd and is dedicated to one of the most iconic French actresses that passed away this year at the age of 89 years-old, Jeanne Moreau.

Alain Terzian, French Academy President, announced yesterday that with more than 130 films, 60 years of cinema career, one Cannes Best Actress award, one BAFTA, one Honorary Oscar, many Césars, many Molières ... Jeanne Moreau is this year's Academy honoree and the poster just starts the commemorations.

Beautiful poster with a photo by Marilù Parolini from François Truffaut's La mariée était en noir where undoubtedly Parolini captured her gaze filled with passion, her charisma and her magic.

Take a look. Enjoy!!!

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11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the region’s highest accolade in film, celebrating cinematic excellence were today announced in the seven narrative feature categories by Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, together with former APSA International Jury President Lord David Puttnam, member of the APSA 2017 Nominations Council Kiki Fung and Chair of APSA and its Academy, Michael Hawkins.

41 films from 21 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region have received nominations in 2017, including the first nomination for a film from Bhutan. Winners will be announced at the 11th APSA ceremony on November 23, where they will be presented with a unique and exquisite handmade APSA award vessel made by Brisbane-based internationally awarded glass artist Joanna Bone.

This edition has no clear nominations leader as there area three outstanding films leading the pack with three nominations each: Sweet Country by Warwick Thornton, The Third Murder by Hirokazu Kore-eda and Scary Mother by Ana Urushadze.

Perhaps what makes this edition remarkable is the Best Film category as for the first time in the short history of the event, three of these extraordinary filmmakers have had previous films win Asia Pacific Screen awards, Vivien Qu with Black Coal, Thin Ice in 2014, Samuel Maoz with Lebanon in 2010, and Warwick Thornton with Samson and Delilah, 2009; also Mohammad Rasoulof's Goodbye received three nominations in 2011.

Nevertheless, this year Best Film category has films by Vivian Qu, Samuel Maoz, Sergei Loznitsa, Mohammad Rasoulf and Warwick Thornton making category one with several of the most relevant contemporary filmmakers. Great.



Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said “These five films tell unique stories from Australia, China, Iran, Israel and Russia, each representing the incredible diversity and high caliber of film-making from the Asia Pacific region. This is an significant opportunity for our city to host some of the world’s most respected names in film and a great chance for our local and national film industry to forge new connections with the region. The Asia Pacific Screen Awards helps to elevate Brisbane’s position as a cultural hub and is a testament to our role as a leader in the region.”

Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its Academy Michael Hawkins said ”As APSA forges into its 11th year, it is significant to note that among the nominees there are not only a great number of newer filmmakers, but also a large number of filmmakers who are already a part of the growing Asia Pacific Screen Academy, which was created precisely to encompass and connect the large body of talented filmmakers in the Asia Pacific Region. Significantly, this year there are APSA Academy members nominated across almost all categories, and we look forward to welcoming all of the nominees both to Brisbane as well as into the growing Academy”.

We already know about most great films as they have been in the festival circuit and/or are submitted to #Oscars2018 Best Foreign-Language category; but, the most interesting discovery for me is one Philippine movie with two nominations which suggests to have a remarkable story and most of all, lead transformation into a gorgeous woman is most beautiful to watch.  Interesting as most films with similar stories have not-so-successful cinematic transformations, sigh.

These are the #APSA2017 nominations

Best Film
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz, Israel, Germany, Lithuania and Netherlands
Jia Nian Hua (Angels Wear White), Vivian Qu, China and Fance
Krotkaya (A Gentle Creature), Sergei Loznitsa, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands
Lerd (A Man of Integrity),  Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
Sweet Country, Warwick Thorton, Australia

Best Youth Feature
Ba Yue (The Summer is Gone), Zhang Dalei, China
Jasper Jones, Rachel Perkins, Australia
Koca Dünya (Big Big World), Reha Erdem, Turkey
Sekala Niskala (The Seen and Unseen), Kamila Andini, Indonesia, Netherlands, Australia and Qatar
Ski-Baz (The Skier), Fereidoun Najafi, Iran

Best Animated Feature Film
Hao ji le (Have a Nice Day, Liu Jian, China
kimi no na wa (your name), Makoto Shinkai, Japan
Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice), Naoko Yamada, Japan
Saving Sally, Avid Liongoren, Philippines and France
Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming, Ann Marie Fleming, Canada

Best Documentary
Changjiang (A Yangtze Landscape), Xu Xin, China
Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web, Annie Goldson, New Zealand
Last Men in Aleppo, Feras Fayyad, Syria, Denmark and Germany
Taste of Cement, Ziad Kalthoum, Germany, Lebanono, Syria, UAE and Qatar
The Opposition, Hollie Fifer, Australia and Papua New Guinea

Achievement in Directing
Anna Urushadze for Sashishi Deda (Scary Mother), Georgia and Estonia
Andrey Zvyagintsev for Nelyubov (Loveless), Russia, Belgium, France and Germany
Kore-eda Hirokazu for Sandome no Satsujin (The Third Murder), Japan
Mouly Surya for Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts), Indonesia, France, Malaysia and Thailand
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan for Sexy Durga, India

Achievement in Cinematography
Lyu Songye for Kong Shan Yi Ke (Ghost in the Mountains),  Heng Yang,  China
Mindia Esadze for Sashishi Deda (Scary Mother), Anna Urushadze, Georgia and Estonia
Pyotr Dukhovskoy and Timofey Lobov for Meshok Bez Dna (The Bottomless Bag),  Rustam Khamdamov, Russia
Shehnad Jalal for Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake),  Haobam Paban Kumar, India
Warwick Thornton and Dylan River for Sweet Country, Warwick Thornton, Australia

Best Screenplay
Amit V Masurkar and Mayank Tewari for Newton, Ait V Masurkar, India
Boris Khlebnikov and Natalia Meshchaninova for Aritmiya (Arrhythmia),  Boris Khlebnikov, Russia
Dastan Zhapar Uulu and Bakyt Mukul for Atany Kereezi (A Father's Will),  Dastan Zhapar Uulu and Bakyt Mukul,  Kyrgyzstan
David Tranter and Steven McGregor for Sweet Country, Warwick Thornton, Australia
Kore-eda Hirokazu for Sandome no Satsujin (The Third Murder), Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan

Best Performance by an Actress
Cut Mini in Athirah (Emma' (Mother)), Riri Riza, Indonesia
Ecem Uzun in Tereddüt (Clair Obscur), Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey, France, Germany and Poland
Na Moon-he in I Can Speak, Hyun-seok Kim, Korea
Nata Murvanidze in Sashishi Deda (Scary Mother), Anna Urushadze, Georgia and Estonia
Shou Xun in Ming Yue Ji Shi You (Our Time Will Come), Ann Hui, China and Hong Kong

Best Performance by an Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh in Bedoune Tarikh, Bedoune Emza (No Date, No Signature), Vahid Jalilvand, Iran
Paolo Callesteros in Die Beautiful, Jun Robles Lana, Philippines
Koji Yakusho in Dandome no Satsujin (The Third Murder), Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan
Rajkummar Rao in Newton, Amit V Masurkar, India
Mohammad Bakri and Saleh Bakri in Wajib (Duty), Annemarie Jacir, Palestine, Colombia, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar, UAE

UNESCO Cultural Diversity Award
Centaur, Aktan Arym Kubat, Kyrgyzstan, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Japan
Dede, Mariam Khatchvani, Georgia, Croatia, Netherlands, Qatar and UK
Die Beautiful, Jun Robles Lana , Philippines
Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake), Haobam Paban Kumar, India
Munmo Tashi Khyidron (Honeygiver Among the Dogs)m Dechen Roder, Bhutan

APSA International Jury
President: Jill Bilcock, editor, Australia
Adolfo Alix Jr., writer and director, Philippines
He Saife, actress, China
Yoshi Yatabe, Tokyo festival programmer, Japan
Adilkhan Yerzhanov, writer, director and cinematographer, Kazakhstan

Best Youth Feature Film, Best Documentary and Best Animation Jury
President: Haifaa Al Mansour, director, Saudi Arabia
Melanie Coombs, producer, Australia
Steve Abbott, producer, UK

Now in its second year, the APSA Young Cinema Award presented by NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) and Griffith Film School (GFS) will be presented at the ceremony. This important Award recognises the abundant emerging talent of Asia Pacific which increases in prevalence in the APSA competition each year. The award is eligible to directors of debut or sophomore feature narrative films, with the recipient chosen from the APSA feature narrative film competition.

The APSA FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film, to be announced soon and presented at the APSA ceremony, celebrates a film practitioner from the region whose career and actions contribute strongly to the development of the film industry.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, based in Brisbane, is supported by Brisbane City Council and managed by its economic development board, Brisbane Marketing. APSA has the privilege of a unique collaboration with Paris-based UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and recognises and promotes cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and is responsible for half of the world’s film output.

Nominees and Jury members are inducted into the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, making them eligible to apply for the 2017 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. The Fund was created to support, at script stage, new feature film projects originated by APSA Academy members and their colleagues across Asia Pacific. The fund awards four development grants of US$25,000 annually, and is wholly supported by the MPA (Motion Picture Association).

APSA and its Academy is committed to its ongoing collaborations with UNESCO, FIAPF, the European Film Academy (EFA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), NETPAC (the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), the Asia Pacific Screen Lab (APSL) and Griffith Film School.

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