Lance Hammer’s Ballast Receives Four Nominations including Best Feature, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor and Best Ensemble Performance
Six titles receive two nominations each including Afterschool; Frozen River;
Rachel Getting Married; Synecdoche, New York; Vicky Cristina Barcelona; and
The Visitor
The 18th Annual Gotham Independent Film AwardTM nominees are:
Best Feature
Ballast
Frozen River
Synecdoche, New York
The Visitor
The Wrestler
Best Documentary:
Chris & Don: A Love Story
Encounters at the End of the World
Man on Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Trouble the Water
Best Ensemble Performance
Ballast
Micheal J. Smith, Sr., JimMyron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail (Alluvial Film Company)
Rachel Getting Married
Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Debra Winger (Sony Pictures Classics)
Synecdoche, New York
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Tom Noonan (Sony Pictures Classics)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz (The Weinstein Company)
The Visitor
Richard Jenkins, Hiam Abbas, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira (Overture Films)
Breakthrough Director
Antonio Campos for Afterschool
Dennis Dortch for A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy (Magnolia Pictures)
Lance Hammer for Ballast (Alluvial Film Company)
Barry Jenkins for Medicine for Melancholy (IFC Films)
Alex Rivera for Sleep Dealer (Maya Releasing)
Breakthrough Actor
Pedro Castaneda in August Evening (Maya Releasing)
Rosemarie DeWitt in Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)
Alejandro Polanco in Chop Shop (Koch Lorber Films)
Micheal J. Smith, Sr. in Ballast (Alluvial Film Company)
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near YouTM
Afterschool
Meadowlark
The New Year Parade
Sita Sings the Blues
Wellness
Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance:
Ty Burr, Film Critic, The Boston Globe
Scott Foundas, Film Editor / Film Critic, LA Weekly
Dave Karger, Senior Writer, Entertainment Weekly
Carrie Rickey, Film Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Nominating Committee for Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor:
Cynthia Fuchs, Film Critic, PopMatters and NPR.org
Robert Koehler, Film Critic, Variety
Rob Nelson, Film Critic, Minnesota Post
Andrew O’Hehir, Senior Writer, Salon.com
Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:
Cynthia Fuchs, Film Critic, PopMatters and NPR.org
Owen Gleiberman, Film Critic, Entertainment Weekly
Tom Hall, Director of Programming, Sarasota Film Festival
Ronnie Scheib, Film Critic, Variety
Nominating Committee for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near YouTM:
Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Media, Museum of Modern Art;
and members of the editorial staff of Filmmaker Magazine: Scott Macaulay (Editor-in-Chief), Nick Dawson, Mary Glucksman, Jason Guerrasio, Brandon Harris, Ray Pride
2008 Gotham Independent Film AwardsTM – Alphabetical List of Nominated Films
Afterschool
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee
Breakthrough Director nominee
August Evening
Breakthrough Actor nominee
Ballast
Best Feature nominee
Best Ensemble Performance nominee
Breakthrough Actor nominee
Breakthrough Director nominee
Chop Shop
Breakthrough Actor nominee
Chris & Don: A Love Story
Best Documentary nominee
Encounters at the End of the World
Best Documentary nominee
Frozen River
Best Feature nominee
Breakthrough Actor nominee
A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy
Breakthrough Director nominee
Man on Wire
Best Documentary nominee
Meadowlark
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee
Medicine for Melancholy
Breakthrough Director nominee
The New Year Parade
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee
Rachel Getting Married
Best Ensemble Performance nominee
Breakthrough Actor nominee
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Best Documentary nominee
Sita Sings the Blues
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You nominee
Sleep Dealer
Breakthrough Director nominee
Synecdoche, New York
Best Feature nominee
Best Ensemble Performance nominee
Trouble the Water
Best Documentary nominee
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Ensemble Performance nominee
Breakthrough Actor nominee
The Visitor
Best Feature nominee
Best Ensemble Performance nominee
Wellness
No Response for "Gotham Nominees Announced – Ballast Out in Front"
Synechdoche/Wrestler getting into feature over Vicky Christina and Rachel Getting Married is interesting. We’ll see. I still say people are underestimating Synechdoche, the Academy loves the guy’s work.
You accidentally cut off the movie tallies at the end.
Interesting totals though.
I’m happy to see Afterschool get some love. I saw the movie last week, and it was incredible. As for Synechdoche, saw it last night, and it left me a bit confused. The movie was incredible, but its structure is so complex (which is a good reference to Hoffman’s character’s play, but still…), I don’t think it will get any Best Feature love at the end of the year. Maybe screenplay and acting nods for Hoffman and Samantha Morton (who was truly the standout in the flick).
Can someone explain The Gotha to me? Is it NY-centric?
Nominees for an awards ceremony called Gotham doesn’t include a movie that takes place in a city called Gotham?
The Gothams are independent film awards given out by the East Coast branch of IFP, similar to the Spirit Awards from the West Coast branch. Foreign films aren’t eligible, and the budget usually has to be modest, but I don’t think they have a specific budget cap like the Spirits.
So who’s cooler? East Coast Indies or West Coast Indies?
As ladylurks says, budget is no concern of The Gothams. Into the Wild was not eligible for the Spirit Awards (budget over $20 mil) but it won The Gotham award for best feature. Even The Departed ($90 mil budget) qualified for Gotham nominations.
Yeah, Ryan, you’re right. But they took a lot of flack for the Departed nomination (Tom O’Neil, among others, threw a hissy fit), so they’ve been more circumspect in how they define an “independent film” since then, LOL.
I love all the attention for Frozen River, The Visitor and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Also, glad to see they’ve revived Werner Herzog’s doc, Encounters at the End of the World. It faded fast from theaters, sadly. Nothing for Gonzo? *sigh*
Synecdoche, WOO!
I’m becoming increasingly excited for this movie, so much so that this is probably the most I have ever anticipated a movie in my life. Call me crazy, but after reading the script and seeing the clips/posters/trailer, plus with all of those actors, especially PSH, and my favorite and the most original screenwriter around who is now breaking into directing, I just can’t see how it could do anything but live up to my extremely high expectations.
Sorry if I sound like a crazy fanboy. Man, if this movie ends up failing…
I am shocked at the nominations for Synecdoche. Its hard to believe
that these folks saw the same movie that I did with 1000 others shaking their head at what they had just witnessed. This is a stunning development.
Like Daniel I thought the script for Synecdoche was brilliant, and the clips and trailers suggest the translation to the screen will be spot on. I fully expect that such cerebral and darkly abstracted work is going to inspire champions and haters.
Nancy, I remember how much you hated Synecdoche. And I have read many other bad reviews too. However, there are also tons extremely positive ones (including Kevin Landry with his comment above) which leads me to believe this will definitely be a love it or hate it movie. However, I’m crossing my fingers that I will be in the “love it” category.
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