Gotham Award Winners 2025
The Industry was invited to attend The Gotham Awards.
Thank you very much to the team at Gotham, Reggie Dvorin, and Colin Whitlow for inviting us. The ceremony was a celebration of indie cinema, honoring newcomers, titans of indie cinema, and big-budget filmmakers who have stayed true to their indie roots.
Neon’s It Was Just an Accident took the most awards. And director Jafar Panahi took to the stage three separate times to accept. Wild, given that today, Panahi was sentenced to one year in prison in Iran.
Summary of the night
It was great to reconnect with Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, the writing/directing duo behind Sing Sing and Train Dreams, with whom we held a workshop earlier this year. Plus, I had a nice chat with Brady Corbet about his new project with two massive A-listers (we also did a workshop with him). And, I joked with Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) about how much of a mind meld Charlie Kaufman has with his new creative collaborator, Eva H.D. (we interviewed them last week).
The night was unexpectedly comedic with Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and Paul Rudd all presenting various awards.
Sandler, presenting the director’s tribute award to Noah Baumbach after their collaboration in Netflix’s Jay Kelly, half-jokingly ripped into his first agent:
“How come Billy Ball [William Baldwin] got the role of the tennis coach in [Baumbach’s] The Squid and the Whale? I play tennis. Do you even fucking know me?… My agent did quit the business. I think he lives in Omaha and sells weed.”
And Julia Roberts even did a bit with Luca Guadagnino, where she translated everything he said into Italian. Watch that clip here.
Other presenters spoke passionately about their films and their hope for cinema.
Guillermo del Toro, accepting the Vanguard Tribute Award for Frankenstein, shared:
“My actors dramatize the human condition and longing for connection in a world that misunderstands them. Both of them. And a world where pain only begets pain. Which is sadly so urgent now until someone decides to stop it. This is the beating heart of the film. The urgent need we have for emotion, forgiveness and acceptance.”
The image below was taken shortly after del Toro spoke. Shot on my iPhone w/ Jacob Elordi:
Thank you so much to The Gotham. It was a fantastic evening.
Here are the 2025 Winners:
Best Feature
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson
PTA didn’t say much, other than that you need a great cast to make a great film. And on a personal note, he had met his wife, Maya Rudolph, 24 years ago on that day, Dec 1st, which made him a better filmmaker.
Best International Feature / Best Original Screenplay / Best Director (3 Awards)
It Was Just an Accident (Neon)
Dir: Jafar Panahi
I congratulated Panahi at the start of the event on making such a beautiful film.
When Jafar took to the stage for the first time, he celebrated:
“Filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence, without support, only in their faith in truth and humanity. I hope that this dedication will be considered a tribute to all filmmakers who have been deprived of their right to be seen but will continue to persist.”
When he took to the stage for the final time, he shared a story about how, when he was a student, his first short turned out so badly that he destroyed all the footage so his name would never be connected to it. And that he was happy that he didn’t cut the Palme d’Or winning It Was Just an Accident to shreds.
To me, this spoke to trusting your internal metronome above all else.
Best Documentary Feature
My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow
Dir: Julia Loktev
The film currently does not have US distribution. Could we see it break into the Oscars like last year’s Best Doc Oscar-winner, No Other Land?
Best Adapted Screenplay
Harry Lighton, Pillion (A24)
Leighton, whose film also won big at BIFAs, stated:
“I’m quite a neurotic writer and I need lots of people holding my hand and pushing me through it…. When I was writing the script my producers were always talking about which actors would say yes to something with butt plugs…”
We’re glad Skarsgård and Melling did, it’s quite a hoot.
Best Breakthrough Director / Outstanding Lead Performance
My Father’s Shadow (Mubi)
Dir: Akinola Davies Jr.
Lead: Sope Dirisu
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Best Breakthrough Performer
Abou Sangare, Souleymane’s Story (Kino Lorber)
The event was amazing, and thank you to The Gotham for inviting The Industry.
I got to reconnect with John Fox (prod: Song Sung Blue, Jungle Cruise). Interview coming soon! Plus, I had a nice chat with Brady Corbet and Oliver Laxe (Sirāt) about their upcoming projects.