Penélope Starts Award Season With a Bang

Although the ceremony is months away, Independent Feature Project announced today that Penélope Cruz will be honored with a Gotham Tribute Award during the 18th annual Gotham Awards on Dec. 2 in N.Y.C.

"Penélope's body of work embodies what is exciting and vibrant about?filmmaking today, in particular independent filmmaking" says Michelle Byrd,? executive director of IFP.

Penélope has been receiving critical acclaim lately for her roles in two independent films: Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (in theaters now), co-starring Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and Javier Bardem; and Elegy (in theaters Aug. 22), based on the Philip Roth book, The Dying Animal and co-starring Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard and Deborah Harry.

Past IFP winners include Juno (2007), Half Nelson  (2006) and Junebug (2005).