Celine Song’s Past Lives, a drama film following the relationship between two childhood friends over the course of 24 years won Best Feature award at the 33rd Gotham Awards.
Past Lives follows two deeply connected childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) who are wrested apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny. Here is Song’s acceptance speech:
Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won Best International Feature along with Best Screenplay. The French courtroom thriller stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death.
Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters won for Best Documentary Feature. The documentary reconstructs the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and performance to examine how the Tunisian woman’s two eldest were radicalized.
A.V. Rockwell won the the Breakthrough Director Award for A Thousand and One. The drama stars Teyana Taylor as unapologetic and free-spirited Inez who kidnaps her six-year-old son, Terry, from the foster care system.
Winners of the 2023 Gotham Awards
Best Feature
Past Lives
Celine Song, director; David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)
Outstanding Lead Performance
Lily Gladstone
The Unknown Country (Music Box Films)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Charles Melton
May December (Netflix)
Breakthrough Director Award
A.V. Rockwell
A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
Breakthrough Series – Over 40 minutes
A Small Light
Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, creator; Susanna Fogel, William Harper, Avi Nir, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Lisa Roos, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, executive producers (National Geographic)
Breakthrough Series – Under 40 minutes
Beef
Lee Sung Jin, creator; Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Jake Schreier, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, executive producers (Netflix)
Outstanding Performance in a New Series
Ali Wong
Beef (Netflix)
Best Documentary Feature
Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania, director; Nadim Cheikhrouha, producer (Kino Lorber)
Best International Feature
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, director; Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion, producers (Neon)
Best Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (Neon)