Gotham Independent Film Awards Announced

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent moviemakers, just announced the winners of the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards at a ceremony held at New York City’s Cipriani Wall Street.

Presented by IFP, The Gotham Independent Film Award is one of the highest honors bestowed upon independent moviemakers and is the first major event of the movie awards season. This year, for the first time ever, the awards ceremony streamed live in its entirety to a global audience via a partnership with Ustream.com.

A total of 22 films received nominations in six competitive categories. The winners included: The Hurt Locker (Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance); Food, Inc. (Best Documentary); Robert Siegel (Breakthrough Director, Big Fan); Catalina Saavedra (Breakthrough Actor, The Maid); and You Won’t Miss Me (Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You).

The eclectic jury panel (a separate one for each category) included moviemakers William Friedkin, Julie Taymor and David O. Russell; actors William H. Macy, Ellen Burstyn and Oliver Platt; and musician/composer Stewart Copeland.

For the second year, the recipient of the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award (Ry Russo-Young for You Won’t Miss Me) received a cash award of $5,000 provided by Reiff & Associates, a full service brokerage firm specializing in arts and entertainment insurance.

In addition to the competitive awards, career tributes were presented to actors Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci, moviemaker Kathryn Bigelow and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, co-chairmen of Working Title Films.

For more information on the Gotham Independent Film Awards, visit http://gotham.ifp.org.