“Marriage Story,” “The Farewell,” “Uncut Gems,” “Hustlers” and “Waves” have been nominated as the best independent films of 2019 by the 29th annual IFP Gotham Awards, the Independent Filmmaker Project announced on Thursday.
“Marriage Story,” “The Farewell” and “Uncut Gems” each received three nominations in the seven Gotham film categories to lead all films. “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” also received three, though it was not nominated in the Gothams’ top category.
“Waves,” “High Flying Bird,” “Midsommar” and “Clemency” received two nominations each and were the only other films with multiple nominations.
In the acting categories, nominees included Willem Dafoe for “The Lighthouse,” Adam Sandler for “Uncut Gems,” Adam Driver in “Marriage Story,” Awkwafina in “The Farewell,” Florence Pugh in “Midsommar” and Elisabeth Moss in “Her Smell.”
The Gotham Awards’ only directing category is the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award, where the nominees were Laure De Clermont-Tonnerre for “The Mustang,” Kent Jones for “Diane,” Joe Talbot for “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” Olivia Wilde for “Booksmart” and Phillip Youmans for “Burning Cane.”
Documentary nominees were “American Factory,” “Apollo 11,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “Midnight Traveler” and “One Child Nation.”
In the two television categories, nominees included the miniseries “Chernobyl” and “When They See Us” and the series “Russian Doll,” “Ramy” and “PEN15.”
Winners will be announced the 2019 IFP Gotham Awards ceremony on Monday, Dec. 2 in New York City. The show will also include tributes to actors Sam Rockwell and Laura Dern, director Ava DuVernay and FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner.
The New York-based Gotham Awards is one of the two major honors for American independent film. The other major indie awards show, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, takes place in Los Angeles at the end of the season, the day before the Oscars. Its nominations will be announced on Nov. 21.
Gotham nominees are selected by juries consisting largely of film critics. Films must meet a variety of fairly nebulous requirements, including being “filmmaking with a point of view” that is “made with an economy of means” and is directed and/or produced by a filmmaker born or based in the United States.
Last year, only one of the Gotham Best Feature nominees, “The Favourite,” went on to receive an Academy Award Best Picture nomination. It lost at the Gothams to “The Rider.”
Over the 15 years since the Gotham Awards introduced the Best Feature category, most years have seen one or two of the nominees also land Best Picture noms. The Gotham winner has subsequently won the Oscar only four times — but those four have all come in the last 10 ceremonies, starting with “The Hurt Locker” in 2009 and including three years in a row with “Birdman” in 2014, “Spotlight” in 2015 and “Moonlight” in 2016.
The 2019 Gotham Award nominees:
Best Feature
“The Farewell”
“Hustlers”
“Marriage Story”
“Uncut Gems”
“Waves”
Best Documentary
“American Factory”
“Apollo 11”
“The Edge of Democracy”
“Midnight Traveler”
“One Child Nation”
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Laure De Clermont-Tonnerre for “The Mustang”
Kent Jones for “Diane”
Joe Talbot for “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”
Olivia Wilde for “Booksmart”
Phillip Youmans for “Burning Cane”
Best Screenplay
“The Farewell,” Lulu Wang
“High Flying Bird,” Tarell Alvin McCraney
“The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” Jimmie Fails, Joe Talbot, Rob Richert
“Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach
“Midsommar,” Ari Aster
Best Actor
Willem Dafoe in “The Lighthouse”
Adam Driver in “Marriage Story”
Aldis Hodge in “Clemency”
André Holland in “High Flying Bird”
Adam Sandler in “Uncut Gems”
Best Actress
Awkwafina in “The Farewell”
Elisabeth Moss in “Her Smell”
Mary Kay Place in “Diane”
Florence Pugh in “Midsommar”
Alfre Woodard in “Clemency”
Breakthrough Actor
Julia Fox in “Uncut Gems”
Aisling Franciosi in “The Nightingale”
Chris Galust in “Give Me Liberty”
Noah Jupe in “Honey Boy”
Jonathan Majors in “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”
Taylor Russell in “Waves”
Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes)
“Chernobyl”
“David Makes Man”
“My Brilliant Friend”
“Unbelievable”
“When They See Us”
Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes)
“PEN15”
“Ramy”
“Russian Doll”
“Tuca & Bertie”
“Undone”