18th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Nominations

With these nominations the American award season officially kicks-off and today IPF announced the nominees for the 2008 awards that honors American Independent Cinema and which will take place on December 2nd at New York City.

Best Feature

Ballast, Lance Hammer
Frozen River, Courtney Hunt
Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman
The Visitor, Tom McCarthy
The Wrestler, Daren Aronofsky

Breakthrough Director

Antonio Campos for Afterschool
Dennis Dortch for A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy
Lance Hammer for Ballast
Barry Jenkins for Medicine for Melancholy
Alex Rivera for Sleep Dealer

Best Ensemble Performance

Ballast
Rachel Getting Married
Synecdoche, New York
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

Breakthrough Actor

Pedro Castaneda for August Evening
Rosemarie DeWitt for Rachel Getting Married
Rebecca Hall for Vicky Christina Barcelona
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Micheal J. Smith, Sr. for Ballast

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You (Love this category!)

Afterschool, Antonio Campos
Meadowlark, Taylor Greeson
The New Year Parade, Tom Quinn
Sita Sings the Blues, Nina Paley
Wellness, Jake Mahaffy

Best Documentary

Chris & Don: A Love Story, Guido Santi and Tina Mascara
Encounters at the End of the World, Werner Herzog
Man on Wire, James Marsh
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Maria Zenovich
Trouble the Water, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

To check the official press release go here.

On other news, Tributes will be presented to actress Penelope Cruz, director Gus Van Sant, actor and director Melvin Van Peebles and president of HBO Documentary Films Sheila Nevins. More information can be found at the official site.