Gotham Independent Film Awards 2011 Winners: Charlize Theron, 'Tree Of Life,' 'Beginners' And More (PHOTOS)

New YORK — 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 honor with Mike Mills's flashback comedy, "Beginners."

Presenter Tilda Swinton introduced the nominees, but before opening the envelope, 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 her peers were faced with the extraordinary dilemma of being "stuck" when it came to selecting a winner, so they "made a bold and independent decision" and "chose to honor both."

Swinton then read off the winner's names live, and presented the award.

"The Tree of Life" starred Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, and also won the Palm d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. "Beginners" was released last year and stars Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.

Some of the evening's 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 Theater 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, and actress, 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, and 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 ever worked with, and 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 has honored many Oscar-nominated films, including the 2008 winner for best Picture, "The Hurt Locker."

Next week, nominees for the Film Independent Spirit Awards will be announced in Los Angeles.

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Associated Press writer Nicole Evatt contributed to this report.

Online:

http://gotham.ifp.org

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John Carucci covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/jcarucci_ap

PHOTOS (all via Getty):

Comments

[Chlowina]

11:53 PM on 11/29/2011

Kudos to Theron for being comfortable in her skin and not resorting to "two scoops".

[John Wampler]

08:04 PM on 11/29/2011

The annual Gotham Independent Film Awards? Nope, never heard of it. Is that any relation to the Casper Cowpie DVD Rental Award?

[teriswish]

06:26 PM on 11/29/2011

Who are these people................ with a few exceptions .............. complete nobody's.............

[Clare53]

11:14 PM on 11/29/2011

I don't know who many of them are either, but it doesn't make them nobodies because you don't now who they are. Some of them may be very important people in their fields.

[Highball]

04:51 PM on 11/29/2011

Hmm. My comment wasn't allowed, for some reason.

Charlize looks amazing, as always. Dayum, that girl can shake it up.

Elizabeth Olsen was beautiful in "MMMM" and she looks fantastic here. She has a rocking' bod. She's incredibly talented, and I can't wait to see her in more films. She's an excellent actress.

[Putty Pants]

02:56 PM on 11/29/2011

These awards are just as boring as the others but also so disorganized you have to wonder who's put this crap together. Additionally, they let these actors prattle on about their art to the point you want to puke. Independents movies are as mixed as the mass audience stuff. Some a very bad and some very good. The shows are usually awful and the actors, directors even more pretentious.

[gatsby191]

02:40 PM on 11/29/2011

Is that Eric Stoltz or Tilda Swinton? I can't tell.

[FlaviaDeLuce]

01:46 PM on 11/29/2011

I adore Gary Oldman and Charlize Theron, well deserved

[politicaljungle]

01:31 PM on 11/29/2011

I'm just glad that everybody had a good time! Seriously! Is that a chocolate fountain?

[LMPE]

01:28 PM on 11/29/2011

I couldn't identify half the people in those photos.

[tissa]

10:55 AM on 11/29/2011

Wow, charlize theron has noBoobs, at all.

[ontariogirl]

11:07 AM on 11/29/2011

She seems to handle it just fine.

[Ugonna]

11:28 AM on 11/29/2011

she has small boobs, and isn't ashamed! Rock on!

[BlindChance]

10:52 AM on 11/29/2011

Yay, another whitewashed film industry event.

[chicgirl]

09:46 AM on 11/29/2011

Charlize looks beautiful. I think Tilda Swinton is one of a handful of actors who has intrinsic style, she looks so comfortable in her clothes. Most of the others put on a pretty dress and heels, there's nothing personal coming through. They rarely look comfortable in what they're wearing.

[FlaviaDeLuce]

01:48 PM on 11/29/2011

Good comment on Swinton, she's very eclectic :)

[ethiopia1a]

09:17 AM on 11/29/2011

Tree of Life" was the worst movie I saw all year. Awful....."Meloncholia" was a far superior film.

[LMPE]

01:30 PM on 11/29/2011

It seems as if Terrence Malick's movies have gotten progressively worse. "Badlands" was really good, but "The Thin Red Line" was weak, "The New World" was too long and too slow, and my parents said that "Tree of Life" wasn't very good.

[grassolady]

07:12 PM on 11/29/2011

I thoroughly agree. People (including us) walked out less than halfway through. How it won anything, except for the Hubble look-alike views, was amazing to me!

[Lesann]

09:16 AM on 11/29/2011

I Love Gary Oldman.

It's also nice to see that at least one of the Olsen sisters knows how to smile without looking like a duck.

[lisalovesamelie]

10:48 AM on 11/29/2011

agreed on both counts...

[jl4141]

02:59 PM on 11/29/2011

This picture, and another recent one I saw of the two of them, they are not wearing ridiculously heavy amounts of eyeliner/mascara/whatever, and they finally look like normal, reasonably pretty young women instead of heroin-addicted half-raccoons/half-humans.

[CyndiC]

08:37 AM on 11/29/2011

Yes, Charlize that's great you never had to get a second job to pay the bills. And even more so that you recognize how fortunate you are!

[Sunflo]

08:49 AM on 11/29/2011

Snark is incredibly annoying sometimes.

[CyndiC]

10:40 AM on 11/29/2011

Did you think I was being snarky? LOL - As I told the other person I was being sincere. I think she's a great actress and that she knows that she is fortunate.

[Ugonna]

09:49 AM on 11/29/2011

sounds like she was just trying to recognize she doesn't have it as bad as others. If she dared complained about anything you would have bitched about how fortunate she is anyway and she shouldn't complain. Stars can't win!

[CyndiC]

10:38 AM on 11/29/2011

I meant that as a compliment to her - I was not 'bitching'. I re-read my comment and I see how it may seem sarcastic but I was being sincere. I guess there's not a lot of that going around.