Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another won the top prize of best feature at the 2025 Gotham Film Awards, and Jafar Panahi had a big night just hours after Iran sentenced the dissident filmmaker to a year in prison in absentia.
Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, won all three awards for which it was nominated at the Gotham Awards.
Accepting his first prize of the evening for best original screenplay, Panahi said in part (via a translator) to applause in the room, “I would like to dedicate the honor of this award to independent filmmakers in Iran and around the world — filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence, without support, and at times by risking everything they have, only with their faith in truth and humanity. I hope that this dedication will be considered a small tribute to all filmmakers who have been deprived of the right to see and to be seen, but continue to create and exist.” He returned to the stage shortly after when It Was Just an Accident won for best international feature. He later won best director.
In the latter speech, he recalled a short film that he made as a student that, in the edit, “turned into nonsense.” He stole and destroyed the dailies so the film would never be released under his name.
“I’m very happy that I made that decision. If I had not done that back then, I would not have been standing here tonight,” he said. “And I am also happy that I did not cut up my last film, that I did not destroy my last film and I am still here tonight.”
Double nominee My Father’s Shadow also swept its categories, winning the two awards for which it was nominated: breakthrough director and lead performance, with an absent Sopé Dìrísù winning over such luminaries as Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) and Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee).
Best supporting performance went to Sinners‘ Wunmi Mosaku, who wasn’t in attendance as she was working, but director Ryan Coogler accepted on her behalf.
Though One Battle After Another won best feature, that was the film’s only win of the night after going into the evening with a record six nominations.
In his best feature acceptance speech, Anderson said he “didn’t expect this, actually.”
He added, trailing off: “I was starting to think — I don’t know what was going on. But this is great.”
And he revealed that the ceremony’s Dec. 1 date had sentimental significance as well, wishing his longtime partner Maya Rudolph a happy anniversary as he recalled, “24 years ago I met a lady who made me a better filmmaker.”
Anderson was also nominated for best director and adapted screenplay, with Benicio Del Toro and Teyana Taylor both nominated in the Gothams’ gender-neutral best supporting performance category. Scene stealer Chase Infiniti was nominated for breakthrough performer.
In the best feature category, One Battle After Another was up against four-time nominee If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which went home empty-handed, as well as double nominees Familiar Touch; Hamnet; Sorry, Baby; The Testament of Ann Lee; and Train Dreams, in addition to Bugonia, East of Wall and Lurker. This year, the Gothams upped the number of best feature nominees from five to 10.
In addition to best feature, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You went into the night up for best director and original screenplay (Mary Bronstein) and lead performance (Byrne).
Alongside the competitive awards, a number of films and individuals received special tribute honors at the star-studded ceremony, which took place in New York on Monday night.
Noah Baumbach received the director tribute for his work on Jay Kelly, presented by his co-writer and star on the Netflix film, Emily Mortimer and Adam Sandler, with Mortimer reading from a prepared script and Sandler egging her on (“keep going, Emily”) and chiming in with jokes, including how he “remember[s] when the Gotham Awards were for low-budget movies,” joking that Jeff Daniels was paid “in potato skins” for Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale. But the “new Gothams,” are “pretty good,” Sandler said, praising the “better fucking desserts.”
Baumbach, who lamented having to follow Mortimer and Sandler, said he found himself in a similar position to his titular character in Jay Kelly, the movie star played by George Clooney, “looking forward and backward on his life.” He recalled the advice he received from Ethan Coen (“hire a professional cat” after Baumbach shared that a friend was lending him a pet for his film), Peter Bogdanovich, Brian De Palma and Mike Nichols and remembered growing up in New York and going to see movies, dreaming of the day he could make films.
“I think of my contemporaries, those of us who started in the ’90s and who are still going today, people who have inspired me and who have fostered a healthy or unhealthy competition depending on my mood,” Baumbach said before joking of his spouse, Greta Gerwig. “I think of the younger, exciting filmmakers who are coming up after me, whom I just find annoying — except my wife — but kind of my wife too.”
In closing, he said, “Of all the things that I thought might happen and through some amazing combination of events came true, I think the thing that I’m most proud of is to be called a New York filmmaker.”
The cast of Sinners received the ensemble tribute, presented by Coogler, who mused that he was nervous speaking onstage, making him thankful to have actors to say his lines in his films. He introduced his cast by name as they took the stage.
Actors Michael B. Jordan, Jayme Lawson and Delroy Lindo spoke on behalf of the cast, with Lindo making an allusion to the Gotham Awards’ elimination of the budget cap, saying of Coogler, “No matter the budget, Ryan Coogler is an independent filmmaker at heart in his commitment to his vision.”
When presenting best feature, presenters Chris Rock and Naomi Watts also took a moment to characterize what makes a Gotham Award-worthy independent film.
“Today an independent film isn’t just about the budget or the box office, it’s about telling an independent story, something that isn’t part of a franchise or a multiverse,” Rock said.
Watts added, “The old definitions they don’t really apply anymore — what matters now is perspective, the voice behind the work and the way a film can bring people together.”
Nia DaCosta and Nina Hoss presented Tessa Thompson with the Spotlight tribute for Hedda, with DaCosta and Thompson recalling first meeting a decade ago, when Thompson said she couldn’t have imagined being in one of DaCosta’s films, and adding that she’s “always in awe” of DaCosta’s bravery.
Frankenstein‘s Guillermo del Toro, Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi received the Vanguard tribute, presented by J.J. Abrams — as del Toro declared his movie was made “for humans, by humans” and left the stage with a mic-drop “fuck AI.”
Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman received the first musical tribute for Song Sung Blue from director Craig Brewer. Jackman quipped that the honor would make his longtime faux rival Ryan Reynolds “insanely jealous” before proclaiming that he thinks Hudson will win the Oscar for her work in Song Sung Blue.
Julia Roberts and Luca Guadagnino received the Visionary tribute, presented by Roberts’ Three Days of Rain Broadway costar Paul Rudd, for their work together on After the Hunt; and Jeremy Allen White and Scott Cooper were honored with the cultural icon tribute for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere by Steven Van Zandt.
During her acceptance speech with Guadagnino, Roberts praised, “everyone that is here living their creative dreams, thank you for doing that in a world that seems to be crumbling. This is the tape and the glue that keeps it together.”
Recent Gotham Award winners have included Oscar winners No Other Land, Everything Everywhere All at Once, CODA, Nomadland, Marriage Story, American Factory, Moonlight, Spotlight and Birdman.
A complete list of the 2025 Gotham Film Awards winners follows.
Best Feature
Bugonia
Ari Aster, Ed Guiney, Lars Knudsen, Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, Yorgos Lanthimos, Miky Lee, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, producers (Focus Features)
East of Wall
Kate Beecroft, Shannon Moss, Melanie Ramsayer, Lila Yacoub, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Familiar Touch
Alexandra Byer, Sarah Friedland, Matthew Thurm, producers (Music Box Films)
Hamnet
Nicolas Gonda, Pippa Harris, Liza Marshall, Sam Mendes, Steven Spielberg, producers (Focus Features)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Richie Doyle, Conor Hannon, Sara Murphy, Josh Safdie, Ryan Zacarias, producers (A24)
Lurker
Galen Core, Archie Madekwe, Marc Marrie, Charlie McDowell, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky, Olmo Schnabel, Jack Selby, producers (Mubi)
One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Paul Thomas Anderson, Sara Murphy, Adam Somner, producers (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Sorry, Baby
Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, producers (A24)
The Testament of Ann Lee
Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold, Joshua Horsfield, Gregory Jankilevitsch, Mark Lampert, Lillian LaSalle, Andrew Morrison, Viktória Petrányi, Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska, producers (Searchlight Pictures)
Train Dreams
Michael Heimler, Will Janowitz, Marissa McMahon, Ashley Schlaifer, Teddy Schwarzman (producers) (Netflix)
Best International Feature
It Was Just an Accident
Philippe Martin, Jafar Panahi, producers (Neon) (WINNER)
No Other Choice
Park Chan-Wook, Alexandre Gavras, Michèle Ray Gavras, Back Jisun, producers (Neon)
Nouvelle Vague
Laurent Pétin, Michèle Pétin, producers (Netflix)
Resurrection
Charles Gillibert, Yang Lele, Shan Zuolong, producers (Janus Films)
Sound of Falling
Lucas Schmidt, Maren Schmitt, producers (Mubi)
Best Documentary Feature
2000 Meters to Andriivka
Mstyslav Chernov, director; Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, producers (PBS)
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
Kahlil Joseph, director; Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph, David Linde, Anikah McLaren, James Shani, Steven Soderbergh, producers (Rich Spirit)
My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow
Julia Loktev, director; Julia Loktev, producer (self-distributed) (WINNER)
The Perfect Neighbor
Geeta Gandbhir, director; Sam Bisbee, Geeta Gandbhir, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne, producers (Netflix)
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
Sepideh Farsi, director; Javad Djavahery, Sepideh Farsi, producers (Kino Lorber)
Best Director
Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (Neon) (WINNER)
Kelly Reichardt, The Mastermind (Mubi)
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Oliver Laxe, Sirât (Neon)
Breakthrough Director
Constance Tsang, Blue Sun Palace (Dekanalog)
Carson Lund, Eephus (Music Box Films)
Sarah Friedland, Familiar Touch (Music Box Films)
Akinola Davies Jr., My Father’s Shadow (Mubi) (WINNER)
Harris Dickinson, Urchin (1-2 Special)
Best Original Screenplay
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Mary Bronstein (A24)
It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi (Neon) (WINNER)
The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho (Neon)
Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor (A24)
Sound of Falling, Louise Peter, Mascha Schilinski (Mubi)
Best Adapted Screenplay
No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-Mi, Jahye Lee, Don McKellar (Neon)
One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Pillion, Harry Lighton (A24) (WINNER)
Preparation for the Next Life, Martyna Majok (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
Train Dreams, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar (Netflix)
Outstanding Lead Performance
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet (Focus Features)
Lee Byung-hun, No Other Choice (Neon)
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)
Sopé Dìrísù, My Father’s Shadow (Mubi) (WINNER)
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Jennifer Lawrence, Die My Love (Mubi)
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent (Neon)
Josh O’Connor, The Mastermind (Mubi)
Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures)
Tessa Thompson, Hedda (Orion Pictures/Amazon/MGM Studios)
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein (Netflix)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Indya Moore, Father Mother Sister Brother (Mubi)
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros. Pictures) (WINNER)
Adam Sandler, Jay Kelly (Netflix)
Andrew Scott, Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Alexander Skarsgard, Pillion (A24)
Stellan Skarsgard, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Breakthrough Performer
A$AP Rocky, Highest 2 Lowest (A24)
Sebiye Behtiyar, Preparation for the Next Life (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Abou Sangaré, Souleymane’s Story (Kino Lorber) (WINNER)
Tonatiuh, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, LD Entertainment)
Kirsten Chuba contributed to this report.
This story was first published on Dec. 1 at 4:05 p.m.
