'Winter's Bone' tops season's first awards

"Winter's Bone," Maryland native Debra Granik's gripping adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's novel about an Ozark girl's struggle to find her drug-dealing father and save her family home, has taken the top feature prizes, for best film and best ensemble, at the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards.

(That's Jennifer Lawrence, in the lead role, above. To read my previous post and Live story on director Granik, click here.)

The other winners included two films that were showcased at the Maryland Film Festival, "The Oath" for best documentary and "Daddy Longlegs" for best breakthrough performance (Ronald Bonstein).

The IFP's "Festival Genius Audience Award" went to Davis Guggenheim's "Waiting for Superman," while Kevin Asch won best breakthrough director for "Holy Rollers" (starring Justin Bartha and Jesse Eisenberg as utra-Orthodox Jews in trouble) and "Littlerock" won "Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You."

Did you catch "Winter's Bone" during its long theatrical run this summer? Its story-line and heroine bear some strong similarities to "True Grit," still unseen (it opens Dec. 22) but already a favorite for mainstream awards this year.