The 23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were held in New York on Monday to a rather rowdy crowd. Lee Daniels, Julie Delpy and Jared “Shut the f*** up, you can eat your crème brûlée later” Leto struggled against audience noise on a night that saw the Coen brothers’ INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS take away top honours.
Casting aside FRANCES HA and SPRING BREAKERS in favour of a few more mainstream choices this year, the IFP stuck to their decision, rewarding Oscar frontrunners Matthew McConaughey (accepting his award over speakerphone), THE ACT OF KILLING and the aforementioned Coens project. However, Brie Larson was a surprise winner over Cate Blanchett in the Best Actress category and the Gotham’s most-nominated, current Academy frontrunner 12 YEARS A SLAVE walked away empty-handed.
Once again, all eyes were on Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION which took the most awards of the night, rewarding its director and star Michael B. Jordan for respective Best Breakthroughs. Bound to propel this tragic true tale even further toward an Oscar nomination or two, I’m really excited to see how the season will pan out for Coogler’s Forest Whitaker-produced feature debut.
Elsewhere, JAKE SHIMABUKURO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS surprised everyone by snatching the Audience Award from 12 YEARS A SLAVE and FRUITVALE STATION and Steve Buscemi delivered an extremely touching tribute to the late, great James Gandolfini.
Check out the full list of winners below:
BEST FEATURE:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
BEST ACTOR:
Matthew McConaughey – DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
BEST ACTRESS:
Brie Larson – SHORT TERM 12
BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR:
Michael B. Jordan – FRUITVALE STATION
BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR:
Ryan Coogler – FRUITVALE STATION
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
THE ACT OF KILLING
GOTHAM INDEPENDENT FILM AUDIENCE AWARD:
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS
EUPHORIA CALVIN KLEIN SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN FILMMAKERS:
Gita Pullapilly – BENEATH THE HARVEST SKY
TRIBUTES:
James Gandolfini, Richard Linklater, Katherine Oliver, Forest Whitaker
