The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier member organization of independent filmmakers and storytellers, announced today that former Vice President Al Gore will receive the Humanitarian Tribute and Film Producer and Founder of Blumhouse Productions Jason Blum will receive the Industry Tribute at the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards. The first awards show of the season, the Gotham Awards is one of the leading honors for independent film and media, providing critical early recognition to groundbreaking independent films and their writers, directors, producers, and actors with ten competitive awards categories. The IFP Gotham Awards also honors selected film community icons as tributes each year. The ceremony will be held on Monday, November 27, 2017, at Cipriani Wall Street, New York City.
“We are thrilled to be presenting Vice President Al Gore with the Humanitarian Tribute and Jason Blum with the Industry Tribute” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “Mr. Gore’s urgent message on the dangers of climate change has been heard and seen around the globe, motivating individuals, communities, businesses, and world leaders to take action, reminding us of the power of cinema and its ability to affect change. Jason Blum has shown the industry how creative and innovative models that support smart, original filmmakers- and produced with an economy of means –can be a potent force in connecting with audiences and achieving popular success.”
The IFP Humanitarian Tribute recognizes an individual who, through cinema, has had a profound, transformative global impact. Vice President Gore is the ideal recipient recognizing his decades of work on the climate crisis, most recently brought to the attention of audiences through his films Academy Award®-winner AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006) and AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER (2017).
Mr. Gore spends the majority of his time as chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit organization he founded that is focused on solutions to the global climate crisis. Vice President Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1982, and the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years.
He is the author of the bestsellers Earth in the Balance, An Inconvenient Truth, The Assault on Reason, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, and most recently An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, the companion book to the film of the same title. He was the 2007 Nobel Prize Laureate for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change.”
The Industry Tribute is awarded each year to an individual whose unique vision, innovation and contributions have made a significant impact on the motion picture and television industry. Jason Blum has proven himself to be such by pioneering a new model of high-quality micro-budget films. As founder of the multi-media company, Blumhouse Productions, Blum has produced more than 70 films and as well as numerous television projects, making Blumhouse one of the most prolific production companies in the industry. Earlier this year, Blum expanded his television footprint by launching an indie TV Studio.
Blum founded Blumhouse Productions, known for leading the “low budget” horror film genre in 2000. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which was made for $15,000 and grossed nearly $200 million worldwide, launched the Blumhouse model and became the most profitable film of all time. In 2017 Blumhouse produced the blockbusters SPLIT from M. Night Shyamalan and GET OUT from Jordan Peele, which with combined budgets of less than $15 million, have already grossed more than $500 million worldwide. In addition, Blumhouse has produced the highly profitable THE PURGE, INSIDIOUS, SINISTER and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchises which together have grossed more than $1.7 billion at the global box office.
In addition to his staggering commercial success, Blum is an Academy Award®-nominated and two-time Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award® for producing WHIPLASH, won Emmys® for producing HBO’s The Normal Heart and The Jinx and two Peabody Awards for The Jinx and the documentary How to Dance in Ohio. In addition, Blum received the 2016 Producer of the Year Award at CinemaCon and was named to the TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people in 2017. Before launching Blumhouse, Blum served as Co-President of Acquisitions at Miramax.
Additional 2017 tributes will be announced in the coming weeks.
This year’s honorees will join a distinguished group of previous honorees, including Oliver Stone, Arnon Milchan, Ethan Hawke, Amy Adams, Helen Mirren, Robert Redford, Tilda Swinton, Todd Haynes, Jeff Skoll, Ted Sarandos, James Schamus, Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sheila Nevins, Jonathan Sehring, Roger Ebert, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, David O. Russell, David Cronenberg, Mira Nair, Gus Van Sant, and more.
Each year IFP chooses a jury of stellar peers from the documentary, feature film and TV industry to award the Gotham’s competitive awards. The ten competitive Gotham Awards for 2017 include Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Audience Award, Best Screenplay, Breakthrough Series – Short Form, and Breakthrough Series – Long Form. Once again this year, the Gotham Audience Award (the only non-juried category) will be open to voting by IFP Members worldwide as a benefit of membership. Voting will take place online in November.
The Premier Sponsor of the 2017 IFP Gotham Awards is The New York Times, and the Platinum Sponsors are the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Office of Film, Music and Entertainment and Greenslate. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times in November 2017.
Nominees will be announced on October 19th and winners will be honored at the star-studded ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on November 27th. To purchase tables or tickets to attend, please contact Steven Pfeiffer by email at spfeiffer@ifp.org, or by phone at (212) 465-8200 Ext. 219.
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Independent Film Week, Filmmaker Magazine, the IFP Gotham Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a tech and media incubator space developed with the New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
IFP represents a growing network of storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 38-year history, IFP has supported over 10,000+ projects and offered resources to more than 20,000+ filmmakers, including Barry Jenkins, Laura Poitras, Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin. More info at www.ifp.org.
About the IFP Gotham Awards:
The IFP Gotham Awards, selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that IFP does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition.
For information on attending: http://gotham.ifp.org
