Mahershala Ali and David Greaves are among the nominees for the 36th Annual Gotham Awards, which announced its film nominations on October 27.
Ali earned a nod for Outstanding Lead Performance for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Bassam Tariq’s drama from Amazon MGM Studios. The two-time Oscar winner plays Latif, a devout Muslim father and hitman raising his children after his wife’s death.
The film also landed a Best Feature nomination, and cast member Adia is up for Breakthrough Performer.
Tariq wrote the role with Ali in mind. “There’s something so magnetic about the way Mahershala draws people in,” the director told The Quintessential Gentleman earlier this month.
Ali has been vocal about what roles like Latif mean to him. “I don’t feel like Black fathers have the dimensionality that I would love for them to have,” he told the BFI.
A Father’s Footage, a Son’s Finish
Greaves and his late father, William Greaves, are nominated for Best Documentary Feature for Once Upon a Time in Harlem. The film is built from footage the elder Greaves shot in August 1972 at a gathering of Harlem Renaissance figures in Duke Ellington‘s Harlem townhouse, including painter Aaron Douglas, photographer James Van Der Zee and musicians Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle.
William Greaves, the Emmy-winning executive producer of public television’s Black Journal, died in 2014 with the film unfinished. His son completed it, and the Neon release premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival before opening in theaters this month.
“Black history will not be erased,” David Greaves told The Quintessential Gentleman.
Twin brothers Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri are also in the race with Clarissa, their Lagos-set reimagining of Virginia Woolf‘s Mrs Dalloway. The film is nominated for Best Feature, and Chuko Esiri’s script is up for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Nigerian filmmakers, born in Warri and raised in Lagos, made their feature debut with Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), which premiered at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival.
Black Women Round Out the List
Sophie Okonedo is nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance for Clarissa, playing the title role in the Esiris’ film. India Amarteifio, who plays the younger version of Okonedo’s character, is up for Breakthrough Performer. The Neon film opens in limited release on December 11.
Aleshea Harris is nominated for Breakthrough Director for Is God Is, her feature debut adapted from her 2018 play.
The ceremony will take place in New York on November 30.
