The first of many many awards to come have announced their list of nominees honoring the best films of 2011. Some major Oscar players are at play at the Gotham Awards, a small New York awards show that is even more indie than the Independent Spirit Awards. Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene”, starring Elizabeth Olsen in her big screen debut as a young woman who escapes from a cult, and Alexander Payne’s “The Descendents”, starring George Clooney and up and comer Shailene Woodley as members of a dysfunctional family, lead the pack with three nominations each. Woodley and Olsen are both nominated for Breakthrough Actor, along with fellow Oscar-hopeful Felicity Jones for “Like Crazy” and two lesser known actors, Jacob Wysocki, playing the title role in “Terri”, and Harmony Santana, also nominated for her feature film debut, “Gun Hill Road.”

Perhaps most surprising is the omission of arguably 2011′s biggest breakthrough star, Jessica Chastain, in the Breakthrough Actor category. Her most publicized role, in blockbuster summer release “The Help”, may not be applicable here, but certainly “Take Shelter” should have done the trick, seeing as how it is nominated for Best Feature and Best Ensemble Cast here. But in any case, this may or may not have any impact on her chances at the “bigger” prizes down the line. Last year little-known indie director/writer Ronald Bronstein took home the Breakthrough Actor prize over the heavily favored, heavily publicized Jennifer Lawrence of “Winter’s Bone”, but that didn’t get him any closer to Oscar and she was nominated just as everyone assumed she would be. So it’s unclear just how the small and independent Gotham Awards will impact Oscar, though certainly Olsen, Jones and Woodley received further cementing of major Oscar player status.

Full list of nominees are below. The awards will be handed out at its ceremony on November 28th.

BEST FEATURE

Beginners: Mike Mills, director; Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, producers (Focus Features)
The Descendants: Alexander Payne, director; Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Meek’s Cutoff: Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Take Shelter: Jeff Nichols, director; Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Tree of Life. Terrence Malick, director; Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)


BEST DOCUMENTARY

Better This World.: Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, directors; Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, Mike Nicholson, producers (Loteria Films, Picturebox, Motto Pictures and Passion Pictures; ITVS in association with American Documentary | POV)
Bill Cunningham New York: Richard Press, director; Philip Gefter, producer (Zeitgeist Films)
Hell and Back Again: Danfung Dennis, director; Mike Lerner, Martin Herring, producers (Docurama Films)
The Interrupters: Steve James, director; Alex Kotlowitz, Steve James, producers (The Cinema Guild)

The Woodmans: C. Scott Willis, director; Neil Barrett, Jeff Werner, C. Scott Willis, producers (Lorber Films; Kino Lorber, Inc.)


BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

Beginners: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos (Focus Features)
The Descendants: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause, Amara Miller, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Margin Call. Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi (Roadside Attractions)
Martha Marcy May Marlene: Elizabeth Olsen, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, Maria Dizzia, Julia Garner, John Hawkes, Louisa Krause, Sarah Paulson (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Take Shelter: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker, Ray McKinnon, Lisagay Hamilton, Robert Longstreet (Sony Pictures Classics)


BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR

Mike Cahill for Another Earth (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Vera Farmiga for Higher Ground (Sony Pictures Classics)
Evan Glodell for Bellflower (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Dee Rees for Pariah (Focus Features)


BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR

Felicity Jones in Like Crazy (Paramount Vantage)
Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Harmony Santana in Gun Hill Road (Motion Film Group)
Shailene Woodley in The Descendants (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jacob Wysocki in Terri (ATO Pictures)

BEST FILM NOT PLAYING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same: Madeleine Olnek, director; Laura Terruso, Madeleine Olnek, producers
Green: Sophia Takal, director; Lawrence Michael Levine, producer
The Redemption of General Butt Naked: Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion, directors and producers
Scenes of a Crime: Blue Hadaegh & Grover Babcock, directors and producers