Gotham Independent Film Awards 2015: Spotlight named year's top film

The investigative journalism procedural Spotlight has won best feature at the Gotham Independent Film Awards.

Tom McCarthy's drama about the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on sex abuse by Catholic priests also was honoured for best screenplay for McCarthy and Josh Singer, and given a special award for best ensemble. The cast includes Canadian Rachel McAdams, Brian D'Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery and Stanley Tucci.

The Gothams aren't a regular predictor of Oscar winners, though its top film last year — Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards. The 2013 pick, Inside Llewyn Davis wasn't even nominated.

• REVIEW l Spotlight whip-smart retelling of clergy investigation
• Q l Joshua Oppenheimer on The Look of Silence

Sean Baker's Tangerine emerged as one of the night's biggest winners, taking the audience award for best film and winning breakthrough actor for Maya Taylor. The film, shot in Los Angeles on iPhones, is about a pair of Los Angeles transgender prostitutes played by Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, who are themselves transgender actors.

"They have proven that trans talent is out there," said Baker, accepting the award for Taylor, whom he said missed her flight. "It's just up to us to look, to cast."

Best actor went to Paul Dano for his performance as the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy. The 23-year-old British actress Bel Powley took best actress for the '70s San Francisco coming-of-age drama The Diary of a Teenage Girl.

Powley, who won over both Cate Blanchett and Brie Larson, credited director Marielle Heller for her breakthrough role: "She's taught me you don't need to settle to be someone's girlfriend in a movie."

There also were tributes to Robert Redford, Helen Mirren and Carol director Todd Haynes.

Redford, who was introduced by Dan Rather, whom he plays in the CBS News drama Truth, said Rather's compliments and the Gotham honour "kind of makes me shy, believe it or not. But I'll take it."

Reflecting on his career, Redford said he was always motivated by "the work."

"I wasn't really prepared for success when success came. It felt good, obviously," said Redford. "I realized that when you have success, you want to be a little careful because success has two sides to it. For me, success wasn't something to embrace but to shadow box with."

Best documentary was awarded to The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer's revisiting of the Indonesia genocide, while Mr. Robot was named Breakthrough longform series winner and Shugs and Fats was tops in the Breakthrough shortform category.

The 25th annual Gotham Awards were held Monday night at Cipriani's Wall Street in lower Manhattan and hosted by Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson of Broad City.

Later this week, the best of the year according to the New York Film Critics Circle (Dec. 2) and Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Dec. 6) will be announced.