Streep, DaFoe, Portman, Platt & More Set for 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, 11/30

According to Variety, the 19th Annual Independent Film Award ceremony is shaping up to be a starry evening.  Presenters include Meryl Streep, Joel and Ethan Coen, Willem Dafoe, Ellen Burstyn, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Anthony Mackie, Oliver Platt, Jim Sheridan and Brooke Shields. The event will be hosted by Comedian Kumail Nanjiani at the ceremony, which will take place at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan.

Nanjiani is a featured writer and performer on Comedy Central's "Michael and Michael Have Issues." He has appeared on the cabler's "The Colbert Report." He has a role in upcoming comedy "Life as We Know It" with Katherine Heigl.

The awards committee will present six prizes in The categories of Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble, and Best Film not Playing at a Theater Near You. Top nominees include "The Hurt Locker" and "Big Fan," recognized in three categories.

Career tribute honorees include director Kathryn Bigelow, actors Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

The nominees in each of the 6 categories are:

Best Feature:
"Amreeka"
"Big Fan"
"The Hurt Locker"
"The Maid"
"A Serious Man"

Best Documentary:
"Food, Inc."
"Good Hair"
"My Neighbor My Killer"
"Paradise"
"Tyson"

Breakthrough Director:
Cruz Angeles, "Don't Let Me Down"
Frazer Bradshaw, "Everything Strange and New"
Noah Buschel, "The Missing Person"
Derick Martini, "Lymelife"
Robert Siegel, "Big Fan"

Breakthrough Actor:
Ben Foster, "The Messenger"
Patton Oswalt, "Big Fan"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"
Catalina Saavedra, "The Maid"
Soulémane Sy Savané, "Goodbye Solo"

Best Ensemble Performance:
"Adventureland"
"Cold Souls"
"The Hurt Locker,"
"A Serious Man"
"Sugar"

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You:
"Everything Strange and New"
"Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench"
"October Country"
"You Won't Miss Me"
"Zero Bridge"

The awards are sponsored by the Independent Filmmaker Project, the nation's oldest and largest organization of indie filmmakers.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.   

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.