On this chill autumn Monday, we’ll take another brief break from our recitation of those Oscar-contender pics that’ll draw you (or should draw you) to your local multiplex to screen the best American flicks of the year. Today, though, we’ll indulge ourself with the first of our ‘lists’ posts.
Anyone who knows VanRamblings knows just how much we love lists, ‘best of’ lists, critics’ lists, Oscar-contender lists, and more. Mid-and-late autumn is nirvana time for VanRamblings, from the release of the Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards lists through to the prestigious New York Times Film Critics’ and the Los Angeles Film Critics’ awards, our friends have to set their phones to stun, as VanRamblings regales our poor woebegotten mes amis with one list after another. And it was always thus. We love our birthday, we love our lists. God has written such must be the case, and who are we to dispute the word of the Almighty? Or something like that.
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) has unveiled nominees for the 22nd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, with 26 films named in Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Ensemble Performance, Breakthrough Director, Best Actor and “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” categories. Indie favourites Beasts of the Southern Wild, Bernie, Middle of Nowhere, and Moonrise Kingdom received two nominations each. The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 26th at the Cipriani Wall Street in New York. We’ll report out on the winners.
Although The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg suggests that it may be a foolhardy exercise to try to decipher Academy Awards implications in the release of IFP’s Gotham nominees — which each year champion American indie films — IFP is first out of the gate in the awards sweepstakes Oscar game, and despite the eccentricities of the IFP selection process (“the nominations reflect nothing more than the tastes of five-person committees comprised of distinguished film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators,” avers Feinberg), the early Gothams “often serve an important purpose by calling attention to some films that might not otherwise receive it, sometimes in a few of the categories below, but always in the best documentary category.” As such, the Gothams have value.
Here, then, are the Gotham Independent Award nominees for 2012:
Best Feature
Bernie - Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Ginger Sledge, Celine Rattray, Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer, Matt Williams, David McFadzean, Judd Payne, Dete Meserve, producers (Millennium Entertainment)
The Loneliest Planet - Julia Loktev, director; Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Helge Albers, Marie Therese Guirgis, producers (Sundance Selects)
The Master - Paul Thomas Anderson, director; Joanne Sellar, Daniel Lupi, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison, producers (The Weinstein Company)
Middle of Nowhere - Ava DuVernay, director; Howard Barish, Ava DuVernay, Paul Garnes, producers (AFFRM and Participant Media)
Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson, director; Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, producers (Focus Features)
Best Documentary
Detropia - Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, directors; Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Craig Atkinson, producers (Loki Films)
How to Survive a Plague - David France, director; Howard Gertler, David France, producers (Sundance Selects)
Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present - Matthew Akers, director; Jeff Dupre, Maro Chermayeff, producers (HBO Documentary Films and Music Box Films)
Room 237 - Rodney Ascher, director; Tim Kirk, producer (IFC Midnight)
The Waiting Room - Peter Nicks, director; Peter Nicks, Linda Davis, William B. Hirsch, producers (International Film Circuit)
Best Ensemble Performance
Bernie - Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey (Millennium Entertainment)
Moonrise Kingdom - Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban (Focus Features)
Safety Not Guaranteed - Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere, Kristen Bell, Jeff Garlin, Mary Lynn Rajskub (Film District)
Silver Linings Playbook - Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupam Kher (The Weinstein Company)
Your Sister’s Sister - Emily Blunt, Rosemarie Dewitt, Mark Duplass (IFC Films)
Breakthrough Director
Zal Batmanglij for Sound of My Voice (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky for Francine (Factory 25 and The Film Sales Company)
Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin for Now, Forager (Argot Pictures)
Antonio Míyndez Esparza for Aquí Allá (Here and There) (Torch Films)
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Breakthrough Actor
Mike Birbiglia in Sleepwalk with Me (IFC Films)
Emayatzy Corinealdi in Middle of Nowhere (AFFRM and Participant Media)
Thure Lindhardt in Keep the Lights On (Music Box Films)
Melanie Lynskey in Hello, I Must Be Going (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Kid-Thing - David Zellner, director; Nathan Zellner, Producer
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty - Terence Nance, director; Terence Nance, Andrew Corkin, James Bartlett, producers
Red Flag - Alex Karpovsky, director; Alex Karpovsky, Michael Bowes, producers
Sun Don’t Shine - Amy Seimetz, director; Kim Sherman, Amy Seimetz, producers
Tiger Tail in Blue - Frank V. Ross, director; Adam Donaghey, Drew Durepos, producers
