Gotham Winners: How Does The First Major Awards Impact the Oscars?

The 34th Annual Gotham Awards were held on Monday, December 2 in New York City.

The 34th Annual Gotham Awards kicked off a huge week in film awards, with AFI, the National Board of Review, and New York Film Critics releasing their winners later this week.

And what did we learn from the 2024 Gotham Awards?

They really liked A24’s Sing Sing, with both Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin receiving Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance respectively, and Nickel Boys, with RaMell Ross winning Best Director and Brandon Wilson Breakthrough Performer.

Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man taking Best Feature might be the biggest surprise of the night, especially since it was going up against Cannes darling Anora, which surprisingly went home empty-handed. A Different Man is quirky, gutsy film that plays around with identity, like so many films from this year (see: The Substance, Nightbitch). Could this finally end the debate of which film Sebastian Stan will be in contention for in Best Actor? No one seems to want to touch The Apprentice — not as a film, but more as a subject.

It’s important to remember that the Gotham Awards provide hints at voting trends, but not necessarily what you can expect from Oscar voters. Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay and Best International Feature at the 2023 Gothams, providing a path toward an Academy Award in Best Original Screenplay. On the other hand, the 2023 Gotham Awards also lauded Charles Melton with Best Supporting Performance in May/December, for which he was snubbed an Oscar nomination.

Personally, I think the biggest winner of the night when it comes to Academy Award influence is Best Documentary — No Other Land. This film has no U.S. distributor but still managed to win. Last year’s winner, Four Daughters, went on to secure an Academy Award nomination.

Best Feature

Anora 

Babygirl

Challengers

A Different Man 

Nickel Boys 

Best International Feature

As We Imagine as Light

Green Border

Hard Truths

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Vermiglio

Best Documentary Feature

Dahomey

Intercepted

No Other Land

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Sugarcane

Union

Best Director

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light

Sean Baker, Anora

Guan Hu, Black Dog

Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow

RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

Best Screenplay

Between the Temples, Nathan Silver, C. Mason Wells

Evil Does Not Exist, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Femme, Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping

His Three Daughters, Azazel Jacobs 

Janet Planet, Annie Baker

Breakthrough Director

Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls

India Donaldson, Good One

Alessandra Lacorazza, In the Summers

Vera Drew, The People’s Joker 

Mahdi Fleifel, To a Land Unknown

Outstanding Lead Performance

Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl (Roadside Attractions)

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)

Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24)

Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight (IFC Films)

Mikey Madison, Anora (NEON)

Demi Moore, The Substance (MUBI)

Saoirse Ronan, Outrun (Sony Pictures Classics)

Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Yura Borisov, Anora (NEON)

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)

Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson (Netflix)

Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters (Netflix)

Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24)

Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding (A24)

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24)

Adam Pearson, A Different Man (A24)

Brian Tyree Henry, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)

Breakthrough Performer

Lily Collias, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)

Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)

Maisy Stella, My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)

Izaac Wang, Dìdi (Focus Features)

Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)