The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) tonight announced the winners of the 27th Annual IFP Gotham Awards at a ceremony hosted by John Cameron Mitchell and held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.  

Winning the Best Feature award was Call Me by Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino’s lush and achingly sensual story of first, soul affirming love. In addition, actor Timothée Chalamet was voted the award for Breakthrough Actor for his revelatory performance in the leading role of Elio in the film. 

The award for Best Documentary went to Strong Island, director Yance Ford’s examination of family trauma and years of unanswered questions wrought by the loss and unprosecuted murder of his brother by a white man in 1992. 

The IFP Gotham Audience Award, voted by IFP members, went to Get Out, the astute and frighteningly comic horror film (and box office smash) shot through with dread and social satire written and directed by Jordan Peele. In addition to the Audience Award, Peele was also voted both the Best Screenplay award and the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award, given for a debut feature, for a personal total of three awards. 

Winning the award for Best Actor was James Franco for his impeccable comedic and passionate incarnation of Tommy Wiseau, director of the notorious The Room (the “Citizen Kane of bad movies”) in The Disaster Artist, which Franco also directed.  Saoirse Ronan was voted Best Actress for Lady Bird, in which, as the self-named titular character, she rages against everything that reminds her she is trapped in Sacramento, awaiting flight from her senior year in Catholic school to a far, far better place…hopefully New York. 

For the third year, the Gotham Awards presented two Breakthrough Series awards for achievement in episodic content in television and digital media for series in their debut seasons. The Breakthrough Series– Long Form award, which aims to honor work that “expands the possibilities of creative, independent storytelling and enriches the landscape or pushes the boundaries of ‘television’” was won by Atlanta, created by Donald Glover.  

As three young men try to make it in Atlanta’s rap scene, the series continually surprises through its originality, narrative subversion, tonal shifts and startling observation. 

The Breakthrough Series– Short Form award went to The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes, a genre-busting web series created by Nancy Andrews that incorporates elements of live-action, musical, animation, science fiction, and afro-futurism in its story of Dr. Sheri Myes, who after a near-death experience uses brain science to revolutionize human consciousness. 

As previously announced, in addition to the competitive awards presented, a Special Jury Award was presented by Michael Stuhlbarg to the seven lead actors from the cast of Dee Rees’  Mudbound for their ensemble work in the film.  

Career Tributes were also given during the ceremony to actors Nicole Kidman (presented by Reese Witherspoon) and Dustin Hoffman (presented by Elizabeth Marvel), director Sofia Coppola (presented by Tamara Jenkins), producer Jason Blum (presented by Ethan Hawke), and a Humanitarian Tribute to Al Gore (presented by Dan Rather). 

Also during the ceremony, a “Made in NY” Award, given by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) to honor excellence in New York City’s creative community, was presented to actor Michael K. Williams by Kai Falkenberg, First Deputy Commissioner at the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment. 

The Gotham Award ceremony was streamed on Facebook Live on FB/IFPFilm. 

The 27th Annual Gotham Award recipients are: 

For Best Feature, presented by Rachel Weisz 

Call Me by Your Name 

Directed by Luca Guadagnino 

Produced by Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory, and Howard Rosenman 

Released by Sony Pictures Classics  

The Best Feature jury included Joshua Astrachan, Clea DuVall, Ava DuVernay, Greg Mottola, and Phedon Papamichael. 

For Best Documentary, presented by Cynthia Nixon 

Strong Island 

Directed by Yance Ford 

Produced by Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes 

Released by Netflix 

The Best Documentary jury included W. Kamau Bell, Keiko Deguchi, Ezra Edelman, Marilyn Ness, and Cynthia Wade. 

For the IFP Gotham Audience Award, presented by John Leguizamo 

Get Out 

Directed by Jordan Peele 

Produced by Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm, Jr., and Jordan Peele 

Released by Universal Pictures 

The Audience Award was voted for on-line by IFP members. 

For Best Actor, presented by Lucy Liu 

James Franco in The Disaster Artist 

Released by A24 

The Best Actor jury included Ed Burns, Sarah Paulson, Oliver Platt, Adele Romanski, and Malik Hassan Sayeed. 

For Best Actress, presented by Armie Hammer 

Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird 

Released by A24 

The Best Actress jury included Shohreh Aghdashloo, Judy Becker, Fred Berger, Adam Driver, and Neil LaBute. 

For Best Screenplay, presented by Lois Smith and Brooklynn Prince 

Jordan Peele for Get Out  

Released by Universal Pictures 

The Best Screenplay jury included Brian Koppelman, Sanaa Lathan, Josh Mond, Lydia Dean Pilcher, and Michael Taylor. 

For Breakthrough Actor, presented by Zoe Kazan 

Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name 

Released by Sony Pictures Classics 

The Breakthrough Actor jury included K.K. Barrett, Keegan DeWitt, Vera Farmiga, Carly Hugo, and James Ponsoldt. 

For Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, presented by Dee Rees 

Jordan Peele for Get Out 

Released by Universal Pictures 

The Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director jury included Declan Baldwin, Shari Springer Berman, Paul Dano, James Laxton, and Catalina Sandino Moreno. 

For Breakthrough Series – Long Form, presented by Allison Williams 

Atlanta 

Created by Donald Glover 

Executive Produced by Donald Glover, Dianne McGunigle, and Paul Simms 

FX Networks 

The Breakthrough Series – Long Form jury included Michael Cuesta, Tiffany Haddish, Jennifer Lilly, Taylor Schilling, and BD Wong. 

For Breakthrough Series – Short Form, presented by Carla Gugino 

The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes 

Created by Nancy Andrews 

YouTube 

The Breakthrough Series-Short Form award was voted for on-line by IFP members 

Special Jury Award for Ensemble Performance, presented by Michael Stuhlbarg 

Mudbound 

Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks 

Released by Netflix 

YouTube Video source: https://gotham.ifp.org/public/index.cfm?page=147 

Sponsors 
The Premier Sponsor of the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards is The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsors are Underground Lauderdale/Film, Music, Fashion & Create, and Greenslate. The Official Water Sponsor is FIJI Water, the Official Wine Sponsor is Landmark Vineyards, and the Official Chocolate Sponsor is Lindt. 

About IFP 
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include IFP Week, IFP Labs, Filmmaker Magazine, IFP Gotham Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, an incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. IFP represents an ever-growing network of 10,000+ storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 39-year history, IFP has supported over 12,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000+ filmmakers. More info at www.ifp.org  

About the IFP Gotham Awards
The IFP Gotham Awards, selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that IFP does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition. 

For more information: http://gotham.ifp.org