Nominees Announced for the 1st Ever Festival Genius Audience Award

Last night, at the Alfred Dunhill store in New York City, actor Oliver Platt (The Big C, Please Give) took the stage to announce the nominees for the first ever FESTIVAL GENIUS AUDIENCE AWARD. The award, presented by IFP and Slated (Owner of Festival Genius) will be given out on November 29^th at the 20th Anniversary Gothams Independent Film Awards.

The Festival Genius Audience Award celebrates this year’s audience award winners from across the top 50 US and Canadian film festivals. True to the democratic spirit of the independent film community, all nominees were determined through online voting. Over 12,000 votes came in to narrow the initial list of twenty-six films down to five. Those nominees are:

Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik, also nominated for three other Gotham Awards including Best Feature, Best Ensemble and Breakthrough Actor for Jennifer Lawrence. Winter’s Bone won the audience award for feature film at the 2010 San Francisco and Traverse City Film Festivals.

Waiting for Superman, directed by Davis Guggenheim, which won the audience award for documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

White Irish Drinkers, directed by John Gray, which won the audience award for feature film at the 2010 Woodstock Film Festival.

9000 Needles, directed by Doug Dearth, which won the audience award for best documentary at the 2010 Phoenix Film Festival.

Brotherhood, directed by Will Canon, which won the audience award for best feature at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW).

Voting to select the final winner starts today at http://gothamawards.slated.com, and will end on November 29th at 5 pm EST. One lucky voter will win a night’s stay at the Andaz Wall Street in New York City plus two tickets to the Gotham Awards.

As the first major award show of the film season, the Gotham Independent Film Awards provides critical early recognition and media attention to worthy independent films. This new award will be presented alongside other competitive categories including: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You. This year, actors Robert Duvall and Hilary Swank, director Darren Aronofsky and Focus Features CEO, James Schamus, will each be presented with career tributes.

Check out http://gothams.ifp.org for a full list of nominees, and don’t forget to visit http://gothamawards.slated.com to vote. Then, tune to http://www.ifp.org on the evening of November 29^th to live-stream the entire award show.

We’ll see you there!

Watch Elvis Mitchell Announce the Gotham Award Nominees!

Countdown to the Gotham Awards -- One Week!

Exactly on week from now, at the elegant Cipriani Wall Street, the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, hosted by comedian Kumail Nanjiani will take place. Indie film heavyweights including Joel and Ethan Coen, Willem Dafoe, Anthony Mackie, Oliver Platt, Jim Sheridan, Brooke Shields and Meryl Streep will all present awards at the celebratory affair. As a remind, here are the nominees for the awards, announced by A.O. "Tony" Scott last month at Norwood. For the first time this year, IFP will stream the entire awards show live on UStream, so if you can't afford the ticket, do tune in online. Details to be announced in the next couple of days.

Free Webcam Chat at Ustream

Best Films Not Playing at a Theatre Near You are Coming to a Theatre Near You (If you live in New York that is)

One of the signature programs of IFP's Gotham Independent Film Awards, The Best Film Not Playing at a Theatre Near You is a highlight of the holiday season.



For the fourth year running, MoMA’s Department of Film, in association with IFP and its quarterly publication Filmmaker, screens the five nominees for the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award. The nominees were selected by senior members of the Filmmaker editorial staff—Scott Macaulay, Jason Guerrasio, Brandon Harris, Ray Pride, and Alicia Van Couvering—and by Joshua Siegel, associate curator in MoMA’s Department of Film. The five nominees represent this year's best American independent films on the festival circuit that have yet to be picked up for theatrical distribution.

They are:

Mike Palmieri and Donal Mosher's beautifully photographed exploration of family, OCTOBER COUNTRY, which has taken the film festival world by storm.

Ry Russo-Young's YOU WON'T MISS ME , which features an astonishing performance by Stella Schnabel and premiered at January's Sundance Film Festival.

Tariq Tapa's ZERO BRIDGE, filmed entirely
in the war-torn city of Srinagar, Kashmir, with a cast of first-time actors and a one-man crew.

Frazer Bradshaw's directorial debut, EVERYTHING STRANGE AND NEW, a haunting film about the disappointment of growing up and the inevitable fracturing of relationships.

And finally, GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH, a delightful musical mash-up directed by Damien Chazelle.

Don't miss this incredible chance to see films that have not been widely distributed. Buy tickets here.

A.O. Scott Announces the Gotham Nominees

About the Independent Filmmaker Conference and IFP

About IFP's Independent Filmmaker Conference

Running concurrently with the 31^st Independent Film Week (formerly IFP Market), the Conference addresses creative initiatives, critical technology, current issues, and global marketplace trends through diverse panel discussions, case studies, and keynotes. The Conference is a must-attend social networking opportunity for creative professionals wanting access to the discussion on filmmaking in the current landscape – and where it’s heading next.

About IFP

After debuting with a program in the 1979 New York Film Festival, the nonprofit IFP has evolved into the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, and also the premier advocate for them. Since its start, IFP has supported the production of 7,000 films and provided resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers' voices that otherwise might not have been heard. IFP believes that independent films broaden the palette of cinema, seeding the global culture with new ideas, kindling awareness, and fostering activism.

Currently, IFP represent 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 (there are special programs to promote racial, ethnic, religious, ideological, gender, and sexual diversity). IFP builds audiences by hosting screenings, often in collaboration with other cultural institutions and also bestows the Gotham Independent Film Awards™, the first honors of the film awards season. When all is said and done, IFP fosters the development of 350 feature and documentary films each year.