2011 Gotham Awards Chooses "Beginners" and "The Tree of Life"

The Gotham Awards were handed out Monday night, November 28th. The Gotham Awards honor independent films:

21st Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Winners and Nominees:

Best Feature (tie)
WINNER: Beginners (Focus Features)
Mike Mills – director
Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen - producers

WINNER: The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Terrence Malick - director
Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill – producers

Nominees:
The Descendants
Alexander Payne, director; Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Meek’s Cutoff
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Take Shelter
Jeff Nichols, director; Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Documentary
WINNER: Better This World (Loteria Films, Picturebox, Motto Pictures and Passion Pictures; ITVS in association with American Documentary
POV)
Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega –directors
Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, Mike Nicholson – producers

Nominees:
Bill Cunningham New York
Richard Press, director; Philip Gefter, producer (Zeitgeist Films)

Hell and Back Again
Danfung Dennis, director; Mike Lerner, Martin Herring, producers (Docurama Films)

The Interrupters
Steve James, director; Alex Kotlowitz, Steve James, producers (The Cinema Guild)

The Woodmans
C. Scott Willis, director; Neil Barrett, Jeff Werner, C. Scott Willis, producers (Lorber Films; Kino Lorber, Inc.)

Best Ensemble Performance
WINNERS: Beginners (Focus Features)
Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos

Nominees:
The Descendants
George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause, Amara Miller, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Margin Call
Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi (Roadside Attractions)

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Elizabeth Olsen, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, Maria Dizzia, Julia Garner, John Hawkes, Louisa Krause, Sarah Paulson (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Take Shelter
Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker, Ray McKinnon, Lisagay Hamilton, Robert Longstreet (Sony Pictures Classics)

Breakthrough Director
WINNER: Dee Rees for Pariah (Focus Features)

Nominees:
Mike Cahill for Another Earth (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Vera Farmiga for Higher Ground (Sony Pictures Classics)
Evan Glodell for Bellflower (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Breakthrough Actor
WINNER: Felicity Jones for Like Crazy (Paramount Vantage)

Nominees:
Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Harmony Santana in Gun Hill Road (Motion Film Group)
Shailene Woodley in The Descendants (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jacob Wysocki in Terri (ATO Pictures)

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
WINNER: Scenes of a Crime
Blue Hadaegh, Grover Babcock - director-producers

Nominees:
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
Madeleine Olnek, director; Laura Terruso, Madeleine Olnek, producers

Green
Sophia Takal, director; Lawrence Michael Levine, producer

The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion, directors and producers

Without
Mark Jackson, director; Mark Jackson, Jessica Dimmock, Michael Requa, Jaime Keeling, producers

Second Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
WINNER: Girlfriend
Justin Lerner - director-producer
Jerad Anderson, Kristina Lauren Anderson, Shaun O’Banion - producers

New this year is the Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant. It is a $25,000 cash award for an alumnus of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs, which aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film.

WINNER: Lucy Mulloy, director, UNA NOCHE

Nominees:
Jenny Deller, director, FUTURE WEATHER
Rola Nashef, director, DETROIT UNLEADED