25TH ANNUAL GOTHAM INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS

It may seem a wee bit early to be proclaiming the "best of the year", considering it's only October and some of the potential nominees haven't even been released in theaters yet. Regardless, the Gotham Independent Film Awards are the first to announce their nominations. This collective of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators determine the nominees while separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers and editors will be involved in deciding the final winners.

I'm thrilled that two of my favorite films of the year received major recognition. "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" received the most nominations with four including Best Feature and Best Actress for Bel Powley while "Tangerine" was awarded three for Best Feature and Best Breakthrough Actor noms for the leads, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor. I'm hoping this is just the beginning for these great films and the nominations will bring more overdue attention to them. I'm also happy to see that veterans, Blythe Danner ("I'll See You In My Dreams") and Lily Tomlin ("Grandma") are up for Best Actress and the Brian Wilson bio, "Love & Mercy" and Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" received Best Screenplay nominations.

The 25th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards will be held in New York on November 30th at Cipriani Wall Street, and will also honor filmmaker Todd Haynes, actors Robert Redford and Helen Mirren, and producer Steve Golin. Here is the list of nominations:

BEST FEATURE:

"Carol"
"The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
"Heaven Knows What"
"Spotlight"
"Tangerine"

BEST SCREENPLAY:

Phyllis Nagy, "Carol"
Marielle Heller, "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner, "Love & Mercy"
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, "Spotlight"
Noah Baumbach, "While We're Young"

BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD:

Desiree Akhavan, "Appropriate Behavior"
Jonas Carpigano, "Mediterranea"
Marielle Heller, "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
John Magary, "The Mend"
Josh Mond, "James White"

BEST ACTOR:

Christopher Abbott,"James White"
Kevin Corrigan, "Results"
Paul Dano, "Love & Mercy"
Peter Sarsgaard, "Experimenter"
Michael Shannon, "99 Homes"

BEST ACTRESS:

Cate Blanchett, "Carol"
Blythe Danner, "I’ll See You in My Dreams"
Brie Larson, "Room"
Bel Powley, "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
Lily Tomlin, "Grandma"
Kristen Wiig, "Welcome to Me"

BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR:

Rory Culkin, "Gabriel"
Arielle Holmes, "Heaven Knows What"
Lola Kirke, "Mistress America"
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, "Tangerine"
Mya Taylor, "Tangerine"

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

"Approaching the Elephant"
"Cartel Land"
"Heart of a Dog"
"Listen to Me Marlon"
"The Look of Silence"