Last updated October 16, 2026.

The Gotham Film Awards return for their 36th edition on Monday, November 30, 2026, in New York City, once again kicking off awards season with a celebration of the year’s best independent film. Nominations are expected to be announced on October 27, 2026.

As one of the first major ceremonies on the awards calendar, the Gothams spotlight bold directorial debuts, standout performances, and singular storytelling, and they’re often an early indicator of the films and filmmakers that will carry momentum into the Independent Spirit Awards and the Oscars.

The Road to the 2026 Gotham Film Awards:
Celebrating Our Client Legacy

Few awards celebrate the spirit of independent film quite like the Gotham Awards, and it’s been an honor to see so many of our client projects recognized on that stage.

From first-time directors to seasoned filmmakers, and from breakout performances to boundary-pushing series, the nominees and winners below reflect the risk-taking, singular voices that define independent storytelling. Many of these projects went on to find audiences and accolades well beyond awards season’s first stop.

Looking back at the client projects honored by the Gotham Awards since 2017 shows how far independent film has come, one bold story and one breakthrough talent at a time. We can’t wait to see who’s next.

Gotham Film Awards 2025: Client Project Nominees

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Best Director Nominee - Mary Bronstein
➡️ Best Original Screenplay Nominee - Mary Bronstein
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Rose Byrne

Sorry, Baby:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Best Original Screenplay Nominee - Eva Victor

East of Wall:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee

Lurker:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee

Gotham Film Awards 2024: Client Project Winners + Nominees

A Different Man:

🏆 Best Feature Winner
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Adam Pearson

Anora: 

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Best Director Nominee - Sean Baker
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Mikey Madison
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Yura Borisov

A Real Pain:

➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Kieran Culkin

Babygirl:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Nicole Kidman

Between the Temples:

➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Nathan Silver, C. Mason Wells

His Three Daughters:

🏆 Best Screenplay Winner - Azazel Jacobs
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Natasha Lyonne

Janet Planet:

➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Annie Baker

I Saw the TV Glow:

➡️ Best Director Nominee - Jane Schoenbrun
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Justice Smith
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Brigette Lundy-Paine

Sing Sing:

🏆 Outstanding Lead Performance Winner - Colman Domingo
🏆 Outstanding Supporting Performance Winner - Clarence Maclin

The Piano Lesson:

➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Danielle Deadwyler

Gotham Awards 2023: Client Project Winners + Nominees

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt:

➡️ Breakthrough Director Nominee - Raven Jackson

American Fiction:

➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Jeffrey Wright

A Thousand and One:

🏆 Breakthrough Director Winner - A.V. Rockwell
➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Teyana Taylor

Beef:

🏆 Breakthrough Series Winner - Short Format  (Under 40 Minutes) 
🏆 Outstanding Performance in a New Series Winner - Ali Wong
➡️ Outstanding Performance in a New Series Nominee - Steven Yeun

May December:

🏆 Outstanding Supporting Performance Winner - Charles Melton
➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Samy Burch

Past Lives:

🏆 Best Feature Winner
➡️ Breakthrough Director Nominee - Celine Song
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Greta Lee

Reality:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee

Showing Up:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Michelle Williams

The Holdovers:

➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Da’Vine Joy Randolph

Gotham Awards 2022: Client Project Nominees

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed:

➡️ Best Documentary Feature Nominee

Bones and All:

➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Taylor Russell
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Mark Rylance

Catch the Fair One:

➡️ Breakthrough Performer Nominee - Kali Reis

Funny Pages:

➡️ Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Nominee - Owen Kline

Nanny:

➡️ Breakthrough Performer Nominee - Anna Diop

The Inspection:

➡️ Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Nominee - Elegance Bratton
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Gabrielle Union
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Raúl Castillo

The Last Movie Stars:

➡️ Breakthrough Nonfiction Series Nominee

The Whale:

➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Brendan Fraser
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Hong Chau

Gotham Awards 2021: Client Project Winners + Nominees

CODA:

🏆 Outstanding Supporting Performance Winner - Troy Kotsur
🏆 Breakthrough Performer Winner - Emilia Jones
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Marlee Matlin

Nine Days:

➡️ Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Nominee - Edson Oda

PIG:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee

The Lost Daughter:

🏆 Best Feature Winner  - Maggie Gyllenhaal, director; Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Charles Dorfman, producers
🏆 Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Winner  - Maggie Gyllenhaal
🏆 Best Screenplay Winner - Maggie Gyllenhaal
🏆 Outstanding Lead Performance Winner - Olivia Colman
➡️ Outstanding Supporting Performance Nominee - Jessie Buckley

The Card Counter:

➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Paul Schrader
➡️ Outstanding Lead Performance Nominee - Oscar Isaac

Gotham Awards 2020: Client Project Nominees

Bad Education:

➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Mike Makowsky

First Cow:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Jon Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
➡️ Best Actor Nominee - John Magaro
➡️ Breakthrough Actor Nominee - Orion Lee

I'm Thinking of Ending Things:

➡️ Best Actor Nominee -  Jesse Plemons
➡️ Best Actress Nominee - Jessie Buckley

Never Rarely Sometimes Always:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Breakthrough Actor Nominee - Sidney Flanigan

Nomadland:

🏆 Best Feature Winner
🏆 Gotham Audience Award Winner
➡️ Best Actress Nominee - Frances McDormand

One Night in Miami:

🏆 Breakthrough Actor Winner - Kingsley Ben-Adir

Sound of Metal:

🏆 Best Actor Winner - Riz Ahmed

Swallow:

➡️ Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Nominee - Carlo Mirabella-Davis

The Trial of the Chicago 7:

🏆 Inaugural Ensemble Performance Tribute 

Work in Progress:

➡️ Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes) Nominee

Gotham Awards 2019: Client Project Nominees

Her Smell:

➡️ Best Actress Nominee - Elisabeth Moss

Honey Boy:

➡️ Breakthrough Actor Nominee - Noah Jupe

Russian Doll:

➡️ Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes) Nominee

Gotham Awards 2018: Client Project Nominees

Eighth Grade:

🏆 Breakthrough Actor Winner - Elsie Fisher
🏆 Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Winner - Bo Burnham

First Reformed:

🏆 Best Screenplay Winner - Paul Schrader
🏆 Best Actor Winner - Ethan Hawke
➡️ Best Feature Nominee

Sorry to Bother You:

➡️ Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Nominee - Boots Riley
➡️ Best Actor Nominee - Lakeith Stanfield

Thoroughbreds:

➡️ Best Screenplay Nominee - Cory Finley

Gotham Awards 2017: Client Project Nominees

Beach Rats:

➡️ Breakthrough Actor Nominee - Harris Dickinson

Good Time:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Best Actor Nominee - Robert Pattinson

I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore:

➡️ Best Actress Nominee - Melanie Lynskey

I, Tonya:

➡️ Best Feature Nominee
➡️ Best Actress Nominee - Margot Robbie

Search Party: 

➡️ Breakthrough Series – Long Form Nominee

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected):

➡️ Best Actor Nominee - Adam Sandler

About the Gotham Awards

What are the Gotham Awards?

In 1991, the Independent Feature Project (IFP, now The Gotham Film & Media Institute, or simply “The Gotham”) created The Gotham Awards to honor independent American films, particularly those from the Northeastern United States.

Today, these annual awards have evolved to recognize a broader range of independent film and media, and, as of 2024, have also moved television honors to a separate ceremony, the Gotham TV Awards. This celebration of independent films and filmmakers is one of the first major film awards ceremonies of the awards season, and is often viewed as a key indicator for independent films heading into the Oscars.

When and where do the Gotham Film Awards take place?

The Gotham Awards ceremony typically takes place in late November or early December in New York City on the Monday after Thanksgiving. In 2025, the Gotham Awards took place on December 1st at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan. Their early place in the awards calendar means The Gotham Film Awards build momentum for the awards season to come.

Who is eligible to be nominated for a Gotham Film Award?

The Gotham Awards focus on independent films that are made by American filmmakers or feature strong American creative involvement. International feature and documentary categories also exist. Honorees include directors, writers, producers, and actors.

What is the significance of a Gotham Film Award win or nomination?

A win or nomination at the Gotham Awards can boost a film's visibility and attract further distribution, and is often seen as an important precursor for other awards such as the Independent Spirit Awards and sometimes even the Academy Awards. These awards often help emerging directors, writers, and actors gain industry recognition.

How do the Gotham Film Awards differ from the Oscars or Golden Globes?

The Gotham Awards are specifically focused on independent film, as opposed to mainstream studio releases that dominate the Oscars and Golden Globes. They also often have fewer categories, and include unique awards like the “Breakthrough Performer.”

Check back here for the latest updates on awards season as Gotham Awards nominees and GreenSlate client projects continue to make headlines. 

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