New York, NY (October 18, 2010) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers announced today the nominees for the 20^th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards^™. A total of 26 films were nominated 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 YouÒ. 

Signaling the official kick-off to the film awards season IFP’s 20^th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards^™ nominations were announced at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. / PT to a global audience on UStream TV by Elvis Mitchell, film critic and host of “The Treatment,” distributed by KCRW public radio, and soon to be co-host of “Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies,” launching in January 2011.  You can watch the announcement here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gotham-independent-film-awards-2010.

The Gotham Awards’ 20^th Anniversary ceremony will be held on Monday, November 29th at Cipriani Wall Street.  In addition to the competitive awards, actors Robert Duvall and Hilary Swank, director Darren Aronofsky, and Focus Features CEO James Schamus will each be presented with a career tribute.

As the first major awards 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 THE HURT LOCKER (2009), FOOD, INC (2009), FROZEN RIVER (2008), TROUBLE THE WATER (2008), INTO THE WILD (2007), SICKO (2007), HALF NELSON (2006) and CAPOTE (2005). 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 winner, 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 American (US-based or US-born directors and producers), feature-length films made with a point of view. Additional criteria include independently distributed films made with an economy of means. For a complete list of criteria, see http://gotham.ifp.org.

Selecting this year’s nominees were 20 film critics, journalists, and curators (see list below). Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films will determine final award recipients.

“The Gotham Awards celebrate the collective breath of independent cinema,” said Joana Vicente, executive director of IFP. “Ranging from the small gems produced on micro-budgets to extraordinary films from specialty distributors, the nominees all share the type of creative vision and risk-taking that are a hallmark of independent film. It’s also my pleasure to report that there are more female directors nominated this year than any year before.”

The nominees for the 20^th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film AwardsÔ are:

Best Feature

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Blue Valentine

Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company)

The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko, director;  Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Jordan Horowitz, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann, producers (Focus Features)

Let Me In

Matt Reeves, director; Simon Oakes, Alex Brunner, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust,  Donna Gigliotti, John Nording, Carl Molinder, producers (Overture Films)

Winter’s Bone

Debra Granik, director; Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, producers (Roadside Attractions)

Best Documentary

12^th & Delaware

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, directors/producers (HBO Documentary Films)

Inside Job

Charles Ferguson, director; Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Oath

Laura Poitras, director/producer (Zeitgeist Films and American Documentary/POV)

Public Speaking

Martin Scorsese, director; Martin Scorsese, Graydon Carter, Margaret Bodde, Fran Lebowitz, producers (HBO Documentary Films)

Sweetgrass

Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash, directors; Ilisa Barbash, producer (Cinema Guild)

Best Ensemble Performance

The Kids Are All Right 

Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson (Focus Features)

Life During Wartime

Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renée Taylor, Michael Kenneth Williams (IFC Films)

Please Give

Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert, Lois Smith, Sarah Steele, Thomas Ian Nicholas (Sony Pictures Classics)

Tiny Furniture

Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, Rachel Howe, Merritt Wever, Amy Seimetz, Alex Karpovsky, David Call,  Jemima Kirke, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Garland Hunter, Isen Hunter (IFC Films)

Winter’s Bone

Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan

(Roadside Attractions)

Breakthrough Director

John Wells for The Company Men (The Weinstein Company)

Kevin Asch for Holy Rollers (First Independent Pictures)

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa for I Love You Phillip Morris (Roadside Attractions)

Tanya Hamilton for Night Catches Us (Magnolia Pictures)

Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture (IFC Films)

Breakthrough Actor

Prince Adu in Prince of Broadway (Elephant Eye Films)

Ronald Bronstein in Daddy Longlegs (IFC Films)

Greta Gerwig in Greenberg (Focus Features)

Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions)

John Ortiz in Jack Goes Boating (Overture Films)

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You

Kati with an i

Robert Greene, director; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, producers

Littlerock

Mike Ott, director; Frederick Thornton, Laura Ragsdale, Sierra Leoni, producers

On Coal River

Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood, directors; Jillian Elizabeth, Adams Wood, Francine Cavanaugh, producers

Summer Pasture

Lynn True and Nelson Walker, directors/producers; Tsering Perlo, co-director/co-producer

The Wolf Knife

Laurel Nakadate, director/producer

**To download selected photos from the nominated films please logon to the 42 West FTP site at ftp.42west.net; Username: 2010Gotham, Password: 42Gotham**

This year, the IFP has created a new award, The Festival Genius Audience Award.  To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at a U.S. or Canadian film festival from November 2009 through October 2010.  The Festival Genius community, 200,000 film fans worldwide, will vote online for the winner. The nominees will be announced in early November 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 will be determined by the editors 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 November 18 – 22.

The Premier sponsors of the 2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards^™ are The New York Times and The Royal Bank of Canada. RBC is also the sponsor of the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award.   IFP welcomes new presenting sponsor of the Actress Tribute award, euphoria Calvin Klein and presenting sponsor, Fox Searchlight; returning sponsor Focus Features, Official Spirit, Russian Standard Vodka, Official Hotel, Andaz Wall Street  and preferred sponsor of the Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor Awards, Alfred Dunhill.  The Gotham Awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times on Friday, November 19, 2010. 

The nominating committees for the 20^h Annual Gotham Independent Film Award™ announced above are as follows:

Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Breakthrough Director:

Thelma Adams, Film Critic, US Weekly

Andrew O'Hehir, Film Critic, Salon.com

Joshua Rothkopf, Senior Film Writer, DVD Editor, Time Out New York

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Film Critic, Entertainment Weekly

Nominating Committee for Ensemble Performance and Breakthrough Actor:

Dave Karger, Senior Writer, Entertainment Weekly

Karen Durbin, Film Critic, Elle Magazine

Sam Adams, Film Critic, Philadelphia City Paper

Karina Longworth, Film Critic, LA Weekly

Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, Museum of Modern Art

Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:

Cynthia Fuchs, Film-TV Editor, PopMatters

Sean Farnel, Director of Programming, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival

Mike Maggiore, Programmer and Publicist, Film Forum

Ronnie Scheib, Film Critic, Variety

Nominating Committee for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You:

Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Media, Museum of Modern Art;

and members of the editorial staff  and contributors to Filmmaker Magazine: Scott Macaulay (Editor-in-Chief), Livia Bloom, Jason Guerrasio, Brandon Harris, Ray Pride, Alicia Van Couvering

2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards™ – Alphabetical List of Nominated Films

12^th & Delaware

Best Documentary nominee

Black Swan

Best Feature nominee

Blue Valentine

Best Feature nominee

Daddy Longlegs

Breakthrough Actor nominee

Greenberg

Breakthrough Actor nominee

Holy Rollers

Breakthrough Director nominee

Inside Job

Best Documentary nominee

Jack Goes Boating

Breakthrough Actor nominee

Kati with an i

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee

Let Me In

Best Feature nominee

Life During Wartime

Best Ensemble Performance nominee

Littlerock

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee

I Love You Phillip Morris

Breakthrough Director nominee

Night Catches Us

Breakthrough Director nominee

On Coal River

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee

Please Give

Best Ensemble Performance nominee

Prince of Broadway

Breakthrough Actor nominee

Public Speaking

Best Documentary nominee

Summer Pasture

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee

Sweetgrass

Best Documentary nominee

The Company Men

Breakthrough Director nominee

The Kids Are All Right

Best Feature nominee

Best Ensemble Performance nominee

The Oath

Best Documentary nominee

The Wolf Knife

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee

Tiny Furniture

Best Ensemble Performance nominee

Breakthrough Director nominee

Winter’s Bone

Best Feature nominee

Best Ensemble Performance nominee

Breakthrough Actor nominee

About Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP)

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) is the nation's oldest and largest not-for-profit advocacy organization for independent filmmakers.  Since its debut at the 1979 New York Film Festival, IFP has supported the production of over 7,000 films and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, providing an opportunity for many diverse voices to be heard. IFP believes that independent films enrich the universal language of cinema, seeding the global culture with new ideas, kindling awareness, and fostering activism. The organization has championed early work by pioneering, independent filmmakers, including Charles Burnett, Edward Burns, Jim Jarmusch, Barbara Kopple, Michael Moore, Mira Nair and Kevin Smith.

IFP represents a network of 10,000 filmmakers in New York City and around the world. Through its workshops, seminars, conferences, mentorships and Filmmaker Magazine, IFP schools its members in the art, technology and business of independent filmmaking.  The year-round program includes an Independent Film Week, The Gotham Awards, Filmmaking Labs and Seminars, and a range of programs to promote racial, ethnic, religious, ideological, gender and sexual diversity. IFP, often in collaboration with other cultural institutions, builds audiences by hosting premieres and special screenings.  The IFP fosters the development of 300 feature and documentary films each year. Recently, the organization licensed the popular Festival Genius software platform through which IFP now reaches over 200,000 film fans worldwide.

For more information: www.ifp.org

About the Gotham Independent Film Awards™

The Gotham Independent Film 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

Tags: Gotham Awards, IFP