2013 Gotham Award Nominations Announced

by Amos Semien and Editor

The 2013-14 American movie award season has been kicked off with the announcement of nominations for The Gotham Awards - the 23rd edition of the awards.  The Gotham Awards is an annual film awards ceremony that honors independent films.  The Gotham Awards are part of The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers.  The Gotham Awards also signal the kick-off to the film awards season.

Nominees are selected by groups of distinguished film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films determine the final Gotham Award recipients.

The 2013 Gotham Awards nominees were announced Thursday, October 24, 2013.  The winners will be announced live at the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards™ on Monday, December 2, 2013.

23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees:

Best Feature:
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen, director; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
David Lowery, director; Tony Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Amy Kaufman, Cassian Elwes, producers (IFC Films)

Before Midnight
Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Sara Woodhatch, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Inside Llewyn Davis
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors; Scott Rudin, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, producers (CBS Films)

Upstream Color
Shane Carruth, director; Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair, producers. (erbp)

Best Documentary:
The Act of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge, Joshua Oppenheimer, producers (Drafthouse Films)

The Crash Reel
Lucy Walker, director; Julian Cautherly, Lucy Walker, producers (HBO Documentary Films)

First Cousin Once Removed
Alan Berliner, director and producer (HBO Documentary Films)

Let the Fire Burn
Jason Osder, director and producer (Zeitgeist Films)

Our Nixon
Penny Lane, director; Brian L. Frye, Penny Lane, producers (Cinedigm and CNN Films)

Best Actor:
• Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (CBS Films)
• Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
• Robert Redford in All Is Lost (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
• Isaiah Washington in Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)

Best Actress:
• Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Scarlett Johansson in Don Jon (Relativity Media)
• Brie Larson in Short Term 12 (Cinedigm)
• Amy Seimetz in Upstream Color (erbp)
• Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now (A24)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director:
• Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
• Adam Leon for Gimme the Loot (Sundance Selects)
• Alexandre Moors for Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)
• Stacie Passon for Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)
• Amy Seimetz for Sun Don’t Shine (Factory 25)

Breakthrough Actor:
• Dane DeHaan in Kill Your Darlings (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Kathryn Hahn in Afternoon Delight (The Film Arcade and Cinedigm)
• Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
• Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Robin Weigert in Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)

euphoria CK Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant:
• Afia Nathaniel, director, Dukhthar
• Gita Pullapilly, director, Beneath the Harvest Sky
• Deb Shoval, director, AWOl

Audience Award powered by Festival Genius
COMING SOON

Voted on by an independent film community of 230,000 film fans worldwide.  To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at one of the top 50 U.S. or Canadian film festivals from November 2012 through October 2012.  Voting on the nominees closes November 24th, and the winner revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony.

http://gotham.ifp.org

"The Help" Sweeps Up at the 2012 Black Reel Awards

My favorite Negro-American film awards organization (and my favorite film critics awards, for that matter) is The Black Reel Awards.  The Black Reel Awards annually honors African-Americans in feature, independent and television film. The awards were launched in 2000, and this is the 12th year the awards will be handed out. The Black Reel Awards are now given out by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF).

More 50 film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet comprise the voting members of the Black Reel Awards. Winners were announced on Friday, February 10, 2012 in ceremony held in Washington D.C.  The Help dominated this year's awards winning six, including "Best Film."

2012 Black Reel Award Winners:

Theatrical
Outstanding Film – The Help

Outstanding Director – Steve McQueen / Shame

Outstanding Actor – John Boyega / Attack the Block

Outstanding Actress – Viola Davis / The Help

Outstanding Supporting Actor - Don Cheadle / The Guard

Outstanding Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer / The Help

Outstanding Screenplay, Original or Adapted – Steve McQueen / Shame

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance – Adepero Oduye / Pariah

Outstanding Ensemble – The Help

Outstanding Original Song – “The Living Proof” / Mary J. Blige (The Help)

Outstanding Score – Thomas Newman / The Help

Outstanding Foreign Film – Attack the Block

Outstanding Feature Documentary – Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest / Michael Rapaport

Independent
Outstanding Independent Feature Film – My Last Day Without You / Stefan C. Schaefer

Outstanding Independent Short Film – Wake / Bree Newsome

Outstanding Independent Documentary – Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat By the Door / Christine Acham and Clifford Ward

Television
Outstanding Television or Mini-Series Performance, Male – Idris Elba / Luther

Outstanding Television or Mini-Series Performance, Female – Taraji P. Henson / Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story

Outstanding Television Documentary – Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation / VH1 (Richard Low and Martin Torgoff)

Outstanding Television or Mini-Series Film – Thurgood / HBO (Michael Stevens)

http://blackreelawards.wordpress.com/

African-American Film Critics Association Picks "The Tree of Life"

The African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) is a group of African-American film critics that give various awards for excellence in film at the end of each year. The association was founded in 2003 by Gil L. Robertson IV and Shawn Edwards.

2011 African-American Film Critics Association Awards:

Best Picture: 1. The Tree of Life

2. Drive
3. Pariah
4. Rampart
5. Shame
6. Moneyball
7. The Descendants
8. A Better Life
9. My Week With Marylin
10. The Help

Best Director: Steve McQueen (Shame)

Best Actor: Woody Harrleson (Rampart)

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks (Drive)

Best Actress: Viola Davis (The Help)

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Screenplay: Ava DuVernay (I Will Follow)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Adepero Oduye (Pariah)

Best Independent Film: Pariah

Best song: Jason Reeves & Lenka Kripac, writers, “The Show” from “Moneyball.”

Best foreign film: Alrick Brown, “Kinyarwanda.”

http://www.aafca.com/