#2023 Gotham Awards: ‘Past Lives’ Wins Best Feature

Past Lives took the top prize at the 2023 Gotham Awards on Monday night, with the film that went into the night up for three awards winning best feature.

Fellow three-time and best feature nominee A Thousand and One picked up the breakthrough director award, in the all-female category, as helmer A.V. Rockwell gave an emotional speech about the challenges of telling authentic stories about certain identities.

“Maybe one of the biggest things actually was telling a very truthful, authentic, very raw experience that can be so hard when it’s culturally specific and I felt like I fought tooth and nail for every inch of, every piece of what you’ve seen on screen,” Rockwell said, tearing up. “Just to be frank, it is very hard to tell a very culturally specific story when you look like this,” she added, touching the skin on the back of her hand.

All of Us Strangers went into the night nominated for a leading four awards but went home empty-handed.

Anatomy of a Fall won two awards: best international feature and best screenplay. Four Daughters won best documentary feature.

In the categories of lead and supporting performance, Lily Gladstone (up for The Unknown Country not Killers of the Flower Moon) and Charles Melton (May December) beat out star-studded gender-neutral lists of nominees and both seemed surprised by their wins.

Beef, which had the most nominations in the TV categories with three nods swept the TV awards with two prizes (two nominations were in the same category). The limited series won breakthrough series under 40 minutes, and star Ali Wong won outstanding performance in a new series, beating out her onscreen counterpart Steven Yeun. A Small Light won breakthrough series over 40 minutes. A Small Light went into the night with two nominations alongside double nominees Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire, I’m a Virgo, Swarm, The Last of Us, The English and Dead Ringers.

In addition to the competitive categories, the Gotham Awards honored a number of films with previously announced accolades: Killers of the Flower Moon received the Gotham Historical Icon & Creator Tribute; Barbie was recognized with the Global Icon & Creator Tribute; Ferrari received the Icon & Creator Tribute for Innovation; Rustin received the Cultural Icon & Creator Tribute for Social Justice; Air took home the Visionary Icon & Creator Tribute; and Maestro received the Cultural Icon & Creator Tribute.

Writer Alex Convery accepted on behalf of Air, noting, “The movie really is about knowing your worth and fighting for it, and this is something as artists we experienced firsthand as we walked the picket lines for over 200 days this summer. It was long and grueling, but we made it through and we showed the world that we know what we’re worth.”

Adam Driver presented Ferrari director Michael Mann with his honor, telling a story about when Mann left his wallet in a 7-Eleven and rather than waiting at a red light to get back to the store, got out of his car and ran across a major L.A. intersection. “It actually was a moment where I felt I really saw Michael; if he does this with lost time on a wallet, how does it translate to being on a film set?” Driver said, explaining how the director “doesn’t want anything to get in the way of what he’s trying to do, including himself.” Mann dedicated the award to late Ferrari screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, saying, “He’s really the heart and the core of the innovation.”

Rustin star Colman Domingo and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre presented the Social Justice tribute, recognizing the Netflix film about March on Washington organizer Bayard Rustin. Accepting the award, director George C. Wolfe said in part, “Democracy is a muscle and if you don’t use it it atrophies and is not functional. We understand every day we must invest in democracy otherwise mediocrity and evil will rise.”

He added, “What Bayard also believes in, which this room is also about, is the potency and power of the collective. … We all dream of creating a work that will change the world, the next best thing is to make a movie about someone who actually did. … You’re honoring an astonishing person [in Rustin] who happens to be on Netflix now, so go see the damn film.”

Brian Williams presented to Maestro, praising the film, which he says he “saw 24 hours ago and has thought of little else.”

Williams added, “It’s safe to say [actor-director-co-writer] Bradley Cooper has created his American masterpiece.”

Cooper, speaking after Bernstein’s grown children Alex and Jamie, said in part, “the journey we went on telling this story as authentically and truthfully as we could would never have happened without Jamie, Alex and Nina [Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein’s children].”

And he found it fitting that the film was being celebrate at the Gotham Awards as he said of the Bernsteins, “New York was their town.”

Killers star Robert De Niro introduced the tribute to the Martin Scorsese-directed film. However, there was an awkward moment as De Niro began reading his prepared remarks and then noticed that his comments were edited. After a video package of Scorsese and Osage chief Geoffrey Standing Bear speaking about the film, De Niro insisted he read his unedited remarks, which included a number of specific political comments, including remarks about former President Donald Trump.

“History isn’t history anymore. Truth isn’t truth, and even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness,” De Niro said in part. “In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills that could be applied for their personal benefit. The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease. The Duke, John Wayne, famously said of Native Americans, ‘I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.’”

De Niro added, “Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal. The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office, and he’s keeping up the pace with his current campaign of retribution.

He added of Trump, “With all of his lies, he can’t hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows his disrespect for example using Pocahontas as a slur,” referencing Trump’s popular nickname for Senator Elizabeth Warren.

De Niro appeared to blame Apple for the edits to his speech.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to reps for the Gotham Awards and Killers studio Apple for comment.

Accepting the award for Killers of the Flower Moon, Gladstone thanked Scorsese for “accepting the invitation” to work with the Osage Nation in telling this story.

Sporting a Barbie t-shirt, Laura Dern presented the Global Icon & Creator Tribute to Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig and star-producer Margot Robbie. Dern, who noted she has worked with both Gerwig and her partner and frequent collaborator (and Barbie co-writer) Noah Baumbach, said she had two “heroes” growing up: “movies and Barbie.”

During their acceptance speech, Gerwig and Robbie took people through the process of making the film, from writing and casting to negotiations with Warner Bros. and “meetings about the color pink that lasted days,” Gerwig said.

“The cast disco danced and rode invisible horses and screamed at flat feet,” Robbie chimed in, later adding “Having audiences around world wear pink and show up to the movie theater has been literally a dream come true.”

Gerwig added, “We cannot believe we got to make this film. … It has been incredibly moving to see how the joy we felt making this has been experienced by audiences watching it.”

The Gotham Film & Media Institute, which presents the Gotham Awards, also announced that Paramount’s MTV Entertainment Group will continue to underwrite the Gotham EDU Schumacher Cranshaw Scholarship as part of The Gotham EDU Career Development Program, honoring the legacy of director Joel Schumacher and MTV creative director Sophia Crenshaw, for undergraduate students who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color and LGBTQ+. And The Gotham’s Sidney Poitier Initiative, which fuels the careers and expands opportunities for film and media creators from historically excluded backgrounds, received funding from Moviepass, it was announced.

Gotham Award nominees are selected by committees of film and TV critics, journalists, festival programmers and film curators.

Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films determined the final award recipients.

Recent Gotham Award winners have included Oscar winners Everything Everywhere All at Once, CODA, Nomadland, Marriage Story, American Factory, Moonlight, Spotlight and Birdman.

A complete list of this year’s Gotham nominees and winners follows.

Best Feature

Passages
Ira Sachs, director; Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt, producers (MUBI)

Past Lives
Celine Song, director; David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, producers (A24) (WINNER)

Reality
Tina Satter, director; Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, Greg Nobile, Noah Stahl, producers (HBO Films)

Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani, producers (A24)

A Thousand and One
A.V. Rockwell, director; Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Bred Weston, producers (Focus Features)

Best International Feature

All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, director; Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Sarah Harvey, producers (Searchlight Pictures)

Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, director; Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion, producers (NEON) (WINNER)

Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, producers (Searchlight Pictures)

Tótem
Lila Avilés, director; Lila Avilés, Tatiana Graullera, Louise Riousse, producers (Sideshow/Janus Films)

The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, director; Ewa Puszczynska, James Wilson, producers (A24)

Best Documentary Feature

20 Days in Mariupol
Mstyslav Chernov, director; Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Derl McCrudden, Michelle Mizner, producers (PBS Distribution)

Against the Tide
Sarvnik Kaur, director; Koval Bhatia, Sarvnik Kaur, producers (Snooker Club Films, A Little Anarky Films)

Apolonia, Apolonia
Lea Glob, director; Sidsel Lønvig Siersted, producer (Danish Documentary Production)

Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania, director; Nadim Cheikhrouha, producer (Kino Lorber) (WINNER)

Our Body
Claire Simon, director; Kristina Larsen, producer (Cinema Guild)

Breakthrough Director Award, Presented by Cadillac

Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24)

Georgia Oakley, Blue Jean (Magnolia Pictures)

Michelle Garza Cervera, Huesera (XYZ Films)

Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)

A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One (Focus Features) (WINNER)

Best Screenplay

All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh (Searchlight Pictures)

Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (NEON) (WINNER)

May December, Samy Burch (Netflix)

R.M.N., Cristian Mungiu (IFC Films)

The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer (A24)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin (NEON)

Lily Gladstone, The Unknown Country (Music Box Films) (WINNER)

Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)

Franz Rogowski, Passages (MUBI)

Babetida Sadjo, Our Father, The Devil (Cineverse)

Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Pictures)

Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla (A24)

Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Michelle Williams, Showing Up (A24)

Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Juliette Binoche, The Taste of Things (IFC Films)

Penélope Cruz, Ferrari (NEON)

Jamie Foxx, They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)

Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Films)

Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry (IFC Films)

Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest (A24)

Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)

Charles Melton, May December (Netflix) (WINNER)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)

Breakthrough Series – Under 40 minutes

Beef, Lee Sung Jin, creator; Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Jake Schreier, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, executive producers (Netflix) (WINNER)

High School, Clea DuVall, Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, creators; Clea Duvall, Dede Gardner, Laura Kittrell, Jeremy Kleiner, Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, Carina Sposato, executive producers (Amazon Freevee)

I’m A Virgo, Boots Riley, creator; Tze Chun, Michael Ellenberg, Marcus Gardley, Carver Karaszewski, Jharrel Jerome, Boots Riley, Rebecca Rivo, Lindsey Springer, executive producers (Prime Video)

Rain Dogs, Cash Carraway, creator; Cash Carraway, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, executive producers (HBO | Max)

Swarm, Donald Glover, Janine Nabers, creators; Ibra Ake, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Janine Nabers Jamal Olor, Steven Prinz, Michael Schaefer, Fam Udeorji, executive producers (Amazon Studios)

Breakthrough Series – Over 40 minutes

Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire
Rolin Jones, creator; Mark Johnson, Rolin Jones, Anne Rice, Christopher Rice, Alan Taylor, executive producers (AMC)

Dead Ringers
Alice Birch, creator; Alice Birch, Anne Carey, Sean Durkin, Megan Ellison, Erica Kay, Ali Krug, Sue Naegle, Stacy O’Neil, David Robinson, James G. Robinson, Polly Stokes, Barbara Wall, Rachel Weisz, executive directors (Prime Video)

The English
Hugo Blick, creator; Hugo Blick, Emily Blunt, Greg Brenman, executive producers (Prime Video)

The Last of Us
Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, creators; Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Rose Lam, Asad Qizilbash, Carolyn Strauss, Carter Swan, Evan Wells, executive producers; (HBO | Max)

A Small Light
Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, creator; Susanna Fogel, William Harper, Avi Nir, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Lisa Roos, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, executive producers (National Geographic) (WINNER)

Telemarketers
Adam Bhala Lough, Sam Lipman-Stern, directors; Nancy Abraham, Dani Bernfeld, David Gordon Green, Lisa Heller, Jody Hill, Brandon James, Sam Lipman-Stern, Adam Bhala Lough, Danny McBride, Tina Nguyen, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Greg Stewart, executive producers (HBO | Max)

Outstanding Performance in a New Series

Jacob Anderson, Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire (AMC)

Dominique Fishback, Swarm (Amazon Studios)

Jharrel Jerome, I’m A Virgo (Prime Video)

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face (Peacock)

Bel Powley, A Small Light (National Geographic)

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (HBO | Max)

Chaske Spencer, The English (Prime Video)

Rachel Weisz, Dead Ringers ((Prime Video)

Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix) (WINNER)

Steven Yeun, Beef (Netflix)