QUICK TAKES - Oct. 20, 2009

Though the Academy Awards are five months away, the movie awards season kicked off Monday with the nominees for the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, sponsored by the Independent Filmmaker Project, the nation’s oldest and largest organization of indie filmmakers.

Nominated as best feature were “Amreeka,” “Big Fan,” “The Hurt Locker,” “The Maid” and “A Serious Man.” Documentary nominations went to “Food, Inc.,” “Good Hair,” “My Neighbor My Killer,” “Paradise” and “Tyson.”

There was also a category called “best film not playing at a theater near you,” with the nominees “Everything Strange and New,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench,” “October Country,” “You Won’t Miss Me” and “Zero Bridge.”

Winners will be announced Nov. 30 in New York.

-- Susan King