GOTHAM WEEK to Honor Bassam Tariq, Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff

The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced the recipients of the third annual Gotham Week Honors, the centerpiece of Gotham Week's forty-seventh edition. The event will take place on Wednesday, September 30 at 26 Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn, following the in-person close of the Project Market. The Gotham also unveiled an expanded lineup of screenings taking place throughout Gotham Week, which runs Sunday, September 27–Saturday, October 3 in Brooklyn, New York.

Bassam Tariq, Liz Garbus, and Elizabeth Wolff will each receive Alumni of Distinction Awards, recognizing their longstanding relationships with The Gotham and continued contributions to the independent filmmaking community.

Tariq first participated in The Gotham's programs in 2012, when he brought These Birds Walk to the IFP Documentary Lab and Independent Film Week. Since then, the BAFTA Award-nominated writer-director has continued to build a body of work defined by original, deeply human storytelling, including Mogul Mowgli and his latest feature, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, from Amazon MGM Studios' Orion Pictures.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Garbus is an alum of the Gotham Week Project Market's Documentaries section, having participated with The Farm: Angola USA in 1997 and Girlhood in 2002. Wolff is also a Documentaries section alum, having participated with The Feminist Tapes in 2024, which Garbus executive produced. Their latest collaboration is Give Me the Ball!, a critically acclaimed, intimate portrait of sports icon and trailblazer Billie Jean King, which they co-directed, and will be released in select theaters and ESPN on November 22nd.

Joybubbles, directed by Rachael J. Morrison, will receive the Best Film Coming to a Cinema Near You honor. A 2022 Gotham Week Project Market alum, Joybubbles is a documentary about a boy who discovers he can control the global telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his early obsession with the telephone sparks a subculture that shapes the future of hacking and technology.

For this year's Best Film Coming to A Cinema Near You honor, The Gotham has partnered with Art House Convergence, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening North America's independent film exhibition industry and the vital role it plays in sustaining the artistic and cultural landscape. AHC's nearly 200 cinema members help millions of audiences discover independent films on big screens in communities large and small, including Coral Gables Theater (Coral Gables, FL), Independent Picture House (Charlotte, NC), Nightlight Cinema (Akron, OH), Ragtag Cinema (Columbia, MO) and SIFF Cinema (Seattle, WA) who will bring Joybubbles to their communities this October.

The project participated in the Spotlight on Documentaries section of the 2022 Gotham Week Project Market, with director and writer Rachael J. Morrison and producers Will Butler and Sarah Winshall.

Gotham Week Honors will also recognize breakout filmmakers and projects from the 2026 Gotham Week Project Market across the following sections: Documentaries, U.S. Features in Development, U.S. Shorts to Features, and Global Producers Hub.

The Project Market is the longest-running event of its kind in the United States. Recent Project Market alumni include Sean Wang's Dìdi (弟弟) (Focus Features), Shuchi Talati's Girls Will Be Girls (Juno Films), Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24), Erica Tremblay's Fancy Dance (Apple TV+), Shaunak Sen's All That Breathes (HBO Documentary Films), Nikyatu Jusu's Nanny (Amazon), Laurel Parmet's The Starling Girl (Bleecker Street), Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters (Sony Pictures Classics), Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar's American Factory (Netflix), Poh Si Teng's American Doctor (Watermelon Pictures), and Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (A24). For the third year, Gotham is also collaborating with The Walt Disney Studios to include projects in the Project Market from Disney-supported filmmakers.

'We're so proud to unveil this year's honorees and expanded screening lineup, which together reflect the breadth, originality, and ambition of independent storytelling today,' said Kia Brooks, Managing Director of The Gotham. 'This year's program reflects the lasting relationships The Gotham builds with its community, as artists and projects return in new moments of their creative journeys and new work is celebrated. Together, the Honors and Screenings celebrate the continued achievements of our alumni while creating opportunities for audiences to discover bold new work and engage with the artists behind it.'

Gotham Week Screenings

The expanded 2026 Gotham Week screening program will feature advance presentations of anticipated film and television projects, accompanied by conversations with the filmmakers and creators behind them.

Opening Night: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother — Sunday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m., Angelika Film Center, followed by a conversation with writer-director Bassam Tariq

Gotham Week will open with Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, from Alumni of Distinction honoree Bassam Tariq. The film stars two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali as a religious hitman struggling to balance work, faith, and fatherhood. After his wife dies, he journeys across Houston to protect his children while confronting the forces closing in around him and the beliefs threatening to unravel within. The film also stars John Cho, Adia, and Emmy Award winner Giancarlo Esposito.

Tip Toe — Wednesday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m., Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, New York, followed by a conversation with creator Russell T Davies

STARZ will present an advance screening of Tip Toe, the new drama and suspense series created by Russell T Davies and starring Alan Cumming and David Morrissey. The series follows neighbors Leo and Clive, whose lives become a minefield of lies and violence after Leo gives Clive his spare key. Written by Davies and directed by Peter Hoar, Tip Toe premieres Friday, October 2 on STARZ.

Closing Night: Give Me the Ball! — Thursday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m., Angelika Film Center, 18 West Houston Street, New York, followed by conversation with co-director Elizabeth Wolff and producer Dan Cogan

Gotham Week will present a screening of Give Me the Ball!, directed by Alumni of Distinction honorees Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff. An intimate portrait of tennis legend and trailblazer Billie Jean King, Give Me the Ball! reveals the sacrifices King was forced to make behind the scenes, even as she fought high-profile battles for the professionalization of her sport and equal treatment for women. The 30 for 30 documentary from ESPN Films was produced by Ridley Scott Associates and Story Syndicate, in association with Elton John's Rocket Sports.

The Popcorn List Screening Series: Seeds and The Fisherman — Thursday, October 1st at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Angelika Film Center, 18 West Houston Street, New York, followed by Q&As with filmmakers Brittany Shyne (Seeds) and Zoey Martinson (The Fisherman)

The Gotham will also partner with The Popcorn List, an annual survey of acclaimed feature films recommended by North American film festival programmers that have not yet received wide release. Gotham Week will feature two selections from the 2026 list: Seeds, directed by Brittany Shyne, which participated in the 2020 Gotham Week Documentaries section, and The Fisherman, directed by Zoe Martinson, which was developed through the 2023 Biennale College Cinema, where The Gotham serves as an artistic partner.

Additionally, Gotham EDU will present a special screening of the winning short films from the 2024–25 and 2025–26 editions of the Focus Features | The Gotham Short Film Showcase. The screening is part of Gotham EDU's broader Gotham Week programming, which also includes networking opportunities for Gotham EDU alumni and The Gotham's college and university partners.

Gotham Week 2026 will take place Sunday, September 27–Saturday, October 3 in Brooklyn, New York, with programming centered in DUMBO. In addition to Gotham Week Honors and the expanded screening program, the week will include the Project Market, Gotham Week Expo, a full day of Filmmaker Magazine programming, and opportunities for the Gotham EDU community to hone their craft and showcase their work. The full schedule of Gotham Week programming is available at www.thegotham.org/gotham-week.

About the Gotham Film & Media Institute

The Gotham celebrates and nurtures independent film and media creators, providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition. The organization, under the leadership of Executive Director and award-winning producer Jeffrey Sharp, fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Gotham Week, Filmmaker Magazine, The Gothams, Gotham EDU, Owning It, and Expanding Communities.

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