By Steven Zeitchik

We’re loathe to read too much into the Gothams, the self-proclaimed start to the awards season that doesn’t really do much to forecast the rest of that season  (though as Michelle Byrd, who runs the awards via the IFP banner, pointed out, the breakthrough actor prize tends to presage a best actor Oscar nom).

But it’s hard to avoid the big headline from today’s nominations: the conscious choice of small indies over the  year’s anointed indie, “Precious.” Three of the five nominees for best feature — “Big Fan,” “Amreeka” and “The Maid” — have collectively earned less than $1 million, which has to be the smallest total for any three best pic nominees int he history of awardsdom. It’s almost like the committee decided to return a studio volley: ‘You’re closing down the specialty divisions? Fine, we won’t nominate those films anyway.’

(As for the merits of the noms, we’ll put out there that “Big Fan” deserves attention – it was an unheralded gem out of Sundance, both a wicked satire and heartfelt portrayal of a blue-collar man who takes his sports fandom too seriously. “Amreeka” is probably a bit less deserving, and “The Maid” we haven’t seen; if you know any of the six people who have, please have them write.)

But what’s on the list is less interesting, as it often is, than what’s not — a movie that could well outearn those three dark horses and the other two frontrunners (”Hurt Locker” and “A Serious Man”) by a New York mile. That (alleged) oversight would be “Precious,” the Liongsate awards hopeful from Lee Daniels about a sad inner-city teenager brutalized by many around her.