Yes, yes, it might only be October, but awards season? It’s here. Early out of the gate: the 2025 Gotham Film Award nominees, honoring “visionary talent in front of and behind the camera.” With the ceremony traditionally taking place the first week of December, the Gothams are the first major awards event of the season, and its nominees can provide some valuable insight into what films and talents are already rising to the top.
This year’s nominees are led by Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” which picked up six nominations. Other standouts include “Train Dreams,” “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” “Sorry, Baby,” “East of Wall,” “Familiar Touch,” “Hamnet,” “It Was Just an Accident,” and a number of other indies.
In announcing this year’s nominations, Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute, said: “This year’s nominees celebrate an extraordinary year of cinematic achievement — one defined by bold, original storytelling, festival breakouts, and filmmakers whose independent vision extends across studios and streamers. This year’s Gotham nominees, and our Gotham Tributes, reflect the year’s most accomplished filmmakers and performers and embody the community that has defined The Gothams for 35 years.”
For the first time in its history, this year’s batch of Gotham nominees includes 10 Best Feature picks. In previous years, the category only included five nominees, but the category was expanded for the 2025 season to include up to 10 nominees. Also of note, there are handful of films that didn’t make the cut because they were not submitted for consideration, including two recent NYFF premieres, Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” and Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On?,” which were not completed in time to share with the full nomination committee pool.
Nominees are chosen by committees of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and other film industry professionals will determine the final Gothams recipients. (This year’s nominating committees included IndieWire Editorial Director Kate Erbland and Chief Film Critic David Ehrlich.)
The Gothams have already announced a slew of special awards to be presented at this year’s ceremony, including the Director Tribute for Noah Baumbach (in honor of his latest, “Jay Kelly”), a Spotlight Tribute for “Hedda” star and producer Tessa Thompson, the Vanguard Tribute for Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” and an Ensemble Tribute for the cast of “Sinners.”
Winners of the 35th Annual Gotham Film Awards will be honored at the awards ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on Monday, December 1.
The full list of nominees for this year’s Gotham Awards is as follows:
Best Feature
“Bugonia” (Focus Features) — Ari Aster, Ed Guiney, Lars Knudsen, Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, Yorgos Lanthimos, Miky Lee, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, producers
“East of Wall” (Sony Pictures Classics) — Kate Beecroft, Shannon Moss, Melanie Ramsayer, Lila Yacoub, producers
“Familiar Touch” (Music Box Films) — Alexandra Byer, Sarah Friedland, Matthew Thurm, producers
“Hamnet” (Focus Features) — Nicolas Gonda, Pippa Harris, Liza Marshall, Sam Mendes, Steven Spielberg, producers
“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (A24) — Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Richie Doyle, Conor Hannon, Sara Murphy, Josh Safdie, Ryan Zacarias, producers
“Lurker” (Mubi) — Galen Core, Archie Madekwe, Marc Marrie, Charlie McDowell, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky, Olmo Schnabel, Jack Selby, producers
“One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures) — Paul Thomas Anderson, Sara Murphy, Adam Somner, producers
“Sorry, Baby” (A24) — Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, producers
“The Testament of Ann Lee” (Searchlight Pictures) — Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold, Joshua Horsfield, Gregory Jankilevitsch, Mark Lampert, Lillian LaSalle, Andrew Morrison, Viktória Petrányi, Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska, producers
“Train Dreams” (Netflix) — Michael Heimler, Will Janowitz, Marissa McMahon, Ashley Schlaifer, Teddy Schwarzman, producers
Best International Feature
“It Was Just an Accident” (Neon) — Philippe Martin, Jafar Panahi, producers
“No Other Choice” (Neon) — Park Chan-wook, Alexandre Gavras, Michèle Ray Gavras, Back Jisun, producers
“Nouvelle Vague” (Netflix) — Laurent Pétin, Michèle Pétin, producers
“Resurrection” (Janus Films) — Charles Gillibert, Yang Lele, Shan Zuolong, producers
“Sound of Falling” (Mubi) — Lucas Schmidt, Maren Schmitt, producers
Best Documentary Feature
“2000 Meters to Andriivka” (PBS) — directed by Mstyslav Chernov; Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, producers
“BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” (Rich Spirit) — directed by Kahlil Joseph; Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph, David Linde, Anikah McLaren, James Shani, Steven Soderbergh, producers
“My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow” (self-distributed) — directed and produced by Julia Loktev
“The Perfect Neighbor” (Netflix) — directed by Geeta Gandbhir; Sam Bisbee, Geeta Gandbhir, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne, producers
“Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” (Kino Lorber) — directed by Sepideh Farsi; Javad Djavahery, Sepideh Farsi, producers
Best Director
Mary Bronstein, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (A24)
Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident” (Neon)
Kelly Reichardt, “The Mastermind” (Mubi)
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Oliver Laxe, “Sirât” (Neon)
Best Original Screenplay
“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (A24) — written by Mary Bronstein
“It Was Just an Accident” (Neon) — written by Jafar Panahi
“The Secret Agent” (Neon) — written by Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Sorry, Baby” (A24) — written by Eva Victor
“Sound of Falling” (Mubi) — written by Louise Peter, Mascha Schilinski
Best Adapted Screenplay
“No Other Choice” (Neon) — written by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee, Don McKellar
“One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures) — written by Paul Thomas Anderson
“Pillion” (A24) — written by Harry Lighton
“Preparation for the Next Life” (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios) — written by Martyna Majok
“Train Dreams” (Netflix) — written by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
Breakthrough Director
Constance Tsang, “Blue Sun Palace” (Mubi)
Carson Lund, “Eephus” (Music Box Films)
Sarah Friedland, “Familiar Touch” (Music Box Films)
Akinola Davies Jr., “My Father’s Shadow” (Mubi)
Harris Dickinson, “Urchin” (1-2 Special)
Outstanding Lead Performance
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet” (Focus Features)
Lee Byung-hun, “No Other Choice” (Neon)
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (A24)
Sopé Dìrísù, “My Father’s Shadow” (Mubi)
Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Jennifer Lawrence, “Die My Love” (Mubi)
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent” (Neon)
Josh O’Connor, “The Mastermind” (Mubi)
Amanda Seyfried, “The Testament of Ann Lee” (Searchlight Pictures)
Tessa Thompson, “Hedda” (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein” (Netflix)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value” (Neon)
Indya Moore, “Father Mother Sister Brother” (Mubi)
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Adam Sandler, “Jay Kelly” (Netflix)
Andrew Scott, “Blue Moon” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Alexander Skarsgård, “Pillion” (A24)
Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value” (Neon)
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Breakthrough Performer
A$AP Rocky, “Highest 2 Lowest” (A24)
Sebiye Behtiyar, “Preparation for the Next Life” (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Abou Sangaré, “Souleymane’s Story” (Kino Lorber)
Tonatiuh, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate/LD Entertainment)
Nominating Committees for The Gothams were:
Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Best International Feature
Peter Debruge, Chief Film Critic, Variety
Justin Chang, Film Critic, The New Yorker
Kate Erbland, Editorial Director, IndieWire
David Fear, Senior Film Critic, Rolling Stone
Tomris Laffly, Freelance
Nominating Committee for Best Documentary Feature
Eric Hynes, Film Curation and Programming, Jacob Burns Film Center
Eric Kohn, Artistic Director, Southampton Playhouse
Karen McMullen, Senior Programmer, Features and Shorts, DOC NYC
Tania Ahmadi, Editor Director & Curator, Docunight
Sky Sitney, Festival Director and Co-Founder DC/DOX
Nominating Committee for Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay
Tim Grierson, Senior U.S. Critic, Screen International
Jon Frosch, Reviews Editor and Film Critic, The Hollywood Reporter
Monica Castillo, Critic and Film Programmer, Freelance
Carlos Aguilar, Freelance
Esther Zuckerman, Freelance
Nominating Committee for Best Director and Breakthrough Director
David Ehrlich, Head Critic and Reviews Editor, IndieWire
Guy Lodge, Film Critic, Variety
Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer, Associated Press
Beatrice Loayza, Film Critic, Freelance
Brittany Luse, Host of NPR’s It’s Been A Minute
Nominating Committee for Outstanding Lead Performance, Outstanding Supporting Performance, and Breakthrough Performer
Brian Tallerico, Managing Editor, RobertEbert.com
Robert Daniels, Associate Editor, RobertEbert.com
Douglas Greenwood, Entertainment Editor, i-D; Contributor to GQ Magazine and New York Magazine
Alison Wilmore, Film Critic, New York Magazine
Jourdain Searles, Critic, The Hollywood Reporter