The Film Experience

Chris here. If you weren't watching last night's live stream of the IFP's Gotham Awards, you missed a delightful night of more surprise and unfiltered humor than most televised awards ceremonies.

Director & Muse reunited

Everything is still feeling optimistic with the awards season, so the fun moments and surprise winners were as fresh and intriguing as ever for the Gothams!

10 Takeways From the Gothams

• Julianne Moore Gave Todd Haynes A Tribute Award And It Was Everything You Could Imagine: There's no video available yet to share, but what a treat. Moore was effusive in her affection for her frequent collaborator, sharing [safe] anecdotes and praising Haynes's warmth. Haynes's speech was career-spanning, but not longwinded, with the highlight being his praise of producing partner Christine Vachon. Carol went home empty-handed and didn't feature much in the tribute reel but the love in the for the filmmaker was palpable even through the playback feed. Here's hoping the Gotham tribute adds a little more steam to the film's increasing momentum.

• Our New Favorite Besties, Shugs and Fats: Nadia Manzoor and Radhka Vaz's show walked away Breakthrough Series - Short Form and best speech of the night, where they joked about not thanking their families.

• The Juries: Each category had a unique panel deciding the winner, with the members listed out before the prize is awarded. Bel Powley doesn't feel like such a surprising winner if you consider her jury included the likes of Lisa Kudrow and John Waters. Imagining them discussing the film is heaven!

• Paul Dano: His work in Love and Mercy is among my personal favorite sof the year and he was charmingly sincere and understated in his speech. I fear this is as far as he gets with recognition for the film, though the Youth team is out and about, but it was exciting to see him take home a prize after a more than a decade of undervalued work.

• We Don't Hate Anything Yet: The tide of viscious takedowns has not reached us yet and lets keep our fingers crossed that it takes longer this year to get a million thinkpieces on what is bad about a single frontrunner.

• Dirty Jokes About the Queen: While Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel bombed with dirty jokes about Her Royal Highness and Helen Mirren in particular, Mirren showed the boys how it's done with a charmingly naughty anecdote about seeing herself in the role.

• So How About Helen Mirren's Dress??: I joked about its juvenile print, but I unashamedly LOVE it. If we all could have fun like Mirren has fun, the world would be a happier place.

• The Missed Opportunity of a Mya Taylor Acceptance Speech: She won the Breakthrough Actor Award for her work in Tangerine, but director Sean Baker had to accept on her behalf due to her missing her plane. He took the moment to champion trans performers, but it would have been heartening to hear the woman speak for herself.

• Indie TV: While quality television dominating isn't a new topic, it was interesting to note we don't have much discussion or recognition for TV that's independently produced. Let's see if there is more conversation around this as our viewing options continue to grow.

• Awarding the Angelika: The First Gotham Appreciation Award was given to Ellen Cotter of the Angelika Film Center, an independent theatre chain with its flagship in NYC. Theatres themselves play such a part in our relationship to the movies we love, and independent cinema houses especially deserve recognition for nurturing our passions - this prize is swell!