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NY -- Beginners and The Tree of Lifetied for best feature at the 21st annual Gotham Independent Awards on Monday night in NY.our editor recommends24 Hours of Awards Season MadnessGotham Awards 2011: Honorees Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman Reveal the Inspiration Behind Their WorkGotham Independent Film Awards Tap Edie Falco and Oliver Platt as Co-HostsGotham Award Noms Go to 'The Descendants' and 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'Do Gotham Awards Nominations Actually Impact Oscar Race? (Analysis)Tom Rothman to Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor at Gotham AwardsGary Oldman, Charlize Theron and David Cronenberg to Be Feted at the Gotham AwardsTHR's Actress Roundtable: Six A-Listers Sound Off on Bad Reviews, Nudity and Playing Hitler Beginners starsChristopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in a comedy/drama about a young man rocked by news that his elderly father has terminal cancer and a young male lover. Mike Mills directed, with Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen serving as producers of the Focus Features movie. PHOTOS: Gotham Awards 2011 Red Carpet Arrivals Beginners,whose cast also includesMelanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, KaiLennox, Mary Page KellerandKeegan Boos,also won the best ensemble performance award. Tree of Life isa Terrence Malick-directed family drama set in the 1950s and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. The film from Fox Searchlight Pictures had Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Pitt, DedeGardner and Grant Hill as producers. Of the joint win, Mills told The Hollywood Reporter: "I'm really glad it's a tie. That is so nice. I wish it could be a five-way tie. You know, the competition thing is weird." Pohlad and Green echoed that sentiment after the ceremony. "It's stunning," Pohlad told THR of the joint win. "I know it sounds kind of disingenuous, but you don't come into something like this thinking we're going to get it or we're not going to get it.And the way they announced it was really special." PHOTOS: THR's Actress Roundtable 2011 The two films were vying with The Descendants, Meek's Cutoff and Take Shelter in the best feature category. Meanwhile,Felicity Jones won breakthrough actorfor her role in Paramount Vantage's Like Crazy, a film about a British college student who falls for an American student (Anton Yelchin) only to be separated from him when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa. She beat out the likes of Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Harmony Santana (Gun Hill Road), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Jacob Wysocki (Terri) to take home the award. Also competing in the ensemble category were the casts ofThe Descendants, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May MarleneandTake Shelter. Also during the ceremony, Pariah helmer Dee Rees was named breakthrough director for the Focus Features drama, which centers on a gay African-American teenager living in Brooklyn who struggles with coming out. Rees faced competition fromAnother Earth's Mike Cahill, Martha Marcy May Marlene's Sean Durkin, Higher Ground's Vera Farmiga and Bellflower's Evan Glodell in the category. Complete List of Gotham Awards Winners The best documentary award went to Better This World, about a pair of childhood friends from Texas who set out to prove themselves in the post-9/11 world. Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega are the directors of the film, which was up against Bill Cunningham NY, Hell and Back Again, The Interrupters and The Woodmans. Meanwhile, Girlfriend won thefirst prize of the evening, the second annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award. The movie, about a young man with Down's syndrome who romantically pursues a small-town single mom,beat outBuck, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, The First Grader and Wild Horse, Wild Ride to win the award, which is voted upon online by moviegoers. THR's Directors Roundtable: How to Fire People, Who to Steal From, and Amy Pascal's Secret Advice Girlfriend is from director-producer Justin Lerner and producers Jerad Anderson, Kristina Lauren Anderson and Shaun O'Banion. Following a special tribute to Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman and co-CEOTom Rothman, the honor for best film not playing at a theater near you went to Scenes of a Crime, a true-crime documentary about a nearly 10-hour interrogation that culminated in a disputed confession. Blue Hadaegh and Grover Babcock accepted as the movie's directors and producers. New this year, the Independent Filmmaker Project also presented the inaugural Euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers "Live the Dream" grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumnus of IFP's Independent Filmmaker Labs. The grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film. THR's Writer Roundtable: 6 Top Scribes Talk Standing Up to Clint Eastwood, Dealing with Rewrites and Being Fired by Your Wife The award went to Lucy Mulloy, director of Una Noche. Presented by the IFP, the Gothams shine a spotlight on indie filmmakers and their work. Awards are to be given out in six competitive categories at the ceremony, held at Cipriani Wall Street. In addition to Rothman, career tributes also were presented toactors Charlize Theron and Gary Oldmanand director David Cronenberg. STORY:Gotham Awards Honorees Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman Reveal the Inspiration Behind Their Work Oliver Platt and Edie Falco hosted the ceremony. A complete list of winners can be found on the next page. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Gotham Awards 2011: The Red Carpet Arrivals Related Topics Gotham Awards Charlize Theron David Cronenberg Gary Oldman The Tree of Life Terrence Malick Take Shelter Meek's Cutoff Alexander Payne Young Adult The Descendants Tom Rothman 1 2 next last