Gotham Awards: ‘The Descendants’, ‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’, ‘Beginners’ And ‘Take Shelter’ Lead Nominations

New York, NY (November 9, 2011) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers announced today that award winning actors, Oliver Platt and Edie Falco, will serve as co-hosts of the IFP’s Gotham Independent Film Awards™ show on Monday, November 28th, 2011 in New York City. Also announced today are the Top 5 nominees for the Gotham Independent Film Audience Award. First round voting took place from October 18th to November 2nd and comprised 29 audience awards winning films from the top 50 US and Canadian film festivals. Round two voting began on November 7th to select a final winner and ends on November 20th at 11:59 pm EST. Filmgoers can vote online for their favorite film at http://gotham.ifp.org/audience_award. The Top 5 Nominees for the 2nd Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award powered by Festival Genius are:

GIRLFRIEND

Director/Producer: Justin Lerner

Producers: Jerad Anderson, Kristina Lauren Anderson, Shaun O’Banion

BUCK

Director: Cindy Meehl

Producer: Julie Goldman

BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY

Director/Producer: Constance Marks

Co-Director/Writer/Editor: Philip Shane

Producer: Corinne LaPook

Producer/Cinematographer: James Miller

WILD HORSE, WILD RIDE

Directors/Producers Alex Dawson and Greg Gricus

THE FIRST GRADER

Director: Justin Chadwick

Producers: Sam Feuer, Richard Harding, David M. Thompson