2020 gotham awards nominations: women lead best feature

By Nadia Dalimonte

Awards season has officially kicked off this morning, and our first stop is the 2020 Gotham Awards nominees. For the first time in Gotham history, each of the films nominated for Best Feature are directed by women. Among them are The Assistant (by Kitty Green), First Cow (by Kelly Reichardt), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (by Eliza Hittman), Nomadland (by Chloé Zhao), and Relic (by Natalie Erika James). The power of women! If these films weren’t already on your must-see list, they should very well be now. (Relic has been on my list for a while, and it's about time that becomes my next watch.)

With numerous accolades already, Chloé Zhao's Nomadland is one of the highest rated films released this year. The film, which Zhao also wrote and directed, won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and the People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival. While the film includes a globally familiar face in Frances McDormand, the actor’s star power completely melts into real-life surroundings. Zhao explores feelings of rootlessness and togetherness within the margins of society. 

Kitty Green's The Assistant is an urgent post-Me Too depiction of human conflict and complicity. The film features incredible exposition and a stunning lead performance by Julia Garner, one of the best working actors. Kelly Reichardt’s film, First Cow, is mesmerizing from the first shot. Reichardt captures tenderness and simplicity so beautifully, and through exceptional performances. Hittman’s masterpiece, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, leaves a strong impact in the smallest interactions between people. The film features a show stopping debut performance by Sidney Flanigan, who received a nomination for the Breakthrough Actor award.

Check out the full list of nominees below. The 2020 Gotham Awards will take place on January 11, 2021.

Best Feature
The Assistant
First Cow
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
Relic

Best Documentary
76 Days
City Hall
Our Time Machine
A Thousand Cuts
Time

Best International Feature
Bacurau
Beanpole
Cuties (Mignonnes)
Identifying Features
Martin Eden
Wolfwalkers

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Swallow
Rhada Blank, The Forty Year Old Version
Andrew Patterson, Vast of Night
Channing Godfrey Peoples, Miss Juneteenth
Alex Thompson, Saint Frances

Best Screenplay
Bad Education, Mike Makowsky
First Cow, Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt
The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank
Fourteen, Dan Sallitt
The Vast of Night, James Montague and Craig Sanger

Best Actor
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Jude Law, The Nest
John Magaro, First Cow
Jesse Plemons, I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Best Actress
Nicole Beharie, Miss Juneteenth
Jessie Buckley, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
Carrie Coon, The Nest
Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Breakthrough Actor
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Jasmine Batchelor, The Surrogate
Kelly O’Sullivan, Saint Frances
Orion Lee, First Cow
Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami

Breakthrough Series – Over 40 Minutes
The Great
Immigration Nation
P-Valley
Unorthodox
Watchmen

Breakthrough Series – Under 40 Minutes
Betty
Dave
I May Destroy You
Taste the Nation
Work in Progress