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On Nov. 30, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, the self-proclaimed “first honors of the film awards season” took place, and Hollywood’s New York transplants were out to celebrate. The 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, hosted by non-profit IFP, an organization of independent filmmakers, honored several major achievements in indie film.
Monday night’s winners included director Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which won Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance. Accepting the ensemble award were the film’s stars, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, and casting director Mark Bennett.
The Robert Kenner-directed Food, Inc. won for Best Documentary. And the unusual honor of “The Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” (chosen by the editors of IFP’s Filmmaker magazine and MoMA’s Department of Film) was awarded to Ry Russo-Young’s film You Won’t Miss Me. The film centers on an alienated, mentally ill woman spinning out of control in New York City and it stars Stella Schnabel, the daughter of Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel (2007’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).
Other Gotham honors went to Robert Siegel, who won the award for Breakthrough Director on his Patton Oswalt-starring film Big Fan. The prize for Breakthrough Actor went to Catalina Saavedra for her role in Sebastián Silva’s The Maid.
The awards show was emceed by comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who is a recurring guest star on The Colbert Report and has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Meryl Streep, Brooke Shields and Sam Rockwell were among the presenters, and career tributes were bestowed upon Kathryn Bigelow, actors Stanley Tucci and Natalie Portman, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (Pirate Radio, A Serious Man).
Watch the trailer for You Won’t Miss Me:
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I saw Hurt Locker last July, and I still feel the emotional impact of this superb movie. Kathryn Bigelow and the movie deserve the Oscars, hands down. And I have seen all nominated movies and performances. Up in the Air and Avatar had their messages, the movies greatly entertaining....but my emotional response to them was nothing close to the Locker impact. I am not a lover of war movies, generally, but this was an examination of the men in war and the sometimes addiction a warrior can succumb to. The "war is a drug" quote at the beginning of the movie tells us the theme of the movie, and it is captured in the script and the filming, and the acting. Bravo to the director, writers, cast, camera crew, etc. A movie for the ages. Would that more people would have seen it. The "big" movies get the attention because of box office, but that does not mean they are the year's "best" and deserving of an Oscar. I hope more see the movie before they vote and vote with conscious and integrity--not just popularism.