NYFF52 Closing Night film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is among the films nominated for the Gotham Award for Best Feature, leading a number of New York Film Festival titles to receive nods. The film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu also received a Best Actor nomination for Michael Keaton. Richard Linklater's Boyhood lead the Gothams nominations Thursday with four, including Best Picture. Rounding out the category was Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, which screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center soon after its debut at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival in February as well as Ira Sachs's Love Is Strange. Sachs was this year's recipient of the NewFest Visionary Award at the Film Society in July.

Laura Poitras's CITIZENFOUR, which had its World Premiere at NYFF52 earlier this month, received a nomination for Best Documentary. The film was joined in the nonfiction category by Robert Greene's Actress, which screened as the Closing Night film of the inaugural Art of the Real series at the Film Society last spring. The 2013 NYFF doc Manakamana also received a nomination along with Steve James's ode to the late critic Roger Ebert, Life Itself and Marshall Curry's Point and Shoot.

Also receiving nominations were A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Dear White People, and Obvious Child, which were all featured at New Directors/New Films earlier this year.

In all, 24 films received nominations for this year's Gothams, which is organized by the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP). In addition, the nominating committee for the Best Actor category voted to award a Special Jury Award jointly to the three leading actors in Foxcatcher—Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum—for their ensemble work. The film by Bennett Miller screened at the recent NYFF. Also nominated for Best Actor is Miles Teller who starred opposite J.K. Simmons in Whiplash which played at the festival.

“Each year the Gotham Awards honor the best work from our independent storytellers and help new audiences discover their work.  We congratulate this year’s nominees, from the master film artists to the talented newcomers, a true representation of the rich and diverse range of today’s independent filmmaking,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “We are grateful to our nominating committees of film critics, journalists, programmers and film curators for their dedication to selecting the nominees from so many worthy submissions.”

Nominees are selected by committees of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and others directly involved in making films will determine the final Gotham Award recipients.
 
The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, December 1 at Cipriani Wall Street.
 
The 2014 Gotham Independent Film Award nominations are:
 
Best Feature

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
 
Boyhood
Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, producers (IFC Films)
 
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson, director; Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
 
Love Is Strange
Ira Sachs, director; Lucas Joaquin, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
 
Under the Skin
Jonathan Glazer, director; Nick Wechsler, James Wilson, producers (A24 Films)
 
Best Documentary

Actress
Robert Greene, director; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, Robert Greene, producers (The Cinema Guild)
 
CITIZENFOUR
Laura Poitras, director; Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky, producers (RADiUS, Participant Media, and HBO Documentary Films)
 
Life Itself
Steve James, director; Zak Piper, Steve James, Garrett Basch, producers (Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films)
 
Manakamana
Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, directors; Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, producers (The Cinema Guild)
 
Point and Shoot
Marshall Curry, director; Marshall Curry, Elizabeth Martin, Matthew Van Dyke, producers (The Orchard and American Documentary / POV)
 
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Kino Lorber)
James Ward Byrkit for Coherence (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)
Eliza Hittman for It Felt Like Love (Variance Films)
Justin Simien for Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
 
Best Actor*

Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood (IFC Films)
Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year (A24 Films)
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Miles Teller in Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)
 
* The 2014 Best Actor nominating panel also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum for their ensemble performance in Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics).
 
Best Actress

Patricia Arquette in Boyhood (IFC Films)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Beyond the Lights (Relativity Media)
Julianne Moore in Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics)
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin (A24 Films)
Mia Wasikowska in Tracks (The Weinstein Company)
 
Breakthrough Actor

Riz Ahmed in Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)
Macon Blair in Blue Ruin (RADiUS)
Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood (IFC Films)
Joey King in Wish I Was Here (Focus Features)
Jenny Slate in Obvious Child (A24 Films)
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
 
Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” Grant
For the fourth consecutive year, IFP is proud present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution, and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film.
 
The nominees are:
 
Garrett Bradley, director, Below Dreams
Claire Carré, director, Embers
Chloé Zhao, director, Songs My Brothers Taught Me