The spotlights fell on Robert De Niro and a very pregnant Uma Thurman Monday night in Manhattan, which needs some glitter these days. The occasion, which also brought out Famke Jannsen, Edie Falco, Marcia Gay Harden, Glenn Close, Martin Scorsese, Diane Sawyer, Steve Buscemi and others, was the Independent Feature Project's 11th annual Gotham Awards, honoring independent (as opposed to major Hollywood studio) movies. De Niro, 58, received the lifetime achievement award, while an acting award went to Thurman, 31. "What's not to be excited about?" Thurman's husband, actor Ethan Hawke, 30, told PEOPLE. "I felt happy for my wife that they were honoring her, and it comes at a great time. I mean, she's expecting her second baby. It's a great time to get an award. I don't want to speak for her but I think she really saw it as a challenge to be worthy. Whenever you take a little time off to have a baby it makes you refocus about what you want to do with the rest of your career." Asked how he and Thurman make their Hollywood marriage work (their daughter, Maya Ray, is three), Hawke said without irony, "We're only three years in. I'm not going to brag about anything."