Moonlight

The piercing drama Moonlight received four Gotham Independent Film Awards, the first awards show of the season, at a ceremony held last night in New York, per Indiewire. Told over a period of some 20 years, Moonlight follows its protagonist as he experiences three turning points in his life; it received prizes for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, a special jury award for Ensemble Performance and the Audience Award.

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and Anna Taylor-Joy (The Witch) received acting awards. Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water) took home the award for best screenplay, while the directing prize, known as the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award, went to Trey Edward Shults (Krista). Ezra Edelman's O.J.: Made in America won the Best Documentary award.

Zootopia


A record-breaking 27 movies have qualified for Academy Awards consideration as Best Animated Feature. Depending on how the individual titles score with the Academy's screening committee, up to five movies may earn nominations. Now the folks behind the Annie Awards, a key indicator for the Best Animated Feature category, have announced their 44th annual nominations.

Disney's Zootopia topped the list with 11 nominations, followed by Laika's Kubo and the Two Strings, which earned 10 nominations. Both films were among those nominated as Best Animated Feature, along with Finding Dory, Kung Fu Panda and Moana.

In the category of Best Animated Feature - Independent, Long Way North and My Life As a Zucchini earned nominations, along with Japanese animated films Miss Hokusai, The Red Turtle and Your Name. The awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on February 4.