Bernie, Middle of Nowhere and Moonrise Kingdom were nominated in the Best Feature category, joined by Julia Loktev’s The Loneliest Planet and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. Previous winners in the category that went on to receive Oscar nominations include The Hurt Locker, The Tree of Life and Winter’s Bone, making it a good early precursor for lower-budget independent movies that may require a bit more attention to be watched by Oscar voters. Bernie and Moonrise Kingdom were also nominated in the Best Ensemble Performance category, along with David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, Safety Not Guaranteed and Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister. Surprisingly absent in the acting category was The Master, which had received multiple awards at the Venice Film Festival. One might safely assume that Linklater and Anderson may be frontrunners to win in one or both categories, but Beasts of the Southern Wild may be seen as a favorite in the Breakthrough DIrector and Actor categories in which director Benh Zeitlin and newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis were nominated. Below you can read the full press release with the full list of nominees: The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers announced today the nominees for the Gotham Independent Film Awards™. Signaling the kick-off to the film awards season, IFP’s Gotham Independent Film Awards™ nominations were given to a total of 26 films across six competitive categories for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance, and Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You. The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 26th at Cipriani Wall Street. In addition to the competitive awards, actors Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon, director David O. Russell, and Participant Media founder Jeff Skoll will each be presented with a career tribute. As the first major awards ceremony of the film season, the Gotham Independent Film Awards™ provide critical early recognition and media attention to worthy independent films. Previous winners for Best Feature and Best Documentary include BEGINNERS (2011), THE TREE OF LIFE (2011), BETTER THIS WORLD (2011), WINTER’S BONE (2010), THE OATH (2010), THE HURT LOCKER (2009), and FOOD, INC. (2009). The awards are also unique for their ability to assist in catapulting award recipients prominently into national awards season attention, including recent winners and ultimate Oscar® contenders: feature winners BEGINNERS (2011), TREE OF LIFE (2011), WINTER’S BONE (2010) and THE HURT LOCKER (2009); Breakthrough Actors Melissa Leo (2008), Ellen Page (2007), Rinko Kikuchi (2006) and Amy Adams (2005). Primary criteria for nomination consideration includes that the works be independently distributed American feature-length films (US-based or US-born directors and producers) made with a point of view. For a complete list of criteria, see http://gotham.ifp.org. Since 2004, when IFP increased the number of the Gotham Award categories, expanded the criteria to include filmmakers beyond New York, and moved the awards ceremony to “awards season,” nominees have been selected by groups of distinguished film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films will determine the final Gotham Award recipients. This year 21 such writers and programmers participated in the nomination process, considering 211 eligible submissions. The Nominating Committees for the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards were: Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Breakthrough Director: Scott Foundas, Associate Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Contributing Editor, Film Comment Nominating Committee for Best Ensemble Performance and Breakthrough Actor: Peter Debruge, Senior Film Critic/Associate Features Editor, Variety Nominating Committee for Best Documentary: Cynthia Fuchs, Film-TV Editor, PopMatters Nominating Committee for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, Museum of Modern Art; “From master film artists to richly talented newcomers, this year’s nominees comprise a diverse group of filmmakers and actors that defines the spectrum of independent film today” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP. “In addition to celebrating the work and the community, we also hope that the Gotham Award attention will encourage more audiences to explore the range of vibrant, entertaining, challenging, and innovative films represented here.” The nominations for the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards are: Best Feature Bernie The Loneliest Planet The Master Middle of Nowhere Moonrise Kingdom Best Documentary Detropia How to Survive a Plague Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present Room 237 The Waiting Room Best Ensemble Performance Bernie Moonrise Kingdom Safety Not Guaranteed Silver Linings Playbook Your Sister’s Sister Breakthrough Director Zal Batmanglij for Sound of My Voice (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Breakthrough Actor Mike Birbiglia in Sleepwalk with Me (IFC Films) Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Kid-Thing An Oversimplification of Her Beauty Red Flag Sun Don’t Shine Tiger Tail in Blue For the second consecutive year, IFP is proud present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film. The nominees are: Leah Meyerhoff, director, I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS The 3rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award will be voted on again by the independent film community, 230,000 film fans worldwide. To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at one of the top 50 U.S. or Canadian film festivals from November 2011 through October 2012. Voting begins today at http://gotham.ifp.org/audience_award for the 31 films on the eligibility list. The nominees will be announced November 5th, and the winner will be revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony. The recipient of the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near YouÒ award is determined by the editorial staff of Filmmaker Magazine, a publication of IFP, and a curator from The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). All of these nominees will also be screened for the public at MoMA from November 16-19, 2012. The Premier Sponsors of the 22nd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards™ are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and The New York Times, Presenting Sponsor euphoria Calvin Klein, Official Water FIJI Water, Official Spirit Russian Standard Vodka, Official Wine Partner Mionetto Prosecco, Official Partners: charitybuzz; MoMA; Andaz Wall Street. Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times on November 16th, 2012. 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards™ – Alphabetical List of Nominated Films Aquí y Allá (Here and There) – Breakthrough Director You can click here for information on how to attend. Show Comments |
26 films received nominations in IFP’s 22nd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards with Benh Zeitlin’s 