Thursday, July 19------In yet another sign of Brooklyn's growing cache as a cultural destination, the Gotham Awards, one of the stellar events on the New York film industry calendar, is moving from its current site in Manhattan to Brooklyn's Steiner Studios, the largest studio facility in the city, located on the Brooklyn waterfront. The 17th Annual Gotham Awards, produced and presented by the Independent Feature Project (IFP), a national producers organization, will be presented at the new venue on Tuesday, November 27th. IFP has also announced two new collaborations to present public programs in advance of the awards gala.

Javier BardemMira NairIFP announced today three of this year’s Gotham Awards Tributes: Actor Javier Bardem, the respected Spanish screen star who toplines the Coen Brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (the centerpiece film for this year's New York Film Festival), as well as the highly anticipated LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, an adaption of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez classic, will receive the International Film Prize. Bardem was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor for his turn as a doomed Cuban poet in Julian Schnabel's BEFORE NIGHT FALLS.

Also to be honored this year are filmmaker Mira Nair, whose recent adaptation of THE NAMESAKE was an arthouse hit, and who has produced such memorable films as SALAAM BOMBAY and MONSOON WEDDING, and film executive Jonathan Sehring, the president of IFC Entertainment, which includes the Independent Film Channel cable network, and distributor/producer IFC Films..

As a run-up to the Awards, a  retrospective of Mira Nair’s work will take place at the IFC Center from November 14 – 20; with a showcase of Javier Bardem’s early films unspooling at the BAM Rose Cinemas at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on November 24 – 26. In both instances, Nair and Bardem will be present for the screenings and public Q&As. Details on winners in the Best Film, Best Documentary and other awards will be announced in October.

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor