"Past Lives" Wins Big Prize at Gotham Awards

Celine Song's feature directorial debut "Past Lives" triumphed at the 33rd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Monday night, winning the top prize Best Feature. The romantic drama film follows the relationship between two childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yooover) as they grow apart then reunite over the course of two decades.

Entering the evening, the British sci-fi romantic drama "All Of Us Strangers" led all films with four nominations, while "The Zone of Interest," "A Thousand and One," and "Past Lives" each earned three. "A Thousand and One" director A.V. Rockwell beat out Song for the coveted Breakthrough Director award.

Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner "Anatomy of a Fall" won both awards for which it was nominated – Best Screenplay for Justine Triet and Arthur Harari and Best International Feature. The courtroom thriller about a woman on trial for the suspected murder of her husband is also generating Oscar buzz for star Sandra Hüller.

The Arabic-language Tunisian documentary "Four Daughters" took home the prize for Best Documentary Feature.

In 2021, the Gothams stopped splitting their acting award categories by gender, leaving just two winners for film – Outstanding Lead Performance, won by Lily Gladstone for her performance in "The Unknown Country," and Outstanding Supporting Performance, won by Charles Melton for "May December." Gladstone is expected to earn an Oscar nomination for her lead role in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon."

This year the Gotham Film & Media Institute made another major change, removing its $35 million budget cap requirement for potential nominees. This opened up the competition to more mainstream films, but many big-budget productions did not submit nominations. "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "Barbie" were among the major films to receive tribute awards.

The Gothams also celebrate television with three awards, two of which were won by Netflix's "Beef" – Breakthrough Television Under 40 Minutes and Outstanding Performance in a New Series for star Ali Wong. "A Small Light" won the award for Breakthrough Television Over 40 Minutes.

Congratulations to all winners and nominees! We are so excited to kick off the awards season!