Gotham Awards Names ‘Nomadland’ Best Feature; Riz Ahmed And Nicole Beharie Take Top Acting Honors

There were a couple of big surprises at last night’s Gotham Awards. They don’t come at the top, however, where Nomadland has scored another big win for Best Feature. Chloe Zhao’s drama also took the Audience Award, and while the Gothams aren’t necessarily an Oscars indicator, it definitely keeps the momentum going.

So the shocks, at least in my opinion, are in the acting categories. Riz Ahmed, who has been receiving tremendous acclaim for his performance as a newly-deaf man in Sound of Metal, won the Best Actor award. Nicole Beharie dazzled audiences with her role in the charming Miss Juneteenth and won for Best Actress. While I’m sure Ahmed will be in the final discussion when the Oscars come around, Beharie may have put herself in contention, as well.

The full list of winners is below:

BEST FEATURE

The Assistant
First Cow
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland – ***WINNER***
Relic

BEST DOCUMENTARY

76 Days
City Hall
Our Time Machine
A Thousand Cuts – ***WINNER*** (TIE)
Time – ***WINNER*** (TIE)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Bacurau
Beanpole
Cuties (Mignonnes)
Identifying Features – ***WINNER***
Martin Eden
Wolfwalkers

BEST ACTOR

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

BEST ACTRESS

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

BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR

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

BEST SCREENPLAY

Bad Education, Mike Makowsky
First Cow, Jon Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank – ***WINNER*** (TIE)
Fourteen, Dan Sallitt – ***WINNER*** (TIE)
The Vast of Night, James Montague, Craig Sanger

BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD

Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
Channing Godfrey Peoples, Miss Juneteenth
Alex Thompson, Saint Frances
Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Swallow
Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night – ***WINNER***

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES (OVER 40 MINUTES)

The Great
Immigration Nation
P-Valley
Unorthodox
Watchmen – ***WINNER***

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES (UNDER 40 MINUTES)

Betty
Dave
I May Destroy You – ***WINNER***
Taste the Nation
Work in Progress

AUDIENCE AWARD

76 Days
The Assistant
Bacurau
Beanpole
City Hall
Cuties
First Cow
The 40-Year-Old Version
Identifying Features
Martin Eden
Miss Juneteenth
Never Rarely, Sometimes Always
Nomadland – ***WINNER***
Our Time Machine
Relic
Saint Francis
Swallow
A Thousand Cuts
Time
The Vast of Night
Wolfwalkers

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.