Gotham Independent Film Awards 2008
Encyclopedia
Best Film
Frozen RiverFrozen River
Frozen River is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Courtney Hunt. The screenplay focuses on two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada to the United States in order to make ends meet...
- BallastBallast (film)Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography...
- Synecdoche, New YorkSynecdoche, New YorkSynecdoche, New York is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was Kaufman's directorial debut.The film premiered in competition at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2008...
- The VisitorThe Visitor (2008 film)The Visitor is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy and produced by Michael London and Mary Jane Skalski. Executive producers were Jeff Skoll and Omar Amanat...
- The Wrestler
Best Ensemble Cast
Synecdoche, New YorkSynecdoche, New York
Synecdoche, New York is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was Kaufman's directorial debut.The film premiered in competition at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2008...
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romance comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall...
- BallastBallast (film)Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography...
- Rachel Getting MarriedRachel Getting MarriedRachel Getting Married is a 2008 drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin and Debra Winger. The film was released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3, 2008. The film opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival. The film also...
- The VisitorThe Visitor (2008 film)The Visitor is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy and produced by Michael London and Mary Jane Skalski. Executive producers were Jeff Skoll and Omar Amanat...
Breakthrough Actor
Melissa LeoMelissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
- Frozen River
Frozen River
Frozen River is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Courtney Hunt. The screenplay focuses on two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada to the United States in order to make ends meet...
- Pedro Castaneda - August EveningAugust EveningAugust Evening is a 2008 film following the relationship between an aging illegal alien farm worker named Jaime and his young, widowed daughter-in-law, Lupe. It was written and directed by Chris Eska, and released on September 5, 2008...
- Rosemarie DeWittRosemarie DeWittRosemarie DeWitt is an American actress. DeWitt played Emily Lehman in the Fox television series Standoff, co-starring her now husband Ron Livingston, from 2006 through 2007, and played Charmaine Craine on Showtime's acclaimed original series, United States of Tara...
- Rachel Getting MarriedRachel Getting MarriedRachel Getting Married is a 2008 drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin and Debra Winger. The film was released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3, 2008. The film opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival. The film also... - Rebecca HallRebecca HallRebecca Maria Hall is an English actress.In 2003, Hall won the Ian Charleson Award for her debut stage performance in a production of Mrs. Warren's Profession...
- Vicky Cristina BarcelonaVicky Cristina BarcelonaVicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romance comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall... - Alejandro Polanco - Chop ShopChop ShopChop Shop a.k.a. Scott Konzelmann, is a noise musician who has released recordings on Pure, RRRecords, Banned Production, V2_Archief and Generator Sound Art....
- Micheal J. Smith, Sr. - BallastBallast (film)Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography...
Breakthrough Director
Lance HammerLance Hammer
Lance Hammer is an award-winning American independent filmmaker. His first film, Ballast, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim....
- Ballast
Ballast (film)
Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography...
- Antonio CamposAntónio CamposAntónio Campos was one of the pioneer filmmakers of visual anthropology in Portugal. Mainly using pure documentary techniques, he shot ethnographic films and tried docufiction...
- AfterschoolAfterschoolAfterschool is a 2008 drama film filmed, written, and directed by Antonio Campos. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival in the program Un Certain Regard... - Dennis Dortch - A Good Day to Be Black and SexyA Good Day to Be Black and SexyA Good Day to Be Black and Sexy is a 2008 film written, directed, produced and edited by Dennis Dortch. The film was originally screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was eventually given a one-week release in one theater, earning $8,629 during its release...
- Barry JenkinsBarry JenkinsColin Ernest "Barry" Jenkins is an English musician, who is best known for being a drummer for The Animals during both of that 1960s group's incarnations....
- Medicine for Melancholy - Alex RiveraAlex RiveraAlex Rivera is a US film maker specialising in films about labor, immigration, and politics-Biography:Alex Rivera, was born in 1973 New York City, New York. His father is a Peruvian immigrant and his mother is an American citizen. Growing up as a bicultural youth in New Jersey, he took an interest...
- Sleep DealerSleep DealerSleep Dealer is a 2008 futuristic science fiction film directed by Alex Rivera.-Plot:'Sleep Dealer' is set in a future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, where three strangers risk their lives to connect with...
Best Documentary Film (Best Documentary Feature)
Trouble the WaterTrouble the Water
Trouble the Water is a 2008 documentary film produced and directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, producers of Fahrenheit 9/11. Trouble the Water is a redemptive tale of a couple surviving failed levees, bungling bureaucrats, and their own troubled past and a portrait of a community abandoned long...
- Chris & Don. A Love StoryChris & DonChris & Don: A Love Story is a 2008 documentary film that chronicles the life-long relationship between author Christopher Isherwood and his much younger lover, artist Don Bachardy. Chris & Don combines present-day interviews, archival footage shot by the couple from the 1950s, excerpts from...
- Encounters at the End of the WorldEncounters at the End of the WorldEncounters at the End of the World is an American documentary film by Werner Herzog completed in 2007. The film studies people and places in Antarctica...
- Man on WireMan on WireMan on Wire is a 2008 British documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title...
- Roman Polanski: Wanted and DesiredRoman Polanski: Wanted and DesiredRoman Polanski: Wanted and Desired is a 2008 documentary film directed by Marina Zenovich. It concerns film director Roman Polanski and his sexual misconduct case...