Gotham Awards 2021: Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Lost Daughter Takes Top Prize

There are only two distinct seasons for invested moviegoers: Oscars season, and the wait until Oscars season. We kid (mostly), but the end of the year and the beginning of the next have always served as benchmarks for the most prestigious, award-ready films from the buzziest filmmakers in the business. The Gotham Awards, which held its 31st ceremony last night, has been held as an early awards barometer for lower budget indie films. For example, the Gotham Awards left out movies such as Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog" and Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Tick, Tick... BOOM!" that would otherwise be considered as early contenders, due to their budgets exceeding the $35 million threshold for consideration. Even with that limitation, however, a plethora of films were still nominated for these highly coveted awards.

As a reminder of how reliable a predictor the Gotham Awards can be, last year's event saw the eventual Academy Award Best Picture-winning "Nomadland" walk away with the top prize. This year, according to Variety, the awards favorite turned out to be Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut "The Lost Daughter." The film received the most amount of wins in categories such as Best Feature, Breakthrough Director, Best Screenplay, and Outstanding Lead Performance. In terms of wins for Netflix specifically, the major streamer also picked up a big win for this year's pop culture sensation "Squid Game," winning the prize for Breakthrough Series — Long Form over other nominees that included Amazon and Steve McQueen's "Small Axe" anthology, Amazon's "The Underground Railroad," and HBO's "The White Lotus."

Check out the full list of winners and nominees below.

Best Feature

"The Green Knight" (A24)
"The Lost Daughter" (Netflix) – WINNER
"Passing" (Netflix)
"Pig" (NEON)
"Test Pattern" (Kino Lorber)

Best Documentary Feature

"Ascension" (MTV Documentary Films)
"Faya Dayi" (Janus Films)
"Flee" (NEON) – WINNER
"President" (Greenwich Entertainment)
"Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" (Searchlight Pictures, Onyx Collective, Hulu)

Best International Feature

"Azor" (MUBI)
"Drive My Car" (Sideshow and Janus Films) – WINNER
"The Souvenir Part II" (A24)
"Titane" (NEON)
"What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?" (MUBI)
"The Worst Person in the World" (NEON)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Maggie Gyllenhaal for "The Lost Daughter" (Netflix) – WINNER
Edson Oda for "Nine Days" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Rebecca Hall for "Passing" (Netflix)
Emma Seligman for "Shiva Baby" (Utopia Distribution)
Shatara Michelle Ford for "Test Pattern" (Kino Lorber)

Best Screenplay

"The Card Counter," Paul Schrader (Focus Features)
"El Planeta," Amalia Ulman (Utopia Distribution)
"The Green Knight," David Lowery (A24)
"The Lost Daughter," Maggie Gyllenhaal (Netflix) – WINNER
"Passing," Rebecca Hall (Netflix)
"Red Rocket," Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch (A24)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Olivia Colman in "The Lost Daughter" (Netflix) – WINNER (TIE)
Frankie Faison in "The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain" (Gravitas Ventures) – WINNER (TIE)
Michael Greyeyes in "Wild Indian" (Vertical Entertainment)
Brittany S. Hall in "Test Pattern" (Kino Lorber)
Oscar Isaac in "The Card Counter" (Focus Features)
Taylour Paige in "Zola" (A24)
Joaquin Phoenix in "C'mon C'mon" (A24)
Simon Rex in "Red Rocket" (A24)
Lili Taylor in "Paper Spiders" (Entertainment Squad)
Tessa Thompson in "Passing" (Netflix)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Reed Birney in "Mass" (Bleecker Street)
Jessie Buckley in "The Lost Daughter" (Netflix)
Colman Domingo in "Zola" (A24)
Gaby Hoffmann in "C'mon C'mon" (A24)
Troy Kotsur in "CODA" (Apple) – WINNER
Marlee Matlin in "CODA" (Apple)
Ruth Negga in "Passing" (Netflix)

Breakthrough Performer

Emilia Jones in "CODA" (Apple) – WINNER
Natalie Morales in "Language Lessons" (Shout! Studios)
Rachel Sennott in "Shiva Baby" (Utopia Distribution)
Suzanna Son in "Red Rocket" (A24)
Amalia Ulman in "El Planeta" (Utopia Distribution)

Outstanding Performance in a New Series

Jennifer Coolidge in "The White Lotus" (HBO Max/HBO)
Michael Greyeyes in "Rutherford Falls" (Peacock)
Ethan Hawke in "The Good Lord Bird" (Showtime) – WINNER (TIE)
Devery Jacobs in "Reservation Dogs" (FX)
Lee Jung-jae in "Squid Game" (Netflix)
Thuso Mbedu in "The Underground Railroad" (Amazon Studios) – WINNER (TIE)
Jean Smart in "Hacks" (HBO Max/HBO)
Omar Sy in "Lupin" (Netflix)
Anya Taylor-Joy in "The Queen's Gambit" (Netflix)
Anjana Vasan in "We Are Lady Parts" (Peacock)

Breakthrough Series — Long Form

"The Good Lord Bird" (Showtime)
"It's A Sin" (HBO Max)
"Small Axe" (Amazon Studios)
"Squid Game" (Netflix) – WINNER
"The Underground Railroad" (Amazon Studios)
"The White Lotus" (HBO Max/HBO)

Breakthrough Series — Short Form

"Blindspotting" (STARZ)
"Hacks" (HBO Max/HBO)
"Reservation Dogs" (FX) – WINNER
"Run the World" (STARZ)
"We Are Lady Parts" (Peacock)

Breakthrough Nonfiction Series

"City So Real" (National Geographic)
"Exterminate All the Brutes" (HBO/HBO Max)
"How to With John Wilson" (HBO/HBO Max)
"Philly D.A." (Topic, Independent Lens, PBS) – WINNER
"Pride" (FX)

Jury Award for Ensemble Performance

"The Harder They Fall" — WINNER