Past Lives comes up victorious at Gotham Awards 2023 for Best Feature … while Charles Melton and Lily Gladstone claim night’s biggest acting honors

Past Lives was named Best Feature Film at the Gotham Awards in New York City on Monday at Cipriani Wall Street, while Lily Gladstone and Charles Melton walked away with top acting honors that night.

“It’s such an honor,” Past Lives writer and director Celine Song said in her acceptance speech Variety. “Thank you, Gotham, for this award. It really means that the world is receiving it with my debut set in New York City, a city I live and love very much.”

Song – who was joined on stage by the film’s Greta Lee and John Magaro – thanked her collaborators at A24, as well as the film’s cast and crew.

Gladstone won Outstanding Lead Performance for The Unknown Country, while Melton won Outstanding Supporting Performance for May December.

A Thousand and One director AV Rockwell won the Breakthrough Director Award.

Song said in her acceptance speech, “Thank you, Gotham, for this award. It really means that the world receives it with my debut set in New York City, a city I live in and love very much.”

Anatomy of a Fall claimed Best International Feature Film and Best Screenplay, while Four Daughters won Best Documentary.

The Netflix series Beef won two awards for Breakthrough Series – Under 40 minutes; and outstanding performance in a new series for Ali Wong.

A Small Light won honors for Breakthrough Series – In 40 Minutes.

All of Us Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh, received the most nominations with four, but won no awards; Past Lives and One Thousand and One had three each.

A number of other films were honored Monday night in New York City with standalone awards, including Barbie, which was awarded the Global Icon & Creator Tribute; Ferrari, which took home the Icon & Creator Tribute for Innovation; and Air, who received the Visionary Icon & Creator Tribute.

Sky writer Alex Convery said this according to The Hollywood Reporter“The film is really about knowing your worth and fighting for it, and this is something we experienced firsthand as artists as we walked the picket lines for over 200 days this summer.

“It was long and grueling, but we survived and we showed the world that we know our worth.”

Other honors included Maestro, who was named with the Cultural Icon & Creator Tribute; Rustin, which received the Cultural Icon & Creator Tribute for Social Justice; and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was awarded the Gotham Historical Icon & Creator Tribute.

Lily Gladstone won the award for Outstanding Lead Performance for The Unknown Country

She was pictured with her costar in Killers of the Flower Moon costar Leonardo DiCaprio

Actor Charles Melton, 32, won Outstanding Supporting Performance for May December

The actor played the role of Joe Yoo in director Todd Haynes’ dramatic comedy

Killers of the Flower Moon actor Robert De Niro introduced the award for director Martin Scorsese

Killers of the Flower Moon actor Robert De Niro introduced the award for director Martin Scorsese.

In a speech that made headlines after De Niro claimed organizers were trying to “edit” it, the veteran actor contradicted former President Donald Trump.

“Truth is not truth, and facts are being replaced by conspiracy theories,” De Niro said. ‘Lying has become a tool in the charlatan’s arsenal. The former president has lied to us more than 30,000 times in the past four years, and he continues to do so in his campaign of retaliation. With all his lies he cannot hide his soul.’

“He attacks the weak, destroys nature’s gifts and shows disrespect by using Pocahontas as a slur, for example.”

According to Variety, organizers at the Gotham Film and Media Institute have changed the eligibility criteria for the annual awards show, which typically focuses on honoring independent films.

A $35 million budget cap for potential newcomers was lifted. Two years ago, the Big Apple-based awards show removed categories divided by gender.