NEW YORK, N.Y. – Award season kicked off with a tie for best feature at the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards as Terrence Malick’s highly imaginative “The Tree of Life” shared the night’s high honour with Mike Mills’ flashback comedy, “Beginners.”
Presenter Tilda Swinton introduced the nominees, but before opening the envelope to reveal the winner, deferred to a prerecorded message on the venue’s large video screens.
The unprecedented ruling was then announced by jury member Natalie Portman, who explained that her peers were faced with the dilemma of being “stuck” when it came to selecting a winner, so they “made a bold and independent decision” and “chose to honour both.”
Swinton then read off the winners’ names and presented the award.
“The Tree of Life,” starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, won the Palm d’Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. “Beginners” was released last year and stars Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.
Other winners included Felicity Jones for breakthrough actor in “Like Crazy,” the cast of “Beginners” for ensemble cast and “Scenes of a Crime” for best film not playing at a theatre near you. The audience award went to “Girlfriend,” a film about a young man with Down syndrome who has a crush on a troubled single mother.
Hosted by Edie Falco and Oliver Platt, the presenters were mostly darlings of the independent film world like Stanley Tucci, Melissa Leo, actress and directorial nominee Vera Farmiga and Swinton.
“Independent film is my amniotic fluid. It’s like the sea I swim in,” Swinton said when she arrived.
This year’s Gotham tributes went to director David Cronenberg, film executive Tom Rothman, actor Gary Oldman and actress Charlize Theron.
Actor-comedian Patton Oswalt introduced Theron, then made self-deprecating jokes while standing next to her at the podium.
“I’m only here because I’m armpit height,” the much shorter Oswalt said. Later he said: “I feel like you’re accepting me for the award.”
“The irony is that you are the award,” Theron joked.
The pair star in the upcoming dark comedy “Young Adult,” written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman.
Theron called Reitman “one the best directors” she has ever worked with, and thanked her mother, who was sitting next to him, “for giving me the character and the strength to be who I am.”
Before the ceremony, Theron said the best award she ever got was that she “never had to get a second job to pay the bills.”
The Gotham Independent Film Awards are presented by the Independent Feature Project, the largest organization in the United States committed to independent film.
Since its inception in 1991, Gotham Independent Film Awards have honoured many Oscar-nominated films, including Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker.”
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Associated Press Writer Nicole Evatt contributed to this report.
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John Carucci covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/jcarucci_ap
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