Gotham Awards 2020: Riz Ahmed scores Best Actor while 'Nomadland' wins Best Feature

This year's awards season, while a little different to usual, is in full swing

This image released by Amazon Studios shows Riz Ahmed in a scene from "Sound of Metal." Ahmed won a Gotham Award for best actor for his role in the film. (Amazon Studios via AP)
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It might be a more muted start to awards season than usual, but Nomadland certainly has plenty to celebrate.

The drama, starring Frances McDormand, scooped Best Feature Film at the IFP Gotham Awards on Monday, following its four wins at the National Society of Film Critics Awards on Saturday, January 9.

The Chloe Zhao-directed film tells the story of Fern (McDormand), who loses her job in the recession and so sells her belongings following her husband's death and buys a van, embarking upon a journey through America as a nomad.

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Frances McDormand in a scene from the film "Nomadland" by Chloe Zhao. The film won best feature at the Gotham Awards on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (Searchlight Pictures via AP)
Frances McDormand in 'Nomadland', which won Best Feature at the 2020 Gotham Awards. AP

The Gotham Awards are typically seen as a precursor to which titles might find favour at the Oscars. The ceremony, a hybrid live-digital affair broadcast from New York City, was delayed from its usual December spot in the awards season calendar.

Also taking home trophies on the night were British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed, who won Best Actor for his role as a drummer battling hearing loss in Sound of Metal, and Nicole Beharie, who scored the Best Actress nod for her performance in pageant drama Miss Juneteenth.

British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir, meanwhile, was named Breakthrough Actor for his turn in Regina King's One Night in Miami, a film about a fictionalised meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom co-stars Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman were this year's recipients of the Gotham Awards Tribute prize.

In wins announced ahead of the ceremony, Aaron Sorkin's Netflix drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 received the inaugural ensemble tribute for its cast, which features Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, while Steve McQueen received the director's tribute and Nomadland took home the Audience Award.

While there was no glitzy red carpet, presenters – both in-person and virtual – included Hamilton star Renee Elise Goldsberry, actor Michael Shannon and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o.

Here are all the winners announced on the night:

Best Feature

The Assistant

First Cow

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

WINNER: Nomadland

Relic

Best Documentary

76 Days

City Hall

Our Time Machine

WINNER (tie): A Thousand Cuts

WINNER (tie): Time

Best International Feature

Bacurau

Beanpole

Cuties (Mignonnes)

WINNER: Identifying Features

Martin Eden

Wolfwalkers

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version

Channing Godfrey Peoples for Miss Juneteenth

Alex Thompson for Saint Frances

Carlo Mirabella-Davis for Swallow

WINNER: Andrew Patterson for The Vast of Night

Best Screenplay

Bad Education, Mike Makowsky

First Cow, Jon Raymond, Kelly Reichardt

WINNER (tie): The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank

WINNER (tie): Fourteen, Dan Sallitt

The Vast of Night, James Montague, Craig Sanger

Best Actor

WINNER: Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Jude Law in The Nest

John Magaro in First Cow

Jesse Plemons in I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Best Actress

WINNER: Nicole Beharie in Miss Juneteenth

Jessie Buckley in I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari

Carrie Coon in The Nest

Frances McDormand in Nomadland

Breakthrough Actor

Jasmine Batchelor in The Surrogate

WINNER: Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami

Sidney Flanigan in Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Orion Lee in First Cow

Kelly O'Sullivan in Saint Frances

Breakthrough Series — Long Format (over 40 minutes)

The Great

Immigration Nation

P-Valley

Unorthodox

WINNER: Watchmen

Breakthrough Series — Short Format (under 40 minutes)

Betty

Dave

WINNER: I May Destroy You

Taste the Nation

Work in Progress