The nominees for IFP’s 2009 Gotham Awards were announced just a few minutes ago, via a live webstream starring A.O. Scott, critic of film for the New York Times and At the Movies, who recently coined the term “festivalism” as a pejorative to describe the audience-limiting nature of contemporary art house film and the institutions that present it. Before launching into the list of names and titles, Scott disclaimed any personal connection to the nominees. “I had nothing to do with this, I am only reading the nominations, he adlibbed. “Chances are I probably hate most of the movies that are nominated.” Debate over the sincerity of that statement is sure to consume all 238 people who watched the live Ustream broadcast for days.

Anyway, I quite like several of the movies nominated, including The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, Jeremy Renner for Breakthrough Actor), The Maid (Best Feature, Catalina Saavedra for Breakthrough Actor), October Country and You Won’t Miss Me (both nominated for Best Feature Not Coming to a Theater Near You). indieWIRE has the full list of nominees.