Girl Power: Debra Granik, Lena Dunham and Cholodenko Lead 20th Gotham Award Noms

An ode to last year’s big winner Kathryn Bigelow, the 20th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were announced this afternoon and Debra Granik’s backwoods drama “Winter’s Bone” leads all the nominations with a total of three, while Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture) and Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) each end up with a pair of noms reminding us that there is some definite indiegrrrl power rising to the occasion this year. Last year, Bigelow took home the Best Feature prize, but it’ll be difficult for Granik and Cholodenko to make it two for two as they’ll have to contend with another Sundance film in Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine which should reign supreme in the category which also includes Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and surprise, but much appreciated nom for Matt Reeves’ Let Me In.

I’m a bit peeved by the Breakthrough Director category nominations (all listed below) which favored subpar efforts from some Park City first-timers over such bona fide debuts from the talented David Robert Mitchell (SXSW and Cannes’ The Myth of the American Sleepover) and Alistair Banks Griffin (Cannes’ Two Gates of Sleep). Update: The rules actually state that films: must be scheduled for a theatrical or digital platform or Pay TV release during calendar year 2010 (Midnight January 1 – 11:59 pm December 31). Neither of the two I mention above fall into this category. Look for these names to pop up next year.

I’m glad to see that they picked Ronnie Bronstein’s neurotic father character as a Breakthrough Actor – a highlight of my Cannes experience in 2009, but ditto perplexity on the decision to name of Greta Gerwig and Jennifer Lawrence to the category. Did the selection committee not see them own the screen respectively in Hannah Takes the Stairs and The Burning Plain? Look for Lawrence to take this award, and perhaps second this nomination with an Oscar one for this “breakout role”.

MoMA’s Joshua Siegel and Filmmaker Magazine’s Scott Macaulay, Livia Bloom, Jason Guerrasio, Brandon Harris, Ray Pride and Alicia Van Couvering helped select the titles that make up my favorite category out of the seven which is the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You (the five selected titles deserve a mention on their own).

Best Feature
Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Blue Valentine – Derek Cianfrance (The Weinstein Company)
The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko (Focus Features)
Let Me In – Matt Reeves (Overture Films)
Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik (Roadside Attractions)

Best Documentary
12th & Delaware – Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (HBO Documentary Films)
Inside Job – Charles Ferguson (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Oath – Laura Poitras (Zeitgeist Films and American Documentary/POV)
Public Speaking – Martin Scorsese (HBO Documentary Films)
Sweetgrass – Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash (Cinema Guild)

Best Ensemble Performance
The Kids Are All Right – Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson
Life During Wartime – Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renée Taylor, Michael Kenneth Williams
Please Give – Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert, Lois Smith, Sarah Steele, Thomas Ian Nicholas
Tiny Furniture – Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, Rachel Howe, Merritt Wever, Amy Seimetz, Alex Karpovsky, David Call, Jemima Kirke, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Garland Hunter, Isen Hunter
Winter’s Bone – Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan

Breakthrough Director
John Wells for The Company Men (The Weinstein Company)
Kevin Asch for Holy Rollers (First Independent Pictures)
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa for I Love You Phillip Morris (Roadside Attractions)
Tanya Hamilton for Night Catches Us (Magnolia Pictures)
Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture (IFC Films)

Breakthrough Actor
Prince Adu in Prince of Broadway (Elephant Eye Films)
Ronald Bronstein in Daddy Longlegs (IFC Films)
Greta Gerwig in Greenberg (Focus Features)
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions)
John Ortiz in Jack Goes Boating (Overture Films)

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Kati with an i – Robert Greene, director; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, producers
Littlerock – Mike Ott, director; Frederick Thornton, Laura Ragsdale, Sierra Leoni, producers
On Coal River – Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood, directors; Jillian Elizabeth, Adams Wood, Francine Cavanaugh, producers
Summer Pasture – Lynn True and Nelson Walker, directors/producers; Tsering Perlo, co-director/co-producer
The Wolf Knife – Laurel Nakadate, director/producer