2021 Gotham Awards: ‘The Lost Daughter’ Wins Night’s Top Prize
“The Lost Daughter” took home four awards on Monday night at the 2021 Gotham Awards including the top prize of Best Feature, along with the Breakthrough Director Award for Maggie Gyllenhaal, Best Screenplay, and Best Lead Performance for Olivia Coleman.
The Netflix drama is Gyllenhaal’s feature directorial debut and is adapted from the Elena Ferrante novel about a woman who becomes obsessed with a younger family while on vacation.
Other acting awards went to Frankie Faison for “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain,” who tied with Coleman in the lead-performance category; “CODA” actors Troy Kotsur and Emilia Jones, who won in the Outstanding Supporting Performance and Breakthrough Performance categories, respectively; and in the television category, Ethan Hawke for “The Good Lord Bird” and Thuso Mbedu for “The Underground Railroad.”
“Flee” was on the award as the year’s best documentary, while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” beat Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner “Titane” for best international film.
In the television categories, winners included “Squid Game,” “Reservation Dogs” and “Philly D.A.”
Special awards went “Spencer” star Kristen Stewart, director Jane Campion and the ensemble cast of “The Harder They Fall.”
Winners of the Gotham Award for Best Feature have gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture only five times in 17 years, but four of those have happened in the last 7: The consecutive wins of “Birdman” in 2014, “Spotlight” in 2015 and “Moonlight” in 2016, and “Nomadland” last year. The previous instance was “The Hurt Locker” in 2009.
“The Lost Daughter” and “Passing,” the directorial debuts of Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Hall, respectively, led all films with nominations going into the show. For the first time ever, all the Gothams’ acting categories were gender-neutral, with 12 men and 20 women nominated in the four categories.
Gotham Awards eligibility is restricted to films made for less than $35 million that qualify as “filmmaking with a point of view.” The awards are presented by the Gotham Film & Media Institute, which was formerly known as the Independent Filmmaker Project.
Here is the list of nominees. Winners are indicated with *WINNER.
Best Feature
The Green Knight
David Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, David Lowery, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, producers (A24)
The Lost Daughter *WINNER
Maggie Gyllenhaal, director; Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Charles Dorfman, producers (Netflix)
Passing
Rebecca Hall, director; Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Margot Hand, Rebecca Hall, producers (Netflix)
Pig
Michael Sarnoski, director; Nicolas Cage, Steve Tisch, David Carrico, Adam Paulsen, Dori Roth, Joseph Restiano, Dimitra Tsingou, Thomas Benski, Ben Giladi, Vanessa Block, producers (NEON)
Test Pattern
Shatara Michelle Ford, director; Shatara Michelle Ford, Pin-Chun Liu, Yu-Hao Su, producers (Kino Lorber)
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon, director; Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell, Jessica Kingdon, producers (MTV Documentary Films)
Faya Dayi
Jessica Beshir, director and producer (Janus Films)
Flee *WINNER
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, director; Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie, producers (NEON)
President
Camilla Nielsson, director; Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joslyn Barnes, producers (Greenwich Entertainment)
Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, director; Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein, producers (Searchlight Pictures, Onyx Collective, Hulu)
Best International Feature
Azor
Andreas Fontana, director; Eugenia Mumenthaler, David Epiney, producers (MUBI)
Drive My Car *WINNER
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director; Teruhisa Yamamoto, producer (Sideshow and Janus Films)
The Souvenir Part II
Joanna Hogg, director; Ed Guiney, Emma Norton, Andrew Low, Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller, producers (A24)
Titane
Julia Ducournau, director; Jean-Christophe Reymond, producer (NEON)
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
Alexandre Koberidze, director; Mariam Shatberashvili, producers (MUBI)
The Worst Person In The World
Joachim Trier, director; Thomas Robsham, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, producers (NEON)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter (Netflix) *WINNER
Edson Oda for Nine Days (Sony Pictures Classics)
Rebecca Hall for Passing (Netflix)
Emma Seligman for Shiva Baby (Utopia Distribution)
Shatara Michelle Ford for Test Pattern (Kino Lorber)
Best Screenplay
The Card Counter, Paul Schrader (Focus Features)
El Planeta, Amalia Ulman (Utopia Distribution)
The Green Knight, David Lowery (A24)
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Netflix) *WINNER
Passing, Rebecca Hall (Netflix)
Red Rocket, Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch (A24)
Outstanding Lead Performance (TIE)
Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter (Netflix) *WINNER
Frankie Faison in The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain (Gravitas Ventures) *WINNER
Michael Greyeyes in Wild Indian (Vertical Entertainment)
Brittany S. Hall in Test Pattern (Kino Lorber)
Oscar Isaac in The Card Counter (Focus Features)
Taylour Paige in Zola (A24)
Joaquin Phoenix in C’mon C’mon (A24)
Simon Rex in Red Rocket (A24)
Lili Taylor in Paper Spiders (Entertainment Squad)
Tessa Thompson in Passing (Netflix)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Reed Birney in Mass (Bleecker Street)
Jessie Buckley in The Lost Daughter (Netflix)
Colman Domingo in Zola (A24)
Gaby Hoffmann in C’mon C’mon (A24)
Troy Kotsur in CODA (Apple) *WINNER
Marlee Matlin in CODA (Apple)
Ruth Negga in Passing (Netflix)
Breakthrough Performer
Emilia Jones in CODA (Apple) *WINNER
Natalie Morales in Language Lessons (Shout! Studios)
Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby (Utopia Distribution)
Suzanna Son in Red Rocket (A24)
Amalia Ulman in El Planeta (Utopia Distribution)
Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes)
The Good Lord Bird, Ethan Hawke, Mark Richard, creators; James McBride, Brian Taylor, Ryan Hawke, Ethan Hawke, Jason Blum, Albert Hughes, Mark Richard, Marshall Persinger, David Schiff, executive producers (Showtime)
It’s A Sin, Russell T Davies, creator; Russell T Davies, Peter Hoar, Nicola Shindler, executive producers (HBO Max)
Small Axe, Steve McQueen, creator;Tracey Scoffield, David Tanner, Steve McQueen, executive producers (Amazon Studios)
Squid Game, Kim Ji-yeon, Hwang Dong-hyu, executive producers (Netflix) *WINNER
The Underground Railroad, Barry Jenkins, Colson Whitehead, creators; Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Hoyt, executive producers (Amazon Studios)
The White Lotus, Mike White, creator; Mike White, David Bernad, Nick Hall, executive producers (HBO Max/HBO)
Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes)
Blindspotting, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, creators; Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Ken Lee, Tim Palen, Emily Gerson Saines, Seith Mann, executive producers (STARZ)
Hacks, Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky, creators; Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, Michael Schur, David Miner, Morgan Sackett, executive producers (HBO Max/HBO)
Reservation Dogs, Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi, creators; Taika Waititi, Sterlin Harjo, Garrett Basch, executive producers (FX) *WINNER
Run the World, Leigh Davenport, creator; Yvette Lee Bowser, Leigh Davenport, Nastaran Dibai,executive producers (STARZ)
We Are Lady Parts, Nida Manzoor, creator, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Mark Freeland, executive producers (Peacock)
Breakthrough Nonfiction Series
City So Real, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Alex Kotlowitz, Gordon Quinn, Betsy Steinberg, Jolene Pinder, executive producers (National Geographic)
Exterminate All the Brutes, Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
How To with John Wilson, John Wilson, creator; Nathan Fielder, John Wilson, Michael Koman, Clark Reinking, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
Philly D.A., Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar, creators; Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, Patty Quillin, executive producers (Topic, Independent Lens, PBS) *WINNER
Pride, Christine Vachon, Sydney Foos, Danny Gabai, Kama Kaina, Stacy Scripter, Alex Stapleton (FX)
Outstanding Performance in a New Series (TIE)
Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus (HBO Max/HBO)
Michael Greyeyes in Rutherford Falls (Peacock)
Ethan Hawke in The Good Lord Bird (Showtime) *WINNER
Devery Jacobs in Reservation Dogs (FX)
Lee Jung-jae in Squid Game (Netflix)
Thuso Mbedu in The Underground Railroad (Amazon Studios) *WINNER
Jean Smart in Hacks (HBO Max/HBO
Omar Sy in Lupin (Netflix)
Anya Taylor-Joy in The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
Anjana Vasan in We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)
Steve Pond contributed to this report.
