The first ever "Festival Genius Audience Award"

“All they do in California is give awards to each other!” Woody Allen said

Well, you only thought there already was an award for everything media/entertainment.

But last night, the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers and Slated (owner of Festival Genius) announced that the 20^th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards will give a new award called the FIRST EVER FESTIVAL GENIUS AUDIENCE AWARD on November 29^th at (not California, thank whoever’s running the omniverse) Cipriani Wall Street).

This new award celebrates audience award winners from across the Top 50 US and Canadian film festivals. Over 12,000 votes came in to narrow the list of 26 audience award winning films down to the 5 nominees.  The nominated films are; Winter’s Bone, Waiting for Superman, White Irish Drinkers, 9000 Needles and Brotherhood.

Voting will begin again today to select a final winner from the top 5 nominees and ends on November 29th Film-goers can vote online for their favorite film at http://gothamawards.slated.com.

Two lucky(?) voters will win one night’s stay at the Andaz Wall Street in New York City plus two tickets to the IFP Gotham Awards.

“We are thrilled to share IFP’s first Festival Genius Audience Award in partnership with Slated at our 20^th Anniversary Gotham Awards,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of the IFP. “The purpose of the award is to promote films on the festival circuit through audience participation. This year we launch a true audience award, where the independent film community gets a chance vote for their favorite films.”