Everything Everywhere All at Once was the big winner at the 2022 Gotham Awards.
The film, which went into the night up for three awards, was named best feature during the event Monday at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Everything Everywhere actor Ke Huy Quan also won best supporting performance for his work in the film.
Accepting best feature, Everything Everywhere co-director Daniel Kwan spoke about his experience of releasing the film over the past year.
“One of the biggest things I learned about this year is the trauma that the people all around our country and all around the world are dealing with right now. Everyone is dealing with some sort of trauma,” Kwan said. “I’ve met so many people after screenings who have revealed that trauma to me because of the nature of our film, and one of the things I’m realizing now is that trauma [is]… the most important thing for us to be dealing with right now because trauma shrinks the imagination and we get trapped in the past. Right now if we’re going to endure the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years together, we’re going to have to heal that trauma collectively. We’re going to have to figure out how to open up the collective imagination and we’re going to have to figure out how to all be whole, emotionally talented, kind, resilient people.”
Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler won the award for best lead performance but wasn’t able to attend the show, so her director Chinonye Chukwu accepted the award on her behalf and read some remarks Deadwyler prepared.
Since last year, the Gotham Awards has recognized performers in gender-neutral categories.
Tár went into Monday night with a leading five film nominations, followed by Aftersun with four nominations. The Inspection and Women Talking each scored three nominations.
While The Inspection and Women Talking didn’t win any awards, Tár won for best screenplay and Aftersun helmer Charlotte Wells won the breakthrough director award.
On the TV side, Mo and Pachinko won the breakthrough series honors, and Ben Whishaw won the award for outstanding performance in a new series for his work in This Is Going to Hurt. We Need to Talk About Cosby won for breakthrough nonfiction series.
In addition to the competitive awards, the Gotham Awards honored a number of individuals with tributes, including Adam Sandler, Michelle Williams, the cast of Fire Island, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Audible founder Don Katz, Focus execs Peter Kujawski and Jason Cassidy and, posthumously, Sidney Poitier.
Paul Dano presented his Fabelmans co-star Williams with her honor and indicated that he was filling in for Steven Spielberg because he has COVID. A source close to the director confirmed Spielberg tested positive for COVID-19 and is missing some publicity activities today and tomorrow.
Recalling a recent conversation he had with Williams about being young actors in Hollywood, Dano said he thought, “Imagine if that teenage girl knew that at the midpoint of her career she’d be receiving a tribute award at the Gothams from none other than Steven Spielberg, and what would she have thought?”
He later added: “And then I thought, ‘Well, what if we had to tell that girl that Steven got COVID?’ She’d be like, ‘What’s COVID?’ and that ‘Paul Dano was going to introduce you?’ She’d be like, ‘Who the fuck is Paul Dano?’ ”
During the Poitier honor, presenter Jonathan Majors announced the creation of the Gotham Sidney Poitier Initiative, which he called “an ambitious set of programs” that aim to expand on Poitier’s legacy to support the next generation of filmmakers, through the pillars of mentorship, scholarship, project funding and career advancement.
The Safdie brothers presented Sandler with his tribute, having the unfortunate distinction of following the Poitier tribute.
Recalling how they were fans of Sandler’s from a young age, even saying they listened to Sandler’s first comedy record at the ages of 7 and 9, the Safdie brothers praised the comedian’s “surreal characters [he] made real” and said he could “go to toe-to-toe with Daniel Day-Lewis and Jerry Lewis.”
Taking the stage, Sandler expressed that he thought it was absurd he’d have to follow the “beautiful” Poitier tribute, recalling how he met Poitier a few times and he was “the nicest and funniest guy.”
Then, delivering a speech that he claimed his daughters wrote, Sandler said this honor means a lot because most of his awards look like popcorn containers (the MTV Movie & TV Awards), blimps (the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards) or fake Oscars that read “father of the year.” The girls, via Sandler, also apologized for his beard and said that while they wanted to be there Sandler said he didn’t want them to spend the whole night looking for Timothée Chalamet. Instead the girls claimed they were doing everything they can’t do when he’s at home, including “laugh[ing] out loud at Ben Stiller movies.”
“The last time daddy caught us chuckling away at the Meet the Parents trilogy,” Sandler said, continuing to read his daughters’ speech, “He immediately stormed into the room he calls ‘The Screaming Room,’ which we just call ‘the shower,’ and bellowed out the phrase, ‘Only the Sandman makes people laugh. Fuck every other comedian.’”
As the speech reflected on the origins of Sandler’s film career, his daughters recalled that the principles behind it included thinking, “People in prison need movies too and TBS needs content.”
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Jesse Tyler Ferguson presented the Fire Island team with their honor.
Accepting for the ensemble, writer-actor Joel Kim Booster said in part, “So many of the movies about our community that win awards have been about our trauma and I’m so deeply grateful to be standing here accepting this award for a movie about our joy, the joy that can come from surrounding yourself with a group of people who understand you on a cellular level.”
Focus’ tribute was presented by the directors of two of the company’s most recent releases, Armageddon Time‘s James Gray and Tár‘s Todd Field, who spoke about the origins of the company and films released over its 20-year history, even jokingly pitching a Downton Abbey sequel, Field said, “if only to offset the box office of both of our films.” For his part, Gray, who departed from prepared remarks, passionately called Kujawski and Cassidy “heroes.” In his acceptance speech, Kujawski said he wanted to honor “interdependence,” saying the Focus execs would are “only here because of our interconnected community.” He thanked Universal filmed entertainment chairman Donna Langley, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts; the other “leaders” at Focus, who Field also referenced; and other specialty film companies. Of their fellow indies, Kujawski said he was “grateful we’re in this together” and honored what he called “soldiers of things that need to be done. … Your wins are our wins.”
Kathryn Bigelow presented the director tribute to Prince-Bythewood.
After praising Bigelow for inspiring her in her career, Prince-Bythewood reflected on the “struggle” and “sustained fight” she’s gone through as she’s made films.
“There’s this thing female directors and black directors talk about. We are so often asked about the struggle and the fight to get our films made but we are rarely asked about the craft of making it, the research, the world-building, building performances, lens choices,” she said. “The struggle is absolutely real. I’ve been in a sustained fight for 20 years to center Black women in my work. As a filmmaker, I write and direct what I want to see and yet we also make films for an audience and I fight to stretch that audience. In a climate where critical race theory, Black history and Black women are seen as a threat or invisible, I want us to see ourselves as beautiful, heroic, vulnerable, bad-ass, complicated, worthy of love. But more so I need these truths to be reflected back to the world.”
Recent Gotham Award winners have included Oscar winners Drive My Car, Nomadland, Marriage Story, American Factory, Moonlight and CODA‘s Troy Kotsur.
A complete list of this year’s winners follows.
Best Feature
Aftersun
Charlotte Wells, director; Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, producers (A24)
The Cathedral
Ricky D’Ambrose, director; Graham Swon, producer (MUBI)
Dos Estaciones
Juan Pablo González, director; Ilana Coleman, Jamie Gonçalves, Bruna Haddad, Makena Buchanan, producers (Cinema Guild)
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, directors; Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, producers (A24) (WINNER)
Tár
Todd Field, director; Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, Todd Field, producers (Focus Features)
Best Documentary Feature
All That Breathes
Shaunak Sen, director; Aman Mann, Shaunak Sen, Teddy Leifer producers (A Sideshow & Submarine Deluxe Release in Association with HBO Documentary Films) (WINNER)
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Laura Poitras, director; Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov, Laura Poitras, producers (NEON)
I Didn’t See You There
Reid Davenport, director; Keith Wilson, producer (RePort Media)
The Territory
Alex Pritz, director; Alex Pritz, Darren Aronofsky, Sigrid Dyekjær, Will N. Miller, Gabriel Uchida, Lizzie Gillett, producers (National Geographic Documentary Films)
What We Leave Behind
Iliana Sosa, director; Emma D. Miller, Isidore Bethel, producers (ARRAY)
Best International Feature
Athena
Romain Gavras, director; Romain Gavras, Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar, Jean Duhamel, Nicolas Lhermitte, Ladj Ly, producers (Netflix)
The Banshees of Inisherin
Martin McDonagh, director; Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh, producers (Searchlight Pictures)
Corsage
Marie Kreutzer, director; Alexander Glehr, Johanna Scherz, Bernard Michaux, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade, Jean-Christophe Reymond, producers (IFC Films)
Decision to Leave
Park Chan-wook, director and producer (MUBI)
Happening
Audrey Diwan, director; Edouard Weil, Alice Girard producers (IFC Films) (WINNER)
Saint Omer
Alice Diop, director; Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral, producers (Super LTD)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Charlotte Wells for Aftersun (A24) (WINNER)
Owen Kline for Funny Pages (A24)
Elegance Bratton for The Inspection (A24)
Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic for Murina (Kino Lorber)
Beth de Araújo for Soft & Quiet (Momentum Pictures / eOne)
Jane Schoenbrun for We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Utopia)
Best Screenplay
After Yang, Kogonada (A24)
Armageddon Time, James Gray (Focus Features)
Catherine Called Birdy, Lena Dunham (Amazon Studios)
Tár, Todd Field (Focus Features) (WINNER)
Women Talking, Sarah Polley, based upon the book by Miriam Toews (United Artists Releasing / Orion Pictures)
Outstanding Lead Performance
Cate Blanchett in Tár (Focus Features)
Danielle Deadwyler in Till (United Artists Releasing / Orion Pictures) (WINNER)
Dale Dickey in A Love Song (Bleecker Street)
Colin Farrell in After Yang (A24)
Brendan Fraser in The Whale (A24)
Paul Mescal in Aftersun (A24)
Thandiwe Newton in God’s Country (IFC Films)
Aubrey Plaza in Emily the Criminal (Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment)
Taylor Russell in Bones and All (United Artists Releasing / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Jessie Buckley in Women Talking (United Artists Releasing / Orion Pictures)
Raúl Castillo in The Inspection (A24)
Hong Chau in The Whale (A24)
Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway (Apple TV+)
Nina Hoss in Tár (Focus Features)
Noémie Merlant in Tár (Focus Features)
Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) (WINNER)
Mark Rylance in Bones and All (United Artists Releasing / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)
Gabrielle Union in The Inspection (A24)
Ben Whishaw in Women Talking (United Artists Releasing / Orion Pictures)
Breakthrough Performer
Anna Cobb in We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Utopia)
Frankie Corio in Aftersun (A24)
Anna Diop in Nanny (Amazon Studios and Blumhouse)
Gracija Filipovic in Murina (Kino Lorber) (WINNER)
Kali Reis in Catch the Fair One (IFC Films)
Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes)
Abbott Elementary, Quinta Brunson, creator; Quinta Brunson, Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumaker, Randall Einhorn, executive producers (ABC)
As We See It, Jason Katims, creator; Jason Katims, Jeni Mulein, Dana Idisis, Yuval Shafferman, Udi Segal, Amit Gitelzon, Shlomit Arvis, Danna Stern, executive producers (Prime Video)
Mo, Mohammed Amer, Ramy Youssef, creators; Mohammed Amer, Ramy Youssef, Ravi Nandan, Hallie Sekoff, Solvan “Slick” Naim, Harris Danow, Luvh Rakhe, executive producers (Netflix) (WINNER)
Rap Sh!t, Issa Rae, creator; Issa Rae, Syreeta Singleton, Montrel McKay, Deniese Davis, Dave Becky, Jonathan Berry, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
Somebody Somewhere, Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen, creators; Bridget Everett, Carolyn Strauss, Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen, Patricia Breen, Tyler Romary, executive producers (HBO Max)
Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes)
Pachinko, Soo Hugh, creator; Soo Hugh, Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Theresa Kang-Lowe, Richard Middleton, Kogonada, Justin Cho, executive producers (Apple TV+) (WINNER)
Severance, Dan Erickson, creator; Ben Stiller, Nicholas Weinstock, Jackie Cohn, Mark Friedman, Dan Erickson, Andrew Colville, Chris Black, John Cameron, executive producers (Apple TV+)
Station Eleven, Patrick Somerville, creator; Patrick Somerville, Jessica Rhoades, Scott Steindorff, Dylan Russell, Scott Delman, Jeremy Podeswa, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
This Is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay, creator; Naomi De Pear, James Farrell, Jane Featherstone, Adam Kay, Ben Whishaw, executive producers (AMC+ in association with BBC)
Yellowjackets, Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, creators; Jonathan Lisco, Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Drew Comins, Karyn Kusama, executive producers (SHOWTIME)
Outstanding Performance in a New Series
Bilal Baig in Sort Of (HBO Max/HBO)
Ayo Edebiri in The Bear (FX)
Janelle James in Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Minha Kim in Pachinko (Apple TV+)
Matilda Lawler in Station Eleven (HBO/HBO Max)
Britt Lower in Severance (HBO/HBO Max)
Melanie Lynskey in Yellowjackets (SHOWTIME)
Zahn McClarnon in Dark Winds (AMC & AMC+)
Sue Ann Pien in As We See It (Prime Video)
Ben Whishaw in This Is Going to Hurt (AMC+ in association with BBC) (WINNER)
Breakthrough Nonfiction Series
The Andy Warhol Diaries, Alexis Martin Woodall, Scott Robertson, Andrew Rossi, Stanley Buchthal, Josh Braun, Ryan Murphy, executive producers; Maya E. Rudolph, producer; Andrew Rossi, director (Netflix)
The Last Movie Stars, Martin Scorsese, Amy Entelis, Courtney Sexton, executive producers; Adam Gibbs, Ryan Hawke, Emily Wachtel, Lisa Long Adler, producers; Ethan Hawke, director (HBO Max/CNN Films)
Mind over Murder, Nanfu Wang, creator and director; Marc Smerling, Nanfu Wang, Max Heckman, Chad Mumm, Mark W. Olsen, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez, executive producers (HBO/HBO Max)
The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder, creator and director; Nathan Fielder, Dave Paige, Dan McManus, Christie Smith, executive producers (HBO Max)
We Need to Talk About Cosby, W. Kamau Bell, creator and director; W. Kamau Bell, Andrew Fried, Katie A. King, Vinnie Malhotra, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma, Jordan Wynn, executive producers (SHOWTIME) (WINNER)
This story was first published on Nov. 28 at 4:15 p.m.
