Last year, Sean Penn did not attend the Gotham Awards to pick up the best film prize for "Into the Wild." Perhaps he could not find his way to Brooklyn where the kudos were handed out in a less than stellar ceremony. However, next Tuesday he will be on hand at the swank Cipriani Wall Street to honor his "Milk" director Gus Van Sant with a special tribute at the 18th edition of these kudos.

"Milk" was not finished in time to be considered by the four journalists on the nominating committee. Neither were the star-studded "Doubt," "Defiance," "Frost/Nixon," and "Revolutionary Road." And many of the true indies likely to have a high Oscar profile — "Slumdog Millionaire," "Happy-Go-Lucky" and "I've Loved You So Long" — weren't eligible because they're foreign productions. Rather, the five best picture contenders are "Ballast," "Frozen River," "Synecdoche, New York," "The Visitor," and "The Wrestler."

Among the other bold-faced names expected to present are "Doubt" supporting player Amy Adams, Marisa Tomei of "The Wrestler," Michelle Williams from "Wendy and Lucy," and "Rachel Getting Married" star Debra Winger.

Just hours before the Dec. 2 ceremony, rival awardfest the Indie Spirits will be announcing their nominations. That's the same ploy the Spirits pulled last year while trying to upstage the rival trophy show. Remember, the two kudos bestowed to indie films on different coasts (Spirits in L.A., Gothams in Manhattan) used to be doled out by the East and West Coast branches of the same organization, the Independent Feature Project, but the Californians broke off from New York and three other IFP groups in 2006 and renamed their branch FIND (short for Film Independent).

Photo: Focus Features