The 2021 Gotham Awards took place in New York, recognizing independent content across film and TV. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter dominated the night, taking home four awards, including best feature.
Two Netflix titles, The Lost Daughter and Passing, topped this year’s film nominees with five nominations each, followed by three nods apiece for Apple’s CODA and Kino Lorber’s Test Pattern.
The Lost Daughter, Passing and Test Pattern were nominated for best feature alongside A24’s The Green Knight and Neon’s Pig.
On the TV side, the Gotham Awards is among the first awards bodies to recognize buzzy new series Squid Game, The White Lotus and Reservation Dogs, which each scored two nominations.
For this year’s awards, the performance categories are now gender-neutral and the Gothams added two more TV categories.
The Gotham Awards honored Power of the Dog director Jane Campion, Spencer star Kristen Stewart, Magnolia exec Eamonn Bowles, the cast of The Harder They Fall, Cyrano star Peter Dinklage, The Actors Fund and, posthumously, activist and filmmaker Kathleen Collins with the Gothams’ first Icon Tribute.
The 2021 awards took place less than a year after 2020’s winners were announced in a pandemic-delayed hybrid event in January, with winners participating via live video.
Recent Gotham Award winners have included Oscar winners Nomadland, Marriage Story, American Factory, Moonlight, Spotlight and Birdman.
At the start of the show, CODA star Emilia Jones took home the award for breakthrough performer. “When you’re making a movie about a culture that you don’t belong to, it’s important to surround yourself with people who are a part of it. And on CODA, we surrounded ourselves with the best: Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant,” Jones thanked her costars, who are members of the deaf community. “They took me under their wing the minute they met me.”
Julianne Moore and Spencer director Pablo Larraín presented Kristen Stewart with the performer tribute award.
“To work opposite her is to feel truly seen and partnered. She elevates everything,” Moore said. ”What she presents onscreen and in life is sometimes challenging to people because it’s like she’s skinless. She demonstrates a truth that can feel uncomfortable, but cool at the same time because she’s cool right. I mean, there’s no one cooler than her.”
“Kirsten changed my life,” Larraín added. “You’re a fucking miracle of cinema.”
Summer of Soul director Questlove took to the stage to highlight the Quest Love EDU Scholarship in partnership with iHeartMedia and Gotham. The scholarship awards full tuition to five undergraduate students of color currently enrolled at historically black colleges and universities, in which they will also have the opportunity to attend an 8-week summer workshop program to apply practical skills in media production and storytelling.
“I would first like to commend the Gotham Awards for eliminating gender from their awards categories because true talent shines through the constructs meant to separate us,” said Asia Kate Dillon presenting the award for outstanding performance in a new series, an award that was ultimately awarded to two nominees: Ethan Hawke in The Good Lord Bird and Thuso Mbedu in The Underground Railroad.
“I’ve never been nominated where the male and female performances were not separated and its very powerful thing to see these clips and see us not defined by our gender,” Hawke said in his acceptance speech. “I wish that the women in this room had as many opportunities as the men. Directors don’t get differentiated by gender. I never understood why actors do, so I’m so proud to share this award. It’s a really beautiful moment actually.”
Following his win, Hawke presented the tribute award to his friend and fellow actor Peter Dinklage.
“I got a lot of my native brothers and sisters out there tonight,” Mark Ruffalo said while presenting Jane Campion with her tribute award. “It’s so good to see you guys where you belong, telling stories.”
Reservation Dogs, an FX comedy centered on modern life on a native reservation, went on to win for breakthrough series short format.
“So white people have long ass speeches and y’all been saying these speeches for way too fuckin’ long,” said Reservation Dogs creator and executive producer Sterlin Harjo . “We love you, we’re here for you, don’t fuckin talk so long. Jesus Christ.”
“The only reason I was able to create this show Is because of my friend Taika Waititi,” Harjo praised his co-creator. “No one gave a fuck about Indians before that and Taika walked into FX and said make this show happen. Thank you very much FX for letting us do it.”
“I want you all to remember, we’re on Wall Street right now,” Harjo called attention to the show’s venue in New York City. “Everyone think about Wall Street. There were indigenous people that lived here and they fuckin’ came here and gave them beads and tricked them into giving up their land. And then they built a wall to keep them out of their land and that’s why it’s called Wall Street. They built a fuckin’ wall to keep our people out of that land. I want you all to remember that. That’s what they did to us. Remember Trump tried to build a wall? They did that a long time ago to keep native people out of this land.”
Following worldwide success, Squid Game won the award for long format breakthrough series.
“We’ve experience so many miracles since we launched this show on September 17th and the biggest of them is how much love and support you all have shown to a foreign language series with a very strange title,” said Squid Game producer Kim Ji Yeon.
“When I wrote this script it was 2009, 12 years ago. I did my best but nobody liked it. People said it’s unrealistic, it’s too violent, it’s absurd, it’s weird,” added creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. “It took 12 years to make this show and show it to the people. And it took less than 12 days to become the number one show on the planet. What can I say? It’s a miracle. If there is miracles, this is a miracle. it happened to me. And all I can say is thank you. Thank you for watching it, thank you for loving it.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal secured her second award for the night for the Bingham Ray breakthrough director award.
“It’s expensive to make movies,” said Gyllenhaal in her second acceptance speech. “Movies cost a lot of money, you can write them but someones gotta make them. So then the question becomes, what is valuable? Is women telling stories that resonate between us, valuable? And is it high art? And is it appealing to men? To see women that actually look like their wives or their sisters or their mothers up on screen? I think the lineup of films being celebrated here tonight says ‘yeah, it fuckin’ is.’”
A full list of this year’s nominees follows, which will be updated live as winners are announced during the in-person event at New York’s Cipriani Wall Street.
Best Feature
The Green Knight
David Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, David Lowery, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, producers (A24)
The Lost Daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal, director; Osnat Handelsman-Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Charles Dorfman, producers (Netflix) (WINNER)
Passing
Rebecca Hall, director; Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Margot Hand, Rebecca Hall, producers (Netflix)
Pig
Michael Sarnoski, director; Nicolas Cage, Steve Tisch, David Carrico, Adam Paulsen, Dori Roth, Joseph Restiano, Dimitra Tsingou, Thomas Benski, Ben Giladi, Vanessa Block, producers (NEON)
Test Pattern
Shatara Michelle Ford, director; Shatara Michelle Ford, Pin-Chun Liu, Yu-Hao Su, producers (Kino Lorber)
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon, director; Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell, Jessica Kingdon, producers (MTV Documentary Films)
Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir, director and producer (Janus Films)
Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, director; Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Charlotte de La Gournerie, producers (NEON) (WINNER)
President
Camilla Nielsson, director; Signe Byrge Sorensen, Joslyn Barnes, producers (Greenwich Entertainment)
Summer Of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, director; Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein, producers (Searchlight Pictures, Onyx Collective, Hulu)
Best International Feature
Azor
Andreas Fontana, director; Eugenia Mumenthaler, David Epiney, producers (MUBI)
Drive My Car
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director; Teruhisa Yamamoto, producer (Sideshow and Janus Films) (WINNER)
The Souvenir Part II
Joanna Hogg, director; Ed Guiney, Emma Norton, Andrew Low, Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller, producers (A24)
Titane
Julia Ducournau, director; Jean-Christophe Reymond, producer (NEON)
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
Alexandre Koberidze, director; Mariam Shatberashvili, producers (MUBI)
The Worst Person in the World
Joachim Trier, director; Thomas Robsham, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, producers (NEON)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter (Netflix) (WINNER)
Edson Oda for Nine Days (Sony Pictures Classics)
Rebecca Hall for Passing (Netflix)
Emma Seligman for Shiva Baby (Utopia Distribution)
Shatara Michelle Ford for Test Pattern (Kino Lorber)
Best Screenplay
The Card Counter, Paul Schrader (Focus Features)
El Planeta, Amalia Ulman (Utopia Distribution)
The Green Knight, David Lowery (A24)
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Netflix) (WINNER)
Passing, Rebecca Hall (Netflix)
Red Rocket, Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch (A24)
Outstanding Lead Performance (TIE)
Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter (Netflix) (WINNER)
Frankie Faison in The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain (Gravitas Ventures)(WINNER)
Michael Greyeyes in Wild Indian (Vertical Entertainment)
Brittany S. Hall in Test Pattern (Kino Lorber)
Oscar Isaac in The Card Counter (Focus Features)
Taylour Paige in Zola (A24)
Joaquin Phoenix in C’mon C’mon (A24)
Simon Rex in Red Rocket (A24)
Lili Taylor in Paper Spiders (Entertainment Squad)
Tessa Thompson in Passing (Netflix)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Reed Birney in Mass (Bleecker Street)
Jessie Buckley in The Lost Daughter (Netflix)
Colman Domingo in Zola (A24)
Gaby Hoffmann in C’mon C’mon (A24)
Troy Kotsur in CODA (Apple) (WINNER)
Marlee Matlin in CODA (Apple)
Ruth Negga in Passing (Netflix)
Breakthrough Performer
Emilia Jones in CODA (Apple) (WINNER)
Natalie Morales in Language Lessons (Shout! Studios)
Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby (Utopia Distribution)
Suzanna Son in Red Rocket (A24)
Amalia Ulman in El Planeta (Utopia Distribution)
Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes)
The Good Lord Bird, Ethan Hawke, Mark Richard, creators; James McBride, Brian Taylor, Ryan Hawke, Ethan Hawke, Jason Blum, Albert Hughes, Mark Richard, Marshall Persinger, David Schiff, executive producers (Showtime)
It’s a Sin, Russell T Davies, creator; Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler, executive producers (HBO Max)
Small Axe, Steve McQueen, creator; Tracey Scoffield, David Tanner, Steve McQueen, executive producers (Amazon Studios)
Squid Game, Kim Ji-yeon, Hwang Dong-hyu, executive producers (Netflix)(WINNER)
The Underground Railroad, Barry Jenkins, Colson Whitehead, creators; Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Hoyt, executive producers (Amazon Studios)
The White Lotus, Mike White, creator; Mike White, David Bernad, Nick Hall, executive producers (HBO Max/HBO)
Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes)
Blindspotting, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, creators; Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann, executive producers (STARZ)
Hacks, Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky, creators; Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, Michael Schur, David Miner, Morgan Sackett, executive producers (HBO Max/HBO)
Reservation Dogs, Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi, creators; Taika Waititi, Sterlin Harjo, Garrett Basch, executive producers (FX)(WINNER)
Run the World, Leigh Davenport, creator; Yvette Lee Bowser, Leigh Davenport, Nastaran Dibai, executive producers (STARZ)
We Are Lady Parts, Nida Manzoor, creator, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland, executive producers (Peacock)
Breakthrough Nonfiction Series
City So Real, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Alex Kotlowitz, Gordon Quinn, Betsy Steinberg, Jolene Pinder, executive producers (National Geographic)
Exterminate All the Brutes, Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
How To With John Wilson, John Wilson, creator; Nathan Fielder, John Wilson, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
Philly D.A., Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar, creators; Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, Patty Quillin, executive producers (Topic, Independent Lens, PBS)(WINNER)
Pride, Christine Vachon, Sydney Foos, Danny Gabai, Kama Kaina, Stacy Scripter, Alex Stapleton (FX)
Outstanding Performance in a New Series (TIE)
Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus (HBO Max/HBO)
Michael Greyeyes in Rutherford Falls (Peacock)
Ethan Hawke in The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)(WINNER)
Devery Jacobs in Reservation Dogs (FX)
Lee Jung-jae in Squid Game (Netflix)
Thuso Mbedu in The Underground Railroad (Amazon Studios)(WINNER)
Jean Smart in Hacks (HBO Max/HBO)
Omar Sy in Lupin (Netflix)
Anya Taylor-Joy in The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
Anjana Vasan in We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)