"The Gothams have always prided themselves on being the starting gun for awards season, but in recent years, an event created to spotlight independent film has leaned further into its status as an essential stop on the Oscars pole dance. Two years ago, the Gothams removed their budget cap, allowing films that cost over $35 million to compete for the first time."
"But while the Gothams' organizers seemingly aspire to become the East Coast's version of the Critics' Choice Awards, the awards themselves are still determined by small panels of insiders, and many of them haven't gotten the memo. Hence the strange disconnect at the December 1 ceremony. The dining room at Cipriani Wall Street was absolutely jam-packed with A-listers."
"None of them won. Instead, the Gotham juries gravitated, as they often do, to the tiniest films in the race. The knock-on effect was that all three of the night's acting winners - Sope Dirisu of the British/Nigerian film My Father's Shadow, Wunmi Mosaku of Sinners, and Guinean newcomer Abou Sangaré of the French"
The Gotham Awards began as an indie-film starting point but have increasingly positioned themselves as an Oscar-season stop, removing a $35 million budget cap to allow larger films to compete. Tribute awards that once honored obscure New York indie figures now include major blockbusters and studio contenders. Tension emerged between the event's indie roots and its new, awards-circuit ambitions, shown in off-microphone moments defending independent credentials. Organizers aim for broader prestige, yet small insider juries still pick tiny, international films, producing a jarring mismatch between a star-packed audience and the actual winners.
Read at Vulture
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