As the long Oscar season gets ready to unfurl itself, will films released way back in the innocent pre-quar days of February and March have a shot? They will if the Gotham Awards have anything to say about it. The Gothams, which are restricted to films made for less than $35 million, kicked off the 2020 awards season with its nominations Thursday morning and, wouldn’t you know it, Kelly Reichardt’s Oregon Trail buddy movie First Cow led the field with four noms, while fellow before-times releases The Assistant and Never Rarely Sometimes Always also earned key nods. That early-in-the-year trio was joined by the summer horror flick Relic and the festival fave Nomadland to make up the Gothams’ Best Feature field — the first time the top category has been made up entirely of films directed by women. Looks like Oscar voters are going to have to try really hard for their all-male directing lineup this year.
The Gotham Awards will take place on January 11, 2021. The full list of nominations is below. (Full disclosure: Multiple Vulture writers served on the nominating committees. But not me!)
Best Feature
The Assistant
Kitty Green, director; Kitty Green, Scott Macaulay, James Schamus, P. Jennifer Dana, Ross Jacobson, producers (Bleecker Street)
First Cow
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani, producers (A24)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Eliza Hittman, director; Adele Romanski, Sara Murphy, producers (Focus Features)
Nomadland
Chloé Zhao, director; Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Chloé Zhao, producers (Searchlight Pictures)
Relic
Natalie Erika James, director; Anna Mcleish, Sarah Shaw, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker, producers (IFC Midnight)
Best Documentary
76 Days
Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, Anonymous, directors; Hao Wu, Jean Tsien, producers (MTV Documentary Films)
City Hall
Frederick Wiseman, director; Frederick Wiseman, Karen Konicek, producers (Zipporah Films)
Our Time Machine
Yang Sun, S. Leo Chiang, directors; S. Leo Chiang, Yang Sun, producers (Passion River Films)
A Thousand Cuts
Ramona S. Diaz, director; Ramona S. Diaz, Leah Marino, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn, producers (PBS Distribution | Frontline)
Time
Garrett Bradley, director; Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn, Garrett Bradley, producers (Amazon Studios)
Best International Feature
Bacurau
Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles, directors; Emilie Lesclaux, Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt, producers (Kino Lorber)
Beanpole
Kantemir Balagov, director; Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov, producers (Kino Lorber)
Cuties (Mignonnes)
Maïmouna Doucouré, director; Zangro, producer (Netflix)
Identifying Features
Fernanda Valadez, director; Astrid Rondero, producer (Kino Lorber)
Martin Eden
Pietro Marcello, director; Pietro Marcello, Beppe Caschetto, Thomas Ordonneau, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, producers (Kino Lorber)
Wolfwalkers
Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, directors; Paul Young, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore, Stéphan Roelants, producers (Apple)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
Channing Godfrey Peoples for Miss Juneteenth (Vertical Entertainment)
Alex Thompson for Saint Frances (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Carlo Mirabella-Davis for Swallow (IFC Films)
Andrew Patterson for The Vast of Night (Amazon Studios)
Best Screenplay
Bad Education, Mike Makowsky (HBO)
First Cow, Jon Raymond, Kelly Reichardt (A24)
The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank (Netflix)
Fourteen, Dan Sallitt (Grasshopper Film)
The Vast of Night, James Montague, Craig Sanger (Amazon Studios)
Best Actor
Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Jude Law in The Nest (IFC Films)
John Magaro in First Cow (A24)
Jesse Plemons in I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)
Best Actress
Nicole Beharie in Miss Juneteenth (Vertical Entertainment)
Jessie Buckley in I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)
Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari (A24)
Carrie Coon in The Nest (IFC Films)
Frances McDormand in Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Breakthrough Actor
Jasmine Batchelor in The Surrogate (Monument Releasing)
Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami … (Amazon Studios)
Sidney Flanigan in Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
Orion Lee in First Cow (A24)
Kelly O’Sullivan in Saint Frances (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes)
The Great, Tony McNamara, creator; Tony McNamara, Marian Macgowan, Mark Winemaker, Elle Fanning, Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding, Josh Kesselman, Ron West, Matt Shakman, executive producers (Hulu)
Immigration Nation, Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Brandon Hill, Christian Thompson, executive producers (Netflix)
P-Valley, Katori Hall, creator; Katori Hall, Dante Di Loreto, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Liz W. Garcia, executive producers (Starz)
Unorthodox, Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski, creators; Anna Winger, Henning Kamm, executive producers (Netflix)
Watchmen, Damon Lindelof, creator for television; Tom Spezialy, Nicole Kassell, Stephen Williams, Joseph E. Iberti, executive producers (HBO)
Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes)
Betty, Crystal Moselle, Lesley Arfin, Igor Srubshchik, Jason Weinberg, executive producers (HBO)
Dave, Dave Burd, Jeff Schaffer, creators; Dave Burd, Jeff Schaffer, Saladin K. Patterson, Greg Mottola, Kevin Hart, Marty Bowen, Scooter Braun, Mike Hertz, Scott Manson, James Shin, executive producers (FX Networks)
I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel, creator; Michaela Coel, Phil Clarke, Roberto Troni, executive producers (HBO)
Taste the Nation, Padma Lakshmi, David Shadrack Smith, Sarina Roma, executive producers (Hulu)
Work in Progress, Abby McEnany, Tim Mason, creators; Abby McEnany, Tim Mason, Lilly Wachowski, Lawrence Mattis, Josh Adler, Ashley Berns, Julia Sweeney, Tony Hernandez, executive producers (Showtime)
