The Gothams big heart "Ballast."

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By Alison Willmore on 10/20/2008

Filed under: Awards

Lance Hammer's self-distributed Sundance hit "Ballast" is the favorite amongst the Gotham Awards nominees, with the film's four nominations including Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Breakthrough Director and Best Breakthrough Actor.

The Gothams are now officially called the "Gotham Independent Film Awards," and while their criteria for which films can be nominated are not as stringent as those of the Spirit Awards, which give a budget cap, this year's awards have been limited to films that have received a "theatrical release through a specialty division of a studio, an independent distributor or via self-distribution" -- no more "The Departed."

The full list of nominees can be found at indieWIRE; here are the nominees for Best Feature:

Best Feature

Ballast Lance Hammer, director; Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh, producers (Alluvial Film Company)
Frozen River
Courtney Hunt, director; Heather Rae, Chip Hourihan, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Synecdoche, New York
Charlie Kaufman, director; Anthony Bregman, Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Visitor
Tom McCarthy, director; Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London, producers (Overture Films)

The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, director; Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

[Photo: "Ballast," Alluvial Film Company, 2008]