Kathryn Bigelow's hard-hitting war drama The Hurt Locker has emerged as an early Oscar favorite after picking up a string of nominations for the upcoming Gotham Independent Film Awards, one of the season's first big prizegivings.
The movie will be up against Amreeka, Big Fan, The Maid and A Serious Man in the Best Feature category, while star Jeremy Renner will fight for the Breakthrough Actor prize, and he and his castmates are up for Best Ensemble Performance.
Meanwhile, director Bigelow will be among the filmmakers and stars honored with tributes at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, held in New York on Nov. 30. Natalie Portman, Stanley Tucci and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will also be presented with career tributes.
Meanwhile, Chris Rock's Good Hair will compete with Food, Inc., My Neighbor, My Killer, Paradise and Tyson for the Best Documentary prize, and Cruz Angeles (Don't Let Me Down), Frazer Bradshaw (Everything Strange and New), Noah Buschel (The Missing Person), Derick Martini (Lymelife) and Robert Siegel (Big Fan) will fight for the Breakthrough Director award.
Up against Renner in the Breakthrough Actor category are Ben Foster (The Messenger), comedian Patton Oswalt (Big Fan), Catalina Saavedra (The Maid) and Souleymane Sy Savane (Goodbye Solo).
Adventureland, Cold Souls, A Serious Man and Sugar will compete with The Hurt Locker for the Best Ensemble Performance honor.
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