Oscars 2017: Gotham Awards Nominations Announced

Awards season is officially upon us. The major festivals (NYFF, Toronto, Telluride, and Venice) have all recently wrapped up and now the different awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars are beginning to announce their lineup of nominees. First up is the Gotham Independent Film Awards.

This awards show is one to keep an eye on because the last two Best Picture winners at the Oscars, Birdman and Spotlight, won Best Feature here. So the films that'll be in the conversation here will likely factor in the Oscar race. Two films that received rupturous raves on the festival circuit and have solidified their status as Oscar players are Manchester By The Sea, which leads with 4 nominations and also Moonlight which picked up a Best Feature nomination and a special Best Ensemble award.

We even have some early birds in the mix like Hell Or High Water, Everybody Wants Some!!, Swiss Army Man and Love and Friendship and surprisingly Isabelle Huppert in the Best Actress category for the foreign langauge film Elle. If she even picks up citations from an awards show that normally celebrates American independent cinema, then I think Huppert is looking much stronger for Best Actress. The Witch also got some citations, which is nice, but I don't know how far in the race it'll go or if it'll even be a factor in this race.

You can check out the full list of nominees down below:

Best Feature

“Certain Women”
“Everybody Wants Some!!”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Paterson”

Best Documentary:
“Cameraperson”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“O.J.: Made in America”
“Tower”
“Weiner”
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award:
Robert Eggers for “The Witch”
Anna Rose Holmer for “The Fits”
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert for “Swiss Army Man”
Trey Edward Shults for “Krisha”
Richard Tanne for “Southside with You”

Best Screenplay
“Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan
“Love & Friendship,” Whit Stillman
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
“Moonlight,” Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney; Screenplay by Barry Jenkins
“Paterson,” Jim Jarmusch

Best Actor
Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea”
Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water”
Adam Driver in “Paterson”
Joel Edgerton in “Loving”
Craig Robinson in “Morris from America”

Best Actress
Kate Beckinsale in “Love & Friendship”
Annette Bening in 20th “Century Women”
Isabelle Huppert in “Elle”
Ruth Negga in “Loving”
Natalie Portman in “Jackie”

Breakthrough Actor
Lily Gladstone in “Certain Women”
Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea”
Royalty Hightower in “The Fits”
Sasha Lane in “American Honey”
Anya Taylor-Joy in “The Witch”

Special Jury Award For Ensemble Performance
“Moonlight”
Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Rhodes, and Ashton Sanders.

Breakthrough Series – Long Form
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
“The Girlfriend Experience”
“Horace and Pete”
“Marvel’s Jessica Jones”
“Master of None”

Breakthrough Series – Short Form
“The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo” (YouTube)
“Her Story” (herstoryshow.com)
“The Movement” (Mic.com)
“Sitting in Bathrooms with Trans People” (Seriously.TV)
“Surviving” (YouTube)