The best film prize went to the indie First Cow. Bong Joon Ho, whose Parasite won the best foreign language film prize at last year’s NYFCC Awards, said that First Cow director Kelly Reichardt is “someone who always creates beautiful works. … I was awed many times by her delicate films. … They all show such insight into the human condition.” He said he saw First Cow at its 2019 Telluride Film Festival world premiere, and “the film left such a lasting impression on me.”

Best director, however, went to Nomadland‘s Chloe Zhao, who was introduced by her film’s star Frances McDormand. Zhao noted, “It was in the city, at NYU, that I learned how to take my first steps as a filmmaker.”

The two female acting awards went to actresses in their early twenties who thanked their directors for “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Sidney Flanigan, only 21, was feted as the best female lead for Eliza Hittman‘s Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a film about a young woman seeking an abortion. She was toasted by fellow indie actress Chloe Sevigny, who became emotional while stating, “This is what we mean when we say that art is not only timely, but urgent. Thank you, Sidney, for this beautiful reminder.” (Never Rarely Sometimes Always also won best screenplay, and Hittman noted, “It is so meaningful to be sharing this platform with so many incredible female filmmakers — Chloe Zhao, Kelly Reichardt and Radha Blanke,” the winner of best first film.)

Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova was the winner for Borat Subsequent Movie. She was introduced by her costar Sacha Baron Cohen, who said, “In the audition, in a breakup scene, she literally moved me to tears. In that moment, I knew we had found our Tutar. … This her first major award, but is surely will not be her last.”

Bakalova, fighting back tears, thanked Cohen for the “opportunity of a lifetime,” noting that she only graduated from drama school about a year-and-a-half ago and “even in my wildest dreams, I could have never imagined for a moment like this. It’s a huge honor for me and my fellow Bulgarian actors.”

Other winners included Wolfwalkers for best animated film, by Irish co-directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart; Small Axe lenser Shabier Kirchner for best cinematography; Bacurau for best foreign language film, with co-directors Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonca Filho sending thanks from Brazil; Garrett Bradley’s Time won best documentary.

A second special award went to the Kino Lorber film and video distribution company, which sprang to action at the outset of the pandemic and helped to save art house cinemas by creating a virtual cinema platform, Kino Marquee.

Kino Lorber chief Richard Lorber said, “We knew that our best path forward would be to partner with art house cinemas; their survival and our survival, as a company dedicated to the theatrical experience, are inextricably linked. It was imperative to our mission to keep them afloat.”

Kino Marquee was up within a week of theaters shutting down, and now has almost 500 art house theater partners.