‘Moonrise Kingdom,’ ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ Lead Gotham Award Winners
The 22nd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were handed out tonight in New York, and Indiewire has a complete list of winners. The ceremony was hosted by “Sleepwalk With Me” director and star Mike Birbiglia (whose opening monologue didn’t exactly win over the crowd at the ceremony).
The first award of the night went to “Artifact” — Jared Leto’s doc on his band 30 Second To Mars. The film won the audience award, and Leto accepted the award, stating first that he felt it was strange his film won over something as special as “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”
“Don’t hate me because I won, I love that other film too,” Leto said.
Lucky for Leto, “Beasts” took home the award for Breakthrough Director immediately following the singer-actor’s win, for its helmer Benh Zeitlin.
“Beasts” did lose out on the next award, though. Many expected its young star Quvenzhané Wallis to take the breakthrough actor award, but she was beat out by another actress from a Sundance Film Festival hit, Emayatzy Corinealdi from “Middle of Nowhere.”
“Our journey from Sundance to the Gothams has been nothing but a fairy tale for me,” Corinealdi said onstage, quite emotionally.
“Your Sister’s Sister” also surprised later in the ceremony, beating out the likes of “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Silver Linings Playbook” for best ensemble performance thanks to its trio of actors in Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass and Emily Blunt.
Following a tribute to “Rust and Bone” star Marion Cotillard, Sundance fave “How to Survive a Plague” won one of the year’s first awards in the documentary race, beating out “Detropia” and the much buzzed-about doc “Room 237.”
Finally, Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” won the night’s biggest honor, best feature. The film beat out “The Master” and “Middle of Nowhere” and followed in the footsteps of recent winners like “The Tree of Life,” “Beginners” (which tied last year), and “Winter’s Bone.”
A complete list of winners on the next page.
Best Feature: “Moonrise Kingdom”
Best Documentary: “How To Survive a Plague”
Best Ensemble Performance: “Your Sister’s Sister” (Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass)
Breakthrough Director: Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Breakthrough Actor: Emayatzy Corinealdi, “Middle of Nowhere”
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty”
Audience Choice Award: “Artifact”
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