Award season has swung into gear with the Independent Filmmaker Project’s announcement of the 20th anniversary Gotham Independent Film Award nominees. The Gotham Awards celebrate American independent feature films, and in past years have drawn attention to films such as The Hurt Locker, Food, Inc. and Capote, all of which went on to gather major awards season buzz—and wins.

In addition to the six usual categories, 2010 marks the first year for the Festival Genius Audience Award; the winner will be decided by an online vote, and eligible films include those which have won an Audience Award within the past year. The recipient will be announced at the Gotham Awards ceremony on Monday, November 29th. Nominees for the Festival Genius Audience Award are to be announced in November.

The 2010 nominees are:
Best Feature
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Kids Are All Right
Let Me In
Winter’s Bone

Best Documentary
12th & Delaware
Inside Job
The Oath
Public Speaking
Sweetgrass

Best Ensemble Performance
The Kids Are All Right
Life During Wartime
Please Give
Tiny Furniture
Winter’s Bone

Breakthrough Director
John Wells, The Company Men
Kevin Asch, Holy Rollers
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, I Love You Phillip Morris
Tanya Hamilton, Night Catches Us
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture

Breakthrough Actor
Prince Adu, Prince of Broadway
Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Kati with an i
Littlerock
On Coal River
Summer Pasture
The Wolf Knife

For more information visit http://gotham.ifp.org.