‘Manchester by the Sea,’ ‘Moonlight’ Lead Gotham Awards Nominations

Gotham acting nominees include Jeff Bridges, Natalie Portman, Casey Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Annette Bening

manchester by the sea gotham awards
"Manchester by the Sea" / Amazon Studios

Kenneth Lonergan’s dark drama “Manchester by the Sea” led all films in nominations for the 26th Gotham Independent Film Awards, the Independent Feature Project (IFP) announced on Thursday.

The film received four Gotham Awards nominations, including Best Feature, where it will compete with Kelly Reichardt‘s “Certain Women,” Richard Linklater‘s “Everybody Wants Some!!,” Jim Jarmusch‘s “Paterson” and Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight.”

The last of those films received two nominations, and also was voted a special award for its ensemble cast.

Acting nominees included Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”), Adam Driver (“Paterson”), Joel Edgerton (“Loving”) and Craig Robinson (“Morris From America”) for Best Actor, and Kate Beckinsale (“Love & Friendship”), Annette Bening (“20th Century Women”), Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”) and Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) for Best Actress.

Lucas Hedges from “Manchester by the Sea” and Sasha Lane from “American Honey” were among the Breakthrough Actor nominees, while the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director nominees included Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for “Swiss Army Man” and Robert Eggers for “The Witch.”

“Cameraperson,” “I Am Not Your Negro,” “Tower,” “Weiner” and the ESPN miniseries “O.J.: Made in America” were nominated for Best Documentary.

In the Breakthrough Series – Long Form television category, nominees were “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “The Girlfriend Experience,” “Horace and Pete,” “Marvel’s Jessica Jones” and “Master of None.”

The Gothams previously announced tributes to actors Amy Adams and Ethan Hawke, director Oliver Stone and producer Arnon Milchan.

The Gotham Awards will take place on Nov. 28 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

The New York-based Gotham Awards are one of the two major awards shows devoted to independent film, with the other being the Los Angeles-based Film Independent Spirit Awards.

The Gothams take place early in awards season, while the Spirit Awards are handed out at the end of the season, the day before the Oscars.

Gotham nominees are selected by a number of different juries made up largely of film critics. To qualify for an award, a film must be “made with an economy of means” and directed and/or produced by a filmmaker born or based in the U.S. Nominees must also qualify as “filmmaking with a point of view.”

Over the last five years, seven of the 25 nominees in the Gothams’ Best Feature category have gone on to receive Best Picture Oscar nominations. Over the 12 years since the Gotham Awards introduced the Best Feature category, the winner has subsequently won the Oscar only three times — but those three have all been in the last seven years, including the last two years in a row with “Birdman” in 2014 and “Spotlight” in 2015.

(The other winner of both awards was “The Hurt Locker” in 2009.)

The nominees:

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”

* The 2016 Best Actor/Best Actress and Breakthrough Actor nominating panels also voted to bestow a special Gotham Jury Award for ensemble performance to “Moonlight,” “in which actors at all levels of experience give outstanding performances that speak eloquently to one another both within and across each chapter of the story.” The awards will go to actors 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”
“Her Story”
“The Movement”
“Sitting in Bathrooms with Trans People”
“Surviving”

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