Nominees Announced for the 23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards By IFP

by Website Update on October 24, 2013

Monday, December 2^ndat Cipriani Wall Street

Nominations Honor 23 Films

12 Years a Slave Receives Three Nominations

Blue Caprice, Concussion, Fruitvale Station, Inside Llewyn Davis,

And Upstream Color Receive Two Nominations Each

New York, NY (October 24, 2013) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier advocacy organization for independent filmmakers, announced today the nominees for the 23^rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards by IFP. The Gotham Awards is one of the leading awards for independent film and signals the kick-off to the film awards season. For 2013, the seven competitive awards include Best Feature, Best Actress (presenting sponsor euphoria Calvin Klein), Best Actor, Best Documentary, the Audience Award, Breakthrough Actor, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director. The winner of the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award will receive an unrestricted grant of $15,000, courtesy of presenting sponsor Royal Bank of Canada. In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes will be given to actor Forest Whitaker, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s Katherine Oliver, and director Richard Linklater (presenting sponsor Russian Standard Vodka).

As the first major awards ceremony of the film season, the Gotham Independent Film Awards™ by IFP provide critical early recognition and media attention to worthy independent films. The awards are also unique for their ability to assist in catapulting award recipients prominently into national awards season attention, including recent winners and ultimate Oscar® contenders.

“The Gotham Awards celebrate and showcase the very best of the vibrant, entertaining, challenging, and innovative films presented by our community, and help new audiences discover this vital work. We congratulate this year’s master film artists, talented newcomers, and other nominees representing the rich and diverse spectrum of today’s independent filmmaking,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “We also want to thank our nominating committees of film critics, journalists, programmers and film curators for their dedication to selecting the nominees from so many worthy submissions.”

Primary criteria for nomination consideration includes that the works be independent American feature-length films (US-based or US-born directors and producers) made with a point of view and with an economy of means. Newly added in 2013 are the Best Actor and Best Actress awards, which honor outstanding achievement by actors “in a leading or significant featured role.” For a complete list of criteria, see http://gotham.ifp.org.

Nominees are selected by committees of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films will determine the final Gotham Award recipients.

The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, December 2nd at Cipriani Wall Street.

The 2013 Gotham Independent Film Award nominations are:

Best Feature

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen, director; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas, producers. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

David Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Amy Kaufman, Cassian Elwes, producers (IFC Films)

Before Midnight

Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Sara Woodhatch, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Inside Llewyn Davis

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors; Scott Rudin, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, producers (CBS Films)

Upstream Color

Shane Carruth, director; Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair, producers. (erbp)

Best Documentary

The Act of Killing

Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge, Joshua Oppenheimer, producers (Drafthouse Films)

The Crash Reel

Lucy Walker, director; Julian Cautherley, Lucy Walker, producers (HBO Documentary Films and Phase 4 Films)

First Cousin Once Removed

Alan Berliner, director and producer (HBO Documentary Films)

Let the Fire Burn

Jason Osder, director and producer (Zeitgeist Films)

Our Nixon

Penny Lane, director; Brian L. Frye, Penny Lane, producers (Cinedigm and CNN Films)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)

Adam Leon for Gimme the Loot (Sundance Selects)

Alexandre Moors for Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)

Stacie Passon for Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)

Amy Seimetz for Sun Don’t Shine (Factory 25)

Best Actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (CBS Films)

Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

Robert Redford in All Is Lost (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)

Isaiah Washington in Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)

Scarlett Johansson in Don Jon (Relativity Media)

Brie Larson in Short Term 12 (Cinedigm)

Amy Seimetz in Upstream Color (erbp)

Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now (A24)

Breakthrough Actor

Dane DeHaan in Kill Your Darlings (Sony Pictures Classics)

Kathryn Hahn in Afternoon Delight (The Film Arcade and Cinedigm)

Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)

Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Robin Weigert in Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)

Fifteen writers, critics and programmers participated in the nomination process, considering 203 eligible submissions. The Nominating Committees for the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards were:

Nominating Committee for Best Feature and Breakthrough Director:

Scott Foundas, Lead Film Critic, Variety

Eric Kohn, Lead Film Critic, Indiewire

Christy Lemire, Film Critic, ChristyLemire.com and co-host, What the Flick?!

Andrew O’Hehir, Film Critic, Salon.com

Dana Stevens, Movie Critic, Slate

Nominating Committee for Best Actor, Best Actress, and Breakthrough Actor:

Justin Chang, Senior Film Critic, Variety

Noah Cowan, Artistic Director, TIFF Bell Lightbox

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post Film and Theater Film Critic

David Rooney, Film & Theater Critic, The Hollywood Reporter

Leah Rozen, freelance entertainment writer

Nominating Committee for Best Documentary:

Charlotte Cook, Director of Programming, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
Ben Fowlie, Founder & Executive Director, Camden International Film Festival

Cynthia Fuchs, Film-TV Editor, PopMatters

Mike Maggiore, Programmer and Publicist, Film Forum

Sky Sitney, Festival Director, AFI Docs

Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ Grant

For the third consecutive year, IFP is proud present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film.

The nominees are:

Afia Nathaniel, director, Dukhtar

Gita Pullapilly, director, Beneath the Harvest Sky

Deb Shoval, director, AWOL

The winner of this grant in 2012 was Stacie Passon for Concussion, a Gotham Award nominee this year for the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award.

Gotham Independent Film Audience Award

The 4th Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award will be voted on again by the independent film community, 230,000 film fans worldwide. To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at one of the top 50 U.S. or Canadian film festivals from December 2012 through October 2013. Voting begins today at http://gotham.ifp.org/audience_award for the 34 films on the eligibility list. The nominees will be announced November 8, and the winner will be revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony.

2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards by IFP– Alphabetical List of Nominated Films

12 Years a Slave

Best Feature

Best Actor

Breakthrough Actor

The Act of Killing

Best Documentary

Afternoon Delight

Breakthrough Actor

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

Best Feature

All Is Lost

Best Actor

Before Midnight

Best Feature

Blue Caprice

Breakthrough Director

Best Actor

Blue Jasmine

Best Actress

The Crash Reel

Best Documentary

Concussion

Breakthrough Director

Breakthrough Actor

Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actor

Don Jon

Best Actress

First Cousin Once Removed

Best Documentary

Fruitvale Station

Breakthrough Director

Breakthrough Actor

Gimme the Loot

Breakthrough Director

Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Feature

Best Actor

Kill Your Darlings

Breakthrough Actor

Let the Fire Burn

Best Documentary

Our Nixon

Best Documentary

Short Term 12

Best Actress

The Spectacular Now

Best Actress

Sun Don’t Shine

Breakthrough Director

Upstream Color

Best Feature

Best Actress

About IFP

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) is the premier advocacy organization for independent filmmakers, championing the future of storytelling in the digital age by fostering a vibrant and sustainable independent filmmaking community. IFP has supported over 7,000 films and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers over its 34-year history, developing 350 new feature and documentary films each year. IFP represents a growing network of 10,000 filmmakers in New York City and around the world.

IFP guides filmmakers in the art, technology, and business of independent filmmaking through its year-round programming and with the introduction of the state-of-the-art Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where storytellers from multiple disciplines, industries, and platforms create, collaborate, and connect.

In addition to its workshops, seminars, conferences, mentorships, and Filmmaker Magazine, IFP’s annual programs include Independent Film Week^TM, Envision^TM, The Gotham Independent Film Awards^TM, and the Independent Filmmaker Labs^TM.

Founded in 1979, IFP is the largest and oldest not-for-profit dedicated to independent film. More info at www.ifp.org

About the Gotham Independent Film Awards by IFP

The Gotham Independent Film Awards, selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that IFP does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition.

For information on attending: http://gotham.ifp.org

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