Fittingly for a year of cinema about dissidents and revolutionaries , Oscar season kicked off in earnest with Monday night’s Gotham Awards, an awards ceremony at war with itself.

The Gothams have always prided themselves on being the starting gun for awards season, but in recent years, an event created to spotlight independent film has leaned further into its status as an essential stop on the Oscars pole dance. Two years ago, the Gothams removed their budget cap, allowing films that cost over $35 million to compete for the first time. Tribute awards that used to go to obscure-but-beloved figures in the New York indie scene now go to blockbusters like Sinners and second-tier studio contenders like After the Hunt and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere . This tension betwe

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