The 2026 Gold Digger Mid Year Awards

After two weeks of voting, this session’s voting body membership nominated over 45 films while voting for our 2026 Gold Diggers Mid-Year Awards ballot. We’d like to start by mentioning that, this spring our Admin Board decided to adapt our eligibility criteria. Meaning, films that had an Academy-sponsored qualifying release for the previous year’s Academy Awards are now carried over and made eligible in the year they received a proper US Commercial release. A number of 2025 Qualified Releases, made there way onto this summer’s Mid-Year Awards, after being snubbed last winter.

Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, a of Cesc Gay’s 2020 film Sentimental, leads our nominations with 10, including for Best Feature Film. A massive achievement for a contemporary chamber piece. The film is a comedy of manners, following two couples, Angela and Joe (Wilde doing double duty and Seth Rogen) as a domesticated married couple on the verge of divorce inviting their bohemian neighbours Hawk and Pĩna (Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz) over for dinner. Their evening goes sideways, once Hawk and Pĩna make an invitation of their own. Screwball comedy ensues, testing everyone’s relationships and sexual dynamics. The film received three individual acting nominations, for Wilde in Best Leading Performance and Cruz and Norton both receiving Best Supporting Performances. Don’t be too sad for Seth Rogen though, he too was nominated as part of The Invite’s Ensemble Cast. The film was also nominated for Best Directing for Olvia Wilde once again, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design.

Two blockbusters, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary and Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple trailed behind with 8 nominations each. Project Hail Mary is an adaptation of Andy Weir’s science fiction novel, following Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling)’s deep space mission with Rocky, his rock crusted alien friend, to save Earth’s sun from a mysterious substance. As you might remember, The Bone Temple’s predecessor, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later also received 8 nominations at last summer’s 2025 Gold Digger Mid-Year Awards. As expected, both films dominated our craft categories with both films landing nominations in Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Use of Music. Both films also received Best Supporting Performance nominations for Sandra Hüller and Jack O’Connell, respectively.

Despite it’s nomination haul, Project Hail Mary missed our Best Feature Film lineup, in one tonight’s most surprising snubs. This is mostly due to the onslaught of passion for international cinema this year. Out of our 10 Feature Film nominees, only 3 American films managed to make our lineup, a record low in our group’s history. The Aforementioned The Invite and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, as well as Kristoffer Borgli’s polarizing social satire The Drama. Just north of the US border, we have two Canadian productions nominated: Rophy Romvari’s autobiographical film Blue Heron, detailing her family life growing up as first generations Hungarian-Canadian immigrants and Matt Johnson’s feature film adaptation of his cult webseries turned television series Nirnanna the Band the Show the Movie. Our most lauded international film Silent Friend, from another Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, is a generational spanning epic of the gravitational center of a ginkgo tree located in Marburg, Germany. Silent Friend received 6 nominations. Asian cinema is also having a banner with Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s queer science fiction rumination of genocidal truths and reconciliation A Useful Ghost from Thailand Lav Diaz’s epic mood poem of Ferdinand Magellan’s conquest of the Philippines, Magellan, a Portuguese-Filippino co-production were also nominated for Best Feature Film. The Icelandic surrealist domestic family drama, Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains and the Nigerian-British co-production Akinola Davies Jr.’s My Father’s Shadow, a searing love letter to father’s father, as two young brothers navigate the city of Largos with their father, as the city falls under political unrest. We’d like to single out that 3 of our Feature Film nominees are also first-time directorial debuts. The next generation of filmmakers are all right.

Elsewhere, Kenji Tanigaki’s rescue film cue martial arts extravaganza The Furious, was the sole Best International Film nominee to miss our Best Feature Film lineup. The film was also a Best Choreography nominee. Two of these summer sleeper horror zeitgeist hits Curry Barker’s Obssession and Kane Parsons’ Backrooms  were also nominees this year, with 3 nominations apiece. The summer’s rising starlet Inde Navarrette took two of Obssession’s nominations, in both the Best Leading Performance and Best Acting Newcomer categories. Aleshaa Harris’s Is God Is, , a Blaxploitation revenge thriller and another directorial debut, was this summer’s little steam engine that could, overperforming with 5 nominations.

This year, all of our Best Animated Film and Best Non-Fiction Nominees were all sole nominees, despite being shortlisted on a carious of other categories. Expanding our Mid-Year Best Animated from 3 nominees to 5 nominees, paved a way from a mixture of Disney, Daniel Chong’s Hoppers, Andrew Stanton’s Toy Story 5, international animated auteurs, Sylvain Chomet’s A Magnificent Life, and yet again, animated films from first time directors. Orian Barkri and Bennami’s Bouchra, a queer Moroccan filmmaker living in New York City, coming to terms with her mother’s reaction to her coming out, and Ryuya Suzuki’s Jinsei, a metaphysical chronicling of the 100 year life of fictional J-pop Idol Se-chan.

Despite all this influx of international fare, USA still leads our nominations count 81 nominations. American films also received the same amount of nominations last summer at our 2025 Mid-Year Awards. Canada trails with 31 nominations, followed by France with 26 and the UK with 23. After ceding the position to Warner Bros. (RIP!) last summer, A24 is once again our most lauded distributer with 25 nominations, followed by Janus Films with 15 and Amazon MGM Studios with 14.

 The Winners will be announced later this month.

1.     Best Feature Film

Blue Heron

Janus Films

Ryan Bobkin & Gábor Osváth & Sophy Romvari & Sara Wylie (Producers)

The Drama

A24

Tyler Campellone & Lyne Knudsen & Ari Aster (Producers)

The Invite

A24

Ben Browning & Megan Ellison & David Permut (Producers)

The Love That Remains

Janus Films

Katrin Pors & Anton Máni Svansson (Producers)

Magellan

Janus Films

Joaquim Sapinho & Albert Serra & Paul Soriano & Montse Triola & Mark Victor & Marta Vieira Alves (Producers)

My Father’s Shadow

MUBI

Rachel Dargavel & Funmbi Ogunbanwo (Producers)

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Neon

Matt Greyson & Matthew Miller (Producers)

Silent Friend

1-2 Special

Reinhard Brundig & Nicolas Elghozi & Mónika Mécs & Morgane Olivier & Meng Xie (Producers)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Columbia Pictures – Sony Pictures

Bernard Bellew & Danny Boyle & Alex Garland & Andrew MacDonald & Peter Rice (Producers)

A Useful Ghost

Cineverse

Cattleya Paosrijeroen & Soros Sukhum (Producers)

2.    Best Directing:

Lav Diaz, Magellan

Ildikó Enyedi, Silent Friend

Alexandre Koberidze, Dry Leaf

Sophy Romvari, Blue Heron

Olivia Wilde, The Invite

3.    Best International Film:

The Furious [Huo zhe yan]

Hong Kong / China

Frank Hui & Bill Kong & Shan Tam (Producers)

Magellan [Magalhães]

Portugal / Philippines / Spain / France / Taiwan

Joaquim Sapinho & Albert Serra & Paul Soriano & Montse Triola & Mark Victor & Marta Vieira Alves (Producers)

My Father’s Shadow

UK / Nigeria / Ireland

Rachel Dargavel & Funmbi Ogunbanwo (Producers)

Silent Friend [Stille Freundin]

Germany / Hungary / France / China

Reinhard Brundig & Nicolas Elghozi & Mónika Mécs & Morgane Olivier & Meng Xie (Producers)

A Useful Ghost [Pee chai dai ka]

Thailand / France / Singapore / Germany

Cattleya Paosrijeroen & Soros Sukhum (Producers)

4.    Best Animated Film:

Bouchra

Filippo Fante (Producer)

Hoppers

Nicole Paradis Grindle (Producer)

Jinsei

Kenji Iwaisawa (Producer)

A Magnificent Life

Lilian Eche & Ashargin Poiré & Valérie Puech & Aton Soumache (Producers)

Toy Story 5

Jessica Choi & Lindsey Collins (Producers)

5.    Best Non-Fiction Film:

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

Jeremy Castro & Matthew Gross & Baz Luhrmann & Tom Mackay & Colin Smeeton & Schuyler Weiss (Producers)

Ghost Elephants

Werner Herzog & Ariel Leon Isacovitch (Producers)

Our Land

Joslyn Batnes & Julio Chavezmontes & Benjamín Domenech & Sanriago Gallelli & Javier Leoz & Matias Roveda (Producers)

Time and Water

Jameka Autry & Shane Boris & Sara Dosa & Elijah Stevens (Producers)

With Hasan in Gaza

Kamal Aljafari (Producer)

6.    Best Directorial Debut

Backrooms

Kane Parsons (Director); Kori Adelson & Peter Chermin & Michael Clear & Dan Cohen & Chris Ferguson & Dan Levine & Shawn Levy & Roberto Patino & Osgood Perkins & Jenno Topping & James Wan (Producers)

Blue Heron

Sophy Romvari (Director-Producer); Ryan Bobkin & Gábor Osváth & Sara Wylie (Producers)

Is God Is

Aleshea Harris (Director-Producer); Riva Marker & Kishori Rajan & Janicza Bravo & Tessa Thompson (Producers)

My Father’s Shadow

Akinola Davies Jr. (Director); Rachel Dargavel & Funmbi Ogunbanwo (Producers)

A Useful Ghost

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Director); Cattleya Paosrijeroen & Soros Sukhum (Producers)

7.    Best Ensemble Cast:

The Drama

Kate Antognini & Kharmel Cochrane (Casting Directors); Michael Abbott Jr., Mamoudou Athie, Anna Baryshnikov, Doria Bramante, Ken Cheesemen, Jordyn Curet, Hailey Gates, Hannah Gross, Damon Gupton, Alana Haim, Sydney Lemmon, Dee Nelson, Robert Pattinson, Jordan Raf, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Zoë Winters, Zendeya (Cast)

The Invite

Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde (Cast)

Is God Is

Avy Kaufman (Casting Director); Erika Alexander, Navali Barnes, Nuri Barnes, Sterling K, Brown, Josiah Cross, Vivica A. Fox, Mallori Johnson, Xavier Mills, Janelle Monae, Justen Ross, Mykelti Williamson, Kara Young (Cast)

Romería

María Rodrigo (Casting Director); Sara Casasnovas, Toño Casais, José Ángel Egido, Miryam Gallego, Llúcia Garcia, Helena Gonzàlez, Alberto Gracia, Antòn Lemos, Mitch Martin, Lia Mora, Laura Nuñez, Hans Romagosa, Gala Rodríguez, León Romagosa, Marina Troncoso, Celine Tyll, Tristán Ulloa (Cast)

Silent Friend

Nina Haun (Casting Director); Peter Benedict, Bernd Birkhahn, Rainer Bock, Enzo Brumm, Marlene Burow, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Erwin Giese, Sylvester Groth, Johannes Hegemann, Sky Hofmann, Yun Huang, Léa Seydoux, Bettina Stucky, Luna Wedler, Martin Wuttke (Cast)

8.    Best Leading Performance

Reed Birney, Blue Film

Emily Blunt, Disclosure Day

Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, My Father's Shadow

John Early, Maddie’s Secret

Gael Garcia Bernal, Magellan

Rachel McAdams, Send Help

Kieron Moore, Blue Film

Inde Navarette, Obsession

Robert Pattinson, The Drama

Olivia Wilde, The Invite

9.    Best Supporting Performance

Mohammed Bakri, All That’s Left Of You

Sterling K. Brown, Is God Is

Penélope Cruz, The Invite

Aleksandr Filippenko, Two Prosecutors

Courtney Grace, Disclosure Day

Alana Haim, The Drama

Sandra Hüller, Project Hail Mary

Edward Norton, The Invite

Jack O’Connell, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Tahar Rahim, Alpha

10. Best Acting Newcomer   

Eylul Guven, Blue Heron

Mallori Johnson, Is God Is

Kieron Moore, Blue Film

Inde Navarette, Obsession

Ubeimar Rios, A Poet

11.   Best Choreography (Stunts, Dance or Other):  

The Furious

Kensuke Sonomura (Action Choreogtapher); Pradit Seeluem (Car Stunt Coordinator); Phanuwan Wongsitthickakul (Stunt & SFX Coordinator); Shun Yamashita (Stunt Rigging Coordinator)

Mother Mary

Dani Vitale (Dance Choreographer); Ita O’Brien & Veniece Zuri (Intimacy Coordinators); Christoph Knobloch (Stunt Coordinator)

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Jamie Hodgins (Choreographer); Derrick Rabethge (Stunt Coordinator);

They Will Kill You

Èmil Haarhoff (Intimacy Coordinator); Kerry Gregg (Stunt Coordinator); Russ McCarroll (Fight Coordinator)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Vanessa Coffey & Olivia Heggs & Robbie Taylor Hunt (Intimacy Coordinators); Shelley Maxwell (Choreographer); Clive Mendus (Movement Coach); Julian Spencer (Stunt Coordinator)

12. Best Screenplay:

Sophie Romvari, Blue Heron

Kristoffer Borgli, The Drama

Will McCormack & Rashinda Jones, The Invite, based on the Characters written by Cesc Gay

Hlynur Pálmason, The Love that Remains

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, A Useful Ghost

13. Best Cinematography:

The Invite

Adam Newport-Berra (Director of Photography)

Magellan

Lav Diaz & Artut Tort (Cinematographers)

Project Hail Mary

Graig Fraser (Director of Photography)

Silent Friend

Gergely Pálos (Cinematographer)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Sean Bobbitt (Director of Photographer)

14. Best Editing:

The Drama

Kristoffer Borgli & Joshua Raymond Lee (Editors)

The Invite

Anthony Boys & Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Editors)

My Father’s Shadow

Omar Guzmán Castro (Editor)

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Curt Lobb & Robert Upchurch (Editors)

Silent Friend

Károly Szalai (Editor)

15. Best Production Design:  

“Wuthering Heights”

Suzie Davies (Production Designer); Charlotte Dirickx (Set Decorator)

Backrooms

Danny Vermette (Production Designer); Trevor Johnston (Set Decorator)

I Love Boosters

Christopher Glass (Production Designer); Lizbeth Ayala (Set Decorator)

The Invite

Jade Healy (Production Designer); Adam Willis (Set Decorator)

Project Hail Mary

Charles Wood (Production Designer); John Bush (Set Decorator)

16. Best Costume Design:

“Wuthering Heights”

Jacqueline Durran (Costume Desginer)

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Molly Rogers (Costume Designer)

I Love Boosters

Shirley Kurata (Costume Designer)

Magellan

Célia Fernandez & Kim Perez & Praxedes de Viallonga (Costume Designers)

Mother Mary

Bina Daigeler (Costume Designer)

17. Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Alpha

Stéphanie Guillon (Key Makeup Artist); Linda Hidra (Key Hair Stylist)

The Bride!

Kay Georgiou (Hair Designer); Nicki Ledermann (Makeup Designer); Nadia Stacey (Makeup & Prosthetics Designer); Vanessa Anderson & Jimmy Goode (Key Hair Stylists); Jane DiPersio (Key Makeup Artists); Jason Collins (Special Makeup Effects & Prosthetics Supervisor); Chris Gallaher & Scott Stoddard (Special Effects Makeup Designer)

I Love Boosters

Jessi Dean (Hair Designer); Jeremy Dell (Makeup Designer); Autumn McKenney (Key Makeup Artist); Dawn White (Key Hair Stylist); Vincent Van Dyke (Prosthetic Makeup Designer); Barry Reynolds (Hair Background Coordinator)

Is God Is

Nell B. Ratler (Hair Department Head); Richard Redlefsen (Prosthetics Department Head); Seekie Simon (Makeup Department Head); Vincent Bam Dyke (Prosthetic Designer); Kimbalyn Bazil (Key Hair Stylist); Lauren Bazil (Key Hair Stylist);

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Rebecca Cole (Hair & Makeup Supervisor); Flora Moody (Hair & Makeup Designer); John Nolan (Special Makeup Effects Creative Supervisor); Joe Carlyle (Special Makeup Effects Coordinator); David Bardy (HOD Sculptor – Lead Concept Designer)

18. Best Visual Effects  

Backrooms

Edward J. Douglas & Calvin Romeyn (Visual Effects Supervisors); Ole Vezina (Special Effects Coordinator); Jeffrey Kennett (Special Effects Set Supervisor)

Disclosure Day

Joel Behrens & Espen Nordahl & Guy Williams (Visual Effects Supervisors); Conrad V. Brink Jr. & Daniel Sudick (Special Effects Coordinators); Lindsay Macgowan (Special Effects Supervisor);

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Graham Houston (CG Supervisor); Tristan Zerafa (VFX Supervisor); James Soares (VFX Coordinator); Mike Stadnyckyj (Compositing Supervisor)

Project Hail Mary

Elliott Brennan & Patrick Heinen & Tristan Myles & Karen M. Nichols & Stuart Penn & Vincent Poitras & Jeremiah Sweeney & Stephane Vogel & Chris Waegner & Edson Williams & Robert Winter (Visual Effects Supervisors); Derek Arnold (Animatronic & Performance Coordinator); Hollie Clancy (Special Effects Coordinator); Chris Corbould (Special Effects Supervisor); Jason Leinster (Special Effects Design Supervisor); Sherri Hazard & Ivan Manzella (Senior Special Effects Designers); Tim Berry & David Farrow & Matt Hart & Joshua Lee & Matt Macmurray & Ashton Mccarthy-Gardner & Gerard Moore (Animatronic Designers); Louise Wiltshire (Senior Creature Concept Designer)

The Sheep Detective

Graham Page (Visual Effects Supervisor); Lucy Thompson (Special Effects Coordinator); Mark Holt (Special Effects Supervisor); Lee Hales (Special Effects Floor Supervisor)

19. Best Sound Mixing: 

Mother Mary

Johnny Marshall (Re-recording Mixer – Sound Designer); Christopher Barnett (Re-recording Mixer)

Project Hail Mary

Erik Aadahl & Maite Bieler & Nia Hansen & Shannon Mills & Ethan Van der Ryn & Dave Whitehead (Sound Designers); Juan Peralta & Michael Semanick (Re-recording Mixers)

Rose of Nevada

Mark Jenkin (Sound Designer); Ian Wilson (Re-recording Mixer)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Ben Barker & Glenn Freemantle (Sound Designers); Howard Bargroff & Richard Spooner (Re-recording Mixers)

Undertone

Steph Copeland & David Gertsman (Sound Designers); Jon Lawless (Re-recording Mixer) 

20. Best Sound Effects Editing:

Disclosure Day

Brian Chumney & Gary Rydstrom (Supervising Sound Editors)

Project Hail Mary

Erik Aadahl & Shannon Mills & Ethan Van der Ryn (Supervising Sound Editors)

Silent Friend

Jérôme Wiciak (Supervising Sound Editor)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Ben Barker & Glenn Freemantle (Supervising Sound Editors)

Undertone

David Gertsman (Sound Effects Editor)

21. Best Original Score:

Disclosure Day

John Williams (Composer)

Dry Leaf

Giorgi Koberidze (Composer)

I Love Boosters

Merill Garbus & Nate Brenner  [As Tune-Yards] (Composers)

Obsession

Rock Burwell (Composer)

Project Hail Mary

Daniel Pemberton (Composer)

22. Best Use of Music

“Wuthering Heights”

Nicolette Di Dia (Music Supervisor); Charli XCX (Musician-Lyricist); Finn Keane (Music Production and Arrangement – Soundtrack Producer); Nathan Klein & Justin Raisen & Lewis Pesacov (Soundtrack Producers)

Mother Mary

John Michael Rouchel (Music Producer); Jack Antonoff & FKA Twigs & Charli XCX (Musicians-Lyricists)

Project Hail Mary

Kier Lehman (Music Supervisor); Lori Silfen (Executive in Charge of Music)

Tuner

Steven Gizicki (Music Supervisor); Kait Dunton (Piano Arrangement); Simon J. Li (Arranger – Music Programmer); Jacob Masters & Matt Robertson & Connor Schon (Music Programmers)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Simon Astall (Music Supervisor)

Nomination Summary:

 Per Film:

The Invite – 10

Project Hail Mary – 8

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – 8

Silent Friend – 7

The Drama – 6

Magellan – 6

Blue Heron – 5 

Disclosure Day – 5

Is God Is -- 5

My Father’s Shadow – 5

I Love Boosters -- 4

Mother Mary – 4

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie – 4

A Useful Ghost – 4

“Wuthering Heights” – 3

Backrooms – 3

Blue Film –3

Obsession – 3

Alpha – 2

Dry Leaf – 2

The Furious -- 2

The Love That Remains – 2

Undertone -- 2

All That’s Left Of You – 1

Bouchra – 1

The Bride! – 1

The Devil Wears Prada 2 -- 1

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert – 1

Ghost Elephants -- 1

Hoppers – 1

Jinsei – 1

Maddie’s Secret -- 1

A Magnificent Life –1

A Poet -- 1

Our Land –1

Romería –1

Rose of Nevada -- 1

Send Help –1

The Sheep Detectives – 1

They Will Kill You – 1

Time and Water -- 1

Toy Story 5 – 1

Tuner –1

Two Prosecutors -- 1

With Hasan in Gaza -- 1

Per Distributor:

A24 – 25

Janus Films –15

Amazon MGM Studios – 14

Neon -- 11

1-2 Special – 10

Columbia / Sony Pictures  --8

MUBI -- 5

Universal Pictures – 5

Warner Bros.  – 5

Cineverse –4

Walt Disney Motion Pictures – 4

The Cinema Guild  -- 3

Focus Features -- 3

Obscured Releasing -- 3

Lionsgate – 2

National Geographic Documentary Films – 2

Black Bear -- 1

Greenwich Entertainment  -- 1

Film Movement – 1

Magnolia Pictures –1

Sony Pictures Classics –1

Strand Releasing – 1

Watermelon Pictures -- 1

By Country:

USA – 81

Canada –31

France –26

UK—23

Germany – 22

Hungary -- 12

China – 9

Spain – 7

Japan – 6

The Philippines – 6

Portugal – 6

Taiwan – 6

Ireland --5

New Zealand –5

Nigeria -- 5

Thailand – 5

Finland –4

Signapore -- 4

Belgium – 3

Denmark – 3

Iceland – 3

Sweden – 3

Argentina -- 2

Georgia – 2

Hong Kong – 2

Netherlands – 2

Qatar – 2

Australia – 1

Colombia – 1

Cyprus – 1

Greece – 1

Italy -- 1

Jordan – 1

Latvia – 1

Lithuania -- 1

Luxembourg – 1

Mexico -- 1

Morocco – 1

Occupied Palestinian Territory – 1

Romania – 1

South Africa – 1

Ukraine – 1  

The 2025 Gold Digger Awards

The Gold Diggers are back, honouring the cinematic achievements of 2025!

Our voting body consists of film critics, film journalists, podcasters, festival programmers, film students, cinephiles and film professors. While selecting our new panelists, we here at Gold Digger prioritize diversity, ensuring our panel represents a mixture of high-minded thinkers from diverse walks of life with various tastes and identities.

(Please note that all stats referred to in this summary solely refer to the 2018, 2020, 2023, and 2024 Gold Digger Awards, and do not refer to our Mid-Year Awards.)

A total of 73 films were nominated this year, with a whopping 49 features receiving only one citation. This is the most films recognized at our awards, as well as the most lone nominees. Prior to this year, the Gold Digger’s most nominated films for our End-of-Year ballot were Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance in 2024 and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in 2013, both of which received 11 nominations each. This record has been smashed twice. Ryan Coogler’s horror-musical genre-blended juke joint Sinners earned 15 nominations. Its nominations include Best Feature Film, Best Direction, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Original Screenplay and Best Use of Music. Still, our nomination leader is Paul Thomas Anderson’s father-daughter rescue epic.  One Battle After Another, which racked up 17 total citations. PTA received three nominations, Best Feature Film, Best Directing and Best Adapted Screenplay.  One Battle After Another broke another record, as the film with the most individual Acting Nominations with five: Benicio Del Toro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor. Oscar’s frontrunners will once again go toe-to-toe on our even more prestigious meeting ground.

This year marked a grand shift in how we conduct our Gold Digger Awards. After years of internal conversations and debate, we have decided to amalgamate our standardized acting categories – Best Leading Actress, Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor – into two categories: Best Leading Performance and Best Supporting Performance. Both categories now have 10 nominees, and we will tabulate the winners using the Preferential Ballot, the same method we use for our Best Feature Film category. All three categories will include Gold, Silver and Bronze Medallions, identifying our winners, first and second runners-up in all three races.

Meaning, that while dominating the acting categories, OBAA’s three supporting actors (Del Toro, Penn and Taylor) will compete against each other in the Supporting Performance category, with DiCaprio nominated for Best Leading Performance and Infiniti nominated for Best Acting Newcomer. A quarter of our 20 performances highlighted in both our Best Leading and Supporting Performance are their films' sole nominations. Ranging from Rose Byrne as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You to Dylan O’Brien as Roman, a man grieving the death of his twin brother, and as Rocky, Roman’s gay twin brother, in James Sweeney’s Twinless to Kristen Dunst as the scene stealing love interest to Channing Tatum’s charismatic criminal in Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman.

This year, five international films made our Best Feature Film lineup, with Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, following a former professor navigating the labyrinthian political landscape of Recife under Brazilian dictatorship, coming in third with 8 nominations, including Acting nominations for Wagner Moura and Tânia Maria, Mattheus Farias and Eduardo Serrano for Best Editing. Mendonça Filho received four individual nominations for Best Feature Film, Best International Film, Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay. Tying Mendonça Filho, as this year’s most nominated individual, is Jafar Panahi, another international auteur. The Iranian director was nominated for Best Feature Film, Best International Film, Best Ensemble Cast (as the casting director) and Best Original Screenplay for It Was Just an Accident, a did-he-didn’t-he about a group of former Iranian political prisoners who kidnap and threaten to kill a man who they believe tortured them while in prison.

The other International Films nominated in our Best Feature Film category are Joaquim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a domestic family drama centered around a Swedish-Norwegian filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgård) who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Renate Reinsve). Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour, a Portuguese film, features a surreal blend of narrative and non-fiction filmmaking that follows British diplomat Edward (Gonçalo Waddington) as he flees his bride-to-be, Molly (Crista Alfaiate), towards Singapore. Grand Tour marks the second year in a row that a film managed to get a single Best Feature Film nomination. Last year’s being Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. And finally, Masha Schillinski’s Sound of Falling, through the prism of a countryside farmhouse, through time and space, generational trauma is explored by the women who reside inside its walls.

2025 has proven to be a collective year in which filmmakers delved into the plights of motherhood and womanhood. Going beyond the aforementioned Sound of Falling or Best Leading Performance nominee Rose Byrne, there’s fellow Best Leading Performance nominee Jennifer Lawrence, another portrait of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown suffering through Post Partum Depression in Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love. There are also two other Best Feature Film nominees. Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, a historical re-imagination of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley,  as they mourn the loss of their son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe), leading up to Shakespeare writing his chef-d'œuvre, Hamlet. And Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann, a brand-spanking-new musical, depicts the trials of Ann Lee, the founding mother of the Shaker Movement. Our 10th feature film nominee is Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, following motormouth Marty Mauser as he rises and falls in his quest to become the world’s table tennis champion.  

Elsewhere, nine non-English films, including Alexis Langlois’s queer pop musical melodrama Queens of Drama and Bi Gan’s magnum opus Resurrections, received craft category nominations. Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang’s KPop Demon Hunters is this year’s most-nominated animated film, with 4 nominations. Films released by Warner Bros. earned 38 nominations, the most for any individual studio. Neon collected 28 nominations among its catalogue, Netflix received 16, and A24 - last year’s most nominated studio - received 13. As always, we are still a very Western world-focused group, with the United States leading with 111 nominations, followed by France and Canada with 40 and 30 nominations, respectively. Supervising Sound Editor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle manages to get a duo of Best Sound Effects Editing nominations for her work on James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash and Joseph Kosinski’s F1.

 Our winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 17th. Our full nominations are as follows:

1. Best Feature Film

Grand Tour

MUBI

Marta Donzelli & Gregorio Paonessa & Filipa Reis (Producers)

Hamnet

Focus Features

Nicolas Gonda & Pippa Harris & Liza Marshall & Sam Mendes & Steven Spielberg  (Producers)

It Was Just an Accident

Neon

Philippe Martin & Jafar Panahi (Producers)

Marty Supreme

A24

Ronald Bronstein & Eli Bush & Timothée Chalamet & Anthony Katagas & Josh Safdie  (Producers)

One Battle After Another

Warner Bros.

Paul Thomas Anderson & Sara Murphy & Adam Somner (Producers)

The Secret Agent

Neon

Emilie Lesclaux & Kleber Mendonça Filho (Producers)

Sentimental Value

Neon

Maria Ekerhovd & Andrea Berentsen Ottmar (Producers)

Sinners

Warner Bros.

Ryan Coogler & Zinzi Coogler & Sev Ohanian (Producers)

Sound of Falling

MUBI

Lasse Scharpen & Lucas Schmidt & Maren Schmidt (Producers)

The Testament of Ann Lee

Searchlight Pictures

Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold & Joshua Horsfield & Gregory Jankilevitsch & Mark  Lampert & Lillian LaSalle & Andrew Morrison & Viktória Petrányi & Klaudia Smieja  (Producers)

2. Best Body of Work

Elle Fanning, Actor, Predator: Badlands & Sentimental Value

Dag Johan Haugerud, Director-Writer, Dreams (Sex Love) & Love & Sex

Richard Linklater, Director-Producer, Blue Moon & Nouvelle Vague

Josh O’Connor, Actor-Executive Producer, The History of Sound & The Mastermind &  Rebuilding & Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Pedro Pascal, Actor, Eddington & Fantastic Four: First Steps & Freaky Tales & Materialists &  The Uninvited

Steven Soderbergh, Camera Operator-Cinematographer-Director-Editor-Executive  Producer, Black Bag & BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions & Love, Brooklyn & Presence

3. Best Directing

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Mona Fastvold, The Testament of Ann Lee

Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent

Mascha Schilinski, Sound of Falling

4. Best International Film

It Was Just an Accident [Yek tasadof-e sadeh]

Iran / France / Luxembourg

Philippe Martin & Jafar Panahi (Producers)

No Other Choice [Eojjeolsuga eobsda]

South Korea / France

Jisun Back & Oh Hyeon-am & Park Chan-wook (Producers)

The Secret Agent [O Agente Secreto]

Brazil / France / Netherlands / Germany

Emilie Lesclaux & Kleber Mendonça Filho (Producers)

Sentimental Value [Affeksjonsverdi]

Norway / Germany / Denmark

Maria Ekerhovd & Andrea Berentsen Ottmar (Producers)

Sound of Falling [In die Sonne schauen]

Germany

Lasse Scharpen & Lucas Schmidt & Maren Schmidt (Producers)

5. Best Animated Film

Arco

Ugo Bienvenu & Félix de Givry & Sophia Mas & Natalie Portman (Producers)

KPOP Demon Hunters

Michelle Wong (Producer)

Little Amelie or the Character of Rain

Claire La Combe & Edwina Liard & Henri Magalon & Nidia Santiago (Producers)

100 Meters

Akane Taketsugu (Producer)

Zootopia 2

Yvett Merino (Producer)

6. Best Non-Fiction Film:

Afternoons of Solitude

Pierre-Olivier Bardet & Luis Ferrón & Marta Lacimo Ligero & Pedro Palacios & Ricard  Sales & Joaquim Sapinho & Albert Serra & Montse Triola & Marta Vieira Alves (Producers)

The Alabama Solution

Andrew Jarecki & Charlotte Kaufman (Producers)

Come See Me in the Good Light

Jessica Hargrave & Tig Notaro & Ryan White & Stef Willen (Producers)

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow

Julia Loktev (Producer)

The Perfect Neighbor

Sam Bisbee & Geeta Gandbhir & Nikon Kwantu & Alisa Payne (Producers)

7.    Best Short Film

All the Empty Rooms

Joshua Seftel (Director-Producer); Trevor Burgess & James Costa & Conall Jones  (Producers)

A Friend of Dorothy

Lee Knight (Director); James Dean & Scottie Fotré & Max Marlow (Producers)

The Girl Who Cried Pearls

Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski (Directors); Marc Bertrand & Christine Noël & Julie  Roy (Producers)

Retirement Plan

John Kelly (Director); Andrew Freedman & Julie Murnaghan (Producers)

The Singers

Sam A. Davis (Director-Producer); David Breschel & Charlie Cohen & Jack Piatt  (Producers)

8. Best Directorial Debut

Cactus Pears

Rohan Parashuram Kanawade (Director-Producer); Naren Chandavarkar & Neeraj Churi &  Mohamed Khaki & Sidharth Meer & Kaushik Ray & Hareesh Reddypalli (Producers)

Eephus

Carson Lund (Director-Producer); Michael Basta & David Entin & Tyler Taormina  (Producers)

Pillion

Harry Lighton (Director); Lee Groombridge & Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe & Emma  Norton (Producers)

The Plague

Charlie Polinger (Director); Derek Dauchy & Joel Edgerton & Roy Lee & Lucy McKendrick  & Vindhya Sagar & Steven Schneider & Lizzie Shapiro (Producers)

Sorry, Baby

Eva Victor (Director); Mark Ceryak & Barry Jenkins & Adele Romanski (Producers)

9.    Best Ensemble Cast

It Was Just an Accident

Jafar Panahi (Casting); Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Mohammed Ali Elyasmehr, George  Hashemzadeh, Vahid Mobasseri, Delmaz Najafi, Afssaneh Najmabadi, Hadis Pakbaten,  Majid Panahi, Omid Reza (Cast)

Marty Supreme

Jennifer Venditti (Casting Director); Odessa A’zion, Sandra Bernhard, Frankie Carbone,  John Catsimardis, Timothée Chalamet, Emory Cohen, Ralph Colucci, Fran Drescher, Emilio  El Kilani, Abel Ferrara, Hailey Gates, George Gervin, Nikhil Gowda, Spenser Granese,  Levon Hawke, Fred Hechinger, Tatsuo Ichikawa, Pico Iyer, Penn Jillette, Koto Kawaguchi,  David Mamet, Luke Manley, Isaac Mizrahi, Kevin O’Leary, Mark Okita, Tyler Okonma,  Gwyneth Paltrow, Géza Rörig, Isaac Simon, Larry Ratso Sloman, Ted Williams (Cast)

One Battle After Another

Cassandra Kulukundis (Casting Director); Jeremy Boone, Dan Chariton, Autumn  Crosswhite Benicio Del Toro, Brooklyn Demme, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Downey,  Dijon Duenas, Starletta DuPois, Vanessa Ganter, Colton Gantt, Sherron Gassoway, Tony  Goldwyn, April Grace, Paul Grimstad, Alana Haim, Regina Hall, Wood Harris, John  Hoogenakker, Chase Infiniti, Sandra Iturbe, Ann Limbaugh-Brouhard, Jena Malone,  Gilberto Martinez Jr., Carlos McFarland, Shayna McHayle, D.W. Moffet, Elizabeth Pease,  Sean Penn, James Raterman, Eric Schweig, Robert Sherock, Trisha Sloan, Teyana Taylor,  Lynette M. Telles, Kevin Tighe, Anthony Weise (Cast)

The Secret Agent

Gabriel Domingues (Casting Director); Geane Albuquerque, Robson Andrade, Thomás  Aquino, Igor de Araújo, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Alice Carvalho, Luciano Chirolli,  Joálisson Cunha, Fafá Dantas, Robério Diógenes, Carlos Francisco, Gregorio Graziosi,  Hermila Guedes, Licínio Januário, Udo Kier, Gabriel Leone, Buda Lira, Suzy Lopes, Laura  Lufési, Aline Marta Maia, Ítalo Martins, Wagner Moura, Enzo Nunes, Erivaldo Oliveira,  Fabiana Pirro, Wilson Rabelo, Isadora Ruppert, Rubens Santos, Marcelo Valle, Kaiony  Venâncio, Roney Villela, Isabél Zuaa (Cast)

Sinners

Francine Maisler (Casting Director); Nathaniel Arcand, Gralen Bryant Banks, Nicoye Banks,  Miles Caton, Peter Dreimanis, Emonie Ellison, Buddy Guy, Helena Hu, Michael B. Jordan,  Lola Kirke, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Delroy Lindo, Dave Maldonado, Sam Malone, Omar  Benson Miller, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell, Hailee Steinfeld, Saul Williams, Yao (Cast)

10.Best Leading Performance

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You

Kathleen Chalfant, Familiar Touch

Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another

Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon

Jennifer Lawrence, Die My Love

Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Dylan O’Brien, Twinless

Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value

Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee

11. Best Supporting Performance

Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another

Kirsten Dunst, Roofman

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

Nina Hoss, Hedda

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value

Amy Madigan, Weapons

Tânia Maria, The Secret Agent

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

12.Best Vocal Performance  

Jason Bateman, Zootopia 2

Oona Chaplin, Avatar: Fire and Ash

Arden Cho, KPOP Demon Hunters

Will Patton, Train Dreams

Zoe Saldaña, Avatar: Fire and Ash

13.Best Acting Newcomer

Miles Caton, Sinners

Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

Jacobi Jupe, Hamnet

Abou Sangare, Souleymane’s Story

Alfie Williams, 28 Years Later

14.Best Choreography

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Christopher Scott & Sergio Trujillo (Dance Choreographers); Tara Macken (Stunt  Coordinator); Eleni Kolukizian (Intimacy Coordinator)

Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Wade Eastwood (Stunt Coordinator); Ruda Vrba (Fight Coordinator)

One Battle After Another

Brian Machleit & Sean Skalski (Stunt Coordinators); Michael Arnold (Intimacy Coordinator)

Sinners

Aakomon Jones (Dance Choreographer); Eric Stratemeier (Fight Choreographer); Tim Bell  & Andy Gill (Stunt Coordinators); Amanda Peek (Intimacy Coordinator)

The Testament of Ann Lee

Celia Rowlson-Hall (Dance Choreographer); Gáspár Szabó (Stunt Coordinator); Lazlo  Juhász (Horse Stunt Coordinator); Colleen E. Hughes (Intimacy Coordinator)

15.Best Original Screenplay

Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident

Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt, Sentimental Value

Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

16.Best Adapted Screenplay

Hamnet

Maggie O’Farrell & Chloé Zhao (Screenwriters); Adapted from the Novel of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell

No Other Choice

Jahye Lee & Lee Kyoung-mi & Don McKellan & Park Chan-wook (Screenwriters); Adapted from Novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake

One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson (Screenwriter); Inspired from the Novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon

Pillion

Harry Lighton (Screenwriter); Based on the Novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones

Train Dreams

Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar (Screenwriters); Based on the Novella of the same name by Denis Johnson

17.Best Cinematography

Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners

Fabian Gamper, Sound of Falling

Dong Jingsong, Resurrection

Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams

18.Best Editing

Caught By the Tides

Chao Yang & Matthew Laclau & Lin Xudong (Editors)

Marty Supreme

Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie (Editors)

No Other Choice

Kim Ho-bin & Kim Sang-beom (Editors)

One Battle After Another

Andy Jurgensen (Editor)

The Secret Agent

Mattheus Farias & Eduardo Serrano (Editors)

19.Best Production Design

Frankenstein

Tamara Deverell (Production Designer); Shane Vieau (Set Decorator)

Hamnet

Fiona Crombie (Production Designer); Alice Felton (Set Decorator)

Marty Supreme

Jack Fisk (Production Designer); Adam Willis (Set Decorator)

Resurrection

Liu Qiang & Tu Nan (Production Designers)

Sinners

Hannah Beachler (Production Designer); Monique Champagne (Set Decorator)

20. Best Costume Design

Colleen Atwood, One Battle After Another

Ruth E. Carter, Sinners

Kate Hawley, Frankenstein

Kumiko Ogawa, Kokuho

Lindsay Pugh, Hedda

21.Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Frankenstein

Mike Hill (Prosthetic Makeup Effects Department Head); Jordan Samuel (Makeup  Department Head); Cilona Gurey (Hair Designer);

Sinners

Ken Diaz (Makeup Department Head); Michael Fontaine (Prosthetic Makeup Designer /  Special Makeup Effects Designer); Cristina Patterson (Contact Lens Designer / Contact  Lens Painter); Sian Richards (Makeup Designer); Elizabeth Robinson (Hair Department  Head); Shunika Terry (Hair Designer)

28 Years Later

Rebecca Cole (Hair & Makeup Supervisor); Flora Moody (Hair & Makeup Designer); John  Nolan (Special Makeup Effects Creative Supervisor); Louise Dupin & Alex Lawton  (SMUFX Coordinators); Karen Puris (HOD Prosthetics); Henrik Svensson (HOD  Prosthetics Painter)

The Ugly Stepsister

Thomas Foldberg (Prosthetic Makeup Designer); Anne Cathrine Sauerberg (Makeup & Hair  Designer)

Weapons

Jason Collins (SPFX Makeup Designer); Leo Satkovich (Makeup Department Head);  Melizah Anguiano Wheat (Hair Department Head)

22.Best Visual Effects  

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Richard Baneham & Salvier Dmello & Yan Larochette & Marco Revelant & Eric Saidon  (Visual Effects Supervisor); Damien Fisher & Steve Ingram (Special Effects Supervisors);  Karl Christholm (Special Effects Coordinator)

F1

Nicholas Chevalier & Robert Harrington & Lev Kolobov & Eric Leven & Jo Plaete & Ryan  Tudhope (Visual Effects Supervisors); Keith Dawson & Elia P. Popov & Glen Winchester  (Special Effects Supervisors); Lauren Hillier (Special Effects Coordinator)

Mickey 17

Bela Brozsek & Dan Glass & Audra Jaykar & Tim Leask & Marco van der Merwe & Owen  E. Williams (Visual Effects Supervisors); Dominic Touhy (Production Special Effects  Supervisor); Richard Chael (Special Effects Floor Supervisor);

Resurrection

Chan Chi-Kit & Lise Fischer & Liu Strilen (Visual Effects Supervisors); Wu Songyi (Special  Effects Supervisor);

Sinners

Nick Marshall & Michael Ralla (Visual Effects Supervisors); Matt Kutcher (Special Effects  Supervisor); Donnie Dean (Special Effects Coordinator);

23.Best Sound Mixing  

F1

Juan Peralta & Gary A. Rizzo (Re-recording Mixers); Al Nelson (Sound Designer)

One Battle After Another

Christopher Scarabosio (Re-recording mixers – Sound Designer); Tony Villaflor (Re recording Mixers)

Sinners

Steve Boeddeker (Re-recording Mixer -- Sound Designer); Brandon Proctor (Re-recording  Mixer)

Sirāt

Laia Casanovas (Sound Designer); Yasmina Praderas (Re-recording Mixer)

Warfare

Howard Bargroff & Richard Spooner (Re-recording Mixers); Glenn Freemantle (Sound  Designer)

24.Best Sound Effects Editing

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Christopher Boyes & Brent Burge & Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (Supervising Sound Editors)

F1

Al Nelson & Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (Supervising Sound Editors)

One Battle After Another

Christopher Scarabosio (Supervising Sound Editor)

Sinners

Benjamin A. Burtt (Supervising Sound Editor)

Sirāt

Laia Casanovas (Supervising Sound Editor)

25.Best Original Score

Daniel Blumberg, The Testament of Ann Lee

Ludwig Göransson, Sinners

Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another

Daniel Lopatin, Marty Supreme

Kangding Ray, Sirāt

26.Best Original Song  

KPOP Demon Hunters “Golden”

Kim Eun-jae (Lyricist); Mark Sonnenblick (Lyricist-Music Composer)

Queens of Drama “Fistée jusqu’au Coeur”

Pierre Desprats (Music Composer); Alexis Langlois (Lyricist)

Sinners “I Lied to You”

Raphael Saadiq & Ludwig Göransson (Lyricists-Music Composers)

The Testament of Ann Lee “Clothed By the Sun”

Daniel Blumberg (Lyricist-Music Composer)

Train Dreams “Train Dreams”

Nick Cave & Bryce Dessner (Lyricists-Music Composers)

27.Best Use of Music

KPOP Demon Hunters

Spring Aspers & Ian Eisendrath (Executive Music Producers)

One Battle After Another

Linda Cohen (Music Supervisor)

Sinners

Niki Sherrod (Music Supervisor); Ludwig Göransson (Music Producer); Serena Göransson  (Executive Music Producer);

Sirāt

Xavi Font (Music Supervisor)

The Testament of Ann Lee

Daniel Blumberg (Composer-Music Arrangement – Music Producer)

The 2025 Gold Digger Mid-Year Awards

The Gold Diggers are back, honouring the cinematic achievements of the first half of 2025!

Our voting body consists of film critics, film journalists, podcasters, festival programmers, film students, cinephiles and film professors. While selecting our new panelists we here at Gold Digger prioritize diversity and our panel represents a mixture of high-minded thinkers from diverse walks of life with various tastes and identities.

 This year, our voting body membership is as followed:

1.     Claudio Alves, Senior Columnist / Film Critic, The Film Experience / Magazine HD, International Cinema Society

2.     Alfie Amaya, Freelance Writer, High on Films

3.     Nick Austin, Freelance Editor

4.     Dennis Buckley, Founder, the Bunkyard Film Society

5.     The Cinescape, Freelance Film Critic

6.     Cameron Clark, PhD Graduate from Vanderbilt University and Film Instructor at Fisk University

7.     Cyrus Cohen, Festival Worker, Tribeca Festival

8.     Scott Cole, Contributor, Music City Drive-In

9.     Harris Dang, Film Critic, The AU Review /Impulse Gamer /In the Own League

10.  Mat Daniel, PhD Graduate, University of Canterbury

11.  Victor Escobar, Associate Producer, Ancient Aliens

12.  Jorge Espinoza, Film Critic, La Estatuilla

13.  John Lynn Fernandez, Freelance Critic, ICS Member

14.  The Film Mufti, Cinephile

15.  Patrick Gratton, Editor-In-Chief, Gold Digger / Director’s Guild of Canada

16.  Cesar Andres Guedez, Writer, Palomita de Maiz

17.  Joshua Gynther, Cinephile

18.  Samuel Haines, Historian

19.  Julian Janssen, Film Critic, Obviously Reviews

20.  Adam Klay, Cinephile

21.  Shadan Larki, Writer, InSession Film

22.  Keith MacDonald, Cinephile

23.  Kenny Miles, Writer, We Live Entertainment / Pollster, Cinemascore

24.  Leo Moon, Cinephile / Screenwriter, South African Writers Guild

25.  Joey Moser, Writer, The Contenders

26.  Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Critic, Loud and Clear Reviews

27.  Marc Rob, Podcaster, We Should Do This Again Sometime

28.  Zita Short, Film Critic, In Session Film

29.  Amanda Spears, Freelance. Awards Radar / Gold Derby

30.  Nick Taylor, Contributor, The Film Experience

31.  Tomas Trussow, Creator, The Lonely Film Critic

32.  Isaih Washington, Cinephile 

(Please Note All Stats referred to in this summary, solely refer to the 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024 Gold Digger Mid-Year Awards, and do not refer to our End of Year Awards.)

After two weeks of voting, results for the 2025 Gold Digger Mid-Year Awards resulted in a Monster Mash, with Vampires squaring off against Zombies. To no-one’s surprise, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, the genre-hybrid tale of young musician Sammie (Miles Caton) in 1932 Mississippi, who is suddenly reunited with his cousins (Michael B. Jordan in a dual role) to help them prepare the opening of their new speakeasy, only to find supernatural forces have taken an interest in his music, dominated with 21 nominations. This nomination tally broke Gold Digger Mid-Year Awards records, replacing Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City as the groups most recognized film at our mid-year awards. Back in  2023, Asteroid City received 17 nominations. We’ll circle back to Wes Anderson later, but Sinners nomination haul included acting bids for the aforementioned Miles Caton (twice, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Acting Newcomer) and Michael B. Jordan (Best Leading Actor), as well as Best Feature Film, Best Direction and additional supporting nominations for Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku and Jack O’Connell. It goes without saying, Sinners managed to land on the ballot for all the categories it was eligible for.  

Another film starring Mr. O’Connell, though ever so briefly, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, the zombie apocalypse legacy sequel to Boyle’s 2003 film following a teenage scavenger venturing into an infectious mainland Britain to cure his diseased ridden mother, trailed with 8 nominations. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the nominations disparity between our top nominated film and the film that was our first runner up. 28 Years Later was nominated in Best Feature Film, Best Direction, it's lead child actor Alfie Williams also nominated for Best Actor Newcomer, Jodie Comer nominated alongside Wumni Mosaku in Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Makeup & Hairstyling.

28 Weeks Later is squaring off against two other genre films in the Best Makeup & Hairstyling category. The Philippou Brothers’ Bring Her Back, an arguably exploitative elevated horror film with Sally Hawkins (a Best Leading Actress nominee) as Laura in Grande Dame Guignol fashion, who adopts the troubled Andy (Billy Barret) and his blind sister Piper (Sora Wong) following their father’s suicide. It’s not long before Laura’s Happy-Go-Lucky exterior persona gives way to an under-the-surface malicious intent. Also nominated, is Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister, a Norwegian retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale told from the perspective of Elvira (Lea Myren), one of Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters. Myren was also nominated in the Best Acting Newcomer, the film also received Best Directorial Debut, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling nominations. All in all, 2025 is geared up to be a strong year for acclaimed genre filmmaking. 

Another Genre film, Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to his Oscar winning 2019 film Parasite, Mickey 17 tied for second runner-up with 7 nominations. This science-fiction comedy is an adaptation of the Edward Ashton novel, and it follows Mickey in a human colony traveling toward the ice planet Niflheim, as he is employed as an “Expendable,” or a test subject who must sacrifice his life, time and time again, only to be-recloned to die again for the sake of scientific research. Its nominations include Best Feature Film, Best Leading Actor for Robert Pattinson, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects and both of our Sound categories.  Also tying with seven nominations were Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag, a John le Carré-esque spy thriller, following three pairs of spies testing their personal allegiances while sniffing each other out and smoking out the leaker of Severus, a top-secret software program. The espionage thriller was nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Abela), Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. The third film tying with 7 nominations, the most celebrated film this mid-year to miss our Best Feature Film lineup, was Wes Anderson’s The Pheonician Scheme, a mixture of the usual Wes Anderson house style applied to an espionage comedy following a Anatole "Zsa-Zsa" Korda (Benicio Del Toro), an unethical entrepreneur who risks his fortunes in swindling and upending the infrastructures of the Pheonician region, which is known in current times as the Leibnizian and Syrian coasts. The film trails Korda as he reunites with his daughter Liesel (Mia Threapleton), while globe-trotting and lining up his business associates in favor of the titular scheme. The film’s nominations include Best Ensemble Cast, Best Supporting Actor (Michael Cera), Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.

For the first time since our group’s inception, our top ten Feature Film lineup is equally divided between five American titles and 5 international titles. Four of five Best International Film nominees were also nominated in our top category.  The most well received of the international titles are Alain Guiraudie’s Misericorida and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, tied with six nominations each. Misericordia, from France, is a gay thriller cum dark comedy, following Jérémie Pastor (Félix Kysyl) as he returns to his hometown of Saint-Martial to attend his late boss’ funeral. It’s not long before sexual tensions arise between Jérémie and several of the townsfolk. Like they say: be gay, do crimes, and a murder mystery is now afoot. The film was also nominated for Best Ensemble Cast, Best Leading Actor for Kysyl and Best Supporting Actor for Jacques Develay, as the town priest with a memorable appendage. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, a Zambia-United Kingdom co-production, is an exploration of the deafening results of silence and hypocrisy behind Zambian culture. Shukla (Susan Chardy) reckons with her uncle Fred’s sudden death. As her extended family reunites for the funeral proceedings, Shukla becomes aware of a series of sexual assault,s and the systemic social apparatus that have shielded the perpetrator from consequences. The film was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Elizabeth Chisela, Best Acting Newcomer for Susan Chardy and Best Screenplay. Other International titles nominated for Best Feature Film are Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April, a Georgian film about Nina (Ia Sukhitashvili) an OB-GYN nurse juggling her medical duties, while also offering off the books abortions in the countryside; Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour, a Portuguese film, featuring a surreal mixture of narrative and non-fiction filmmaking that tracks  British diplomat Edward (Gonçcalo Waddington), fleeing from his bride-to-be Molly (Crista Alfaiate) towards Singapore; and David Cronenberg’s The Shourds, a Canadian film, where conspiracy theories are the new sex, and the rumination of grief and death can only be processed via digital interfaces. The only film to make our Best International Film ballot, but miss our Best Feature Film lineup was Jia Zhangke’s Caught by the Tides. The film otherwise managed to get an additional 3 nominations: Best Leading Actress for Zhao Tao, Best Editing and Best Use of Music.

The first half of the 2025 cinematic year proved to be a benchmark for debut filmmakers. Every voting cycle, there’s often a directorial debut that captures the mind of our voting bodies, and this cycle that film was Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby. A passion project for the multi-hyphenate, multi-talented first-time director-screenwriter-actress. The film follows Agnes (Victor), a literature college professor, dealing with years-long PTSD and social anxiety. Fragmented into chapters, the film jumps back and forth between present-day Agnes and her time as a graduate student in a liberal arts college, showing not only the direct aftermath of sexual assault, but the lingering and staggering effects of it on her everyday life. Sorry, Baby got five nominations, the aforementioned Best Feature Film and Best Directorial Debut nominations, Best Leading Actress and Best Screenplay nominations for Victor and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Naomie Ackie for her performance as Lydie, Agnes’ old college roommate. In addition to Emilie Blichfeld’s aforementioned four nominations for The Ugly Stepsister, another Directorial Debut is Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship, a dark comedy about a bromance gone awry, which also received a Best Leading Actor nomination for Tim Robinson. While missing this designated category, first time film, Alexis Langlois’ Queens of Drama, a queer ode to pop divas of the aughts, got 2 nominations, Best Costume Design and Best Use of Music.

Elsewhere, this year marked the first time since we’ve divided our Best Sound Category into two separate categories for Mixing and for Editing, and produced two identical categories. Both categories were dominated by the zombie cries in 28 Years Later, the engines revving in Joseph Kosinski’s F1, the space travelling in Mickey 17, the vampire bites in Sinners, and the constant gunfire in Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare.  The summer streaming sensation Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang’s KPOP Demon Hunters not only got nominated for Best Animated Feature, but for Best Use of Music as well. Our Best Non-Fiction Film category is also an international spread, with stories from the Gaza Strip in From Ground Zero, to the Spanish Plaza de Toros in Afternoon of Solitudes to the Gallaudet University Campus in Deaf Presidents  Now. Casting Director Francine Maisler is one of the year’s stealth MVP, a two-time nominee in the Best Ensemble Cast for both Mickey 17 and Sinners. Stephen Park is also a two-time nominee in the category, as a member of both the Mickey 17 and the Phoenician Scheme acting ensembles.

 At this year’s Mid-Year awards, a total of 37 films received nominations. Due to the dominance of both Sinners and Mickey 17, Warner Bros leads with 34 nominations, with A24 trailing with 19, Focus Features with 15 and Janus Films – Sideshow with 13, respectively. As is often the result, American cinema ruled our awards with 81 nominations. A total of 28 countries are represented in this year’s mid-year awards, with Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom all receiving 20+ nominations.

 Our winners will be announced on Tuesday September 9th. Our full nominations are as follows:

1.     Best Feature Film

28 Years Later (Columbia Pictures – Sony Pictures) – Bernard Bellow & Danny Boyle & Alex Garland & Andrew MacDonald & Peter Rice (Producers)

 April (Metrograph Pictures) -- Ilan Amouyal & Archil Gelovani & Luca Guadagnino & Francesco Melzi d’Eril & Alexandra Rossi & David Zerat (Producers)

 Black Bag (Focus Features) – Gregory Jacobs & Christof Neracher & Casey Silver (Producers)

Grand Tour (MUBI) -- Marta Donzelli & Gregorio Paonessa & Filipa Reis (Producers)

 Mickey 17 (Warner Bros.) – Dooho Choi & Dede Gardner & Bong Joon Ho & Jeremie Kleiner (Producers)

Misericordia (Janus Films – Sideshow) -- Charles Gillibert (Producer)

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (A24) -- Tim Cole & Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe (Producers)

 The Shrouds (Janus Films – Sideshow) – Saïd Ben Saïd & Martin Katz & Anthony Vaccarello (Producers)

 Sinners (Warner Bros.) – Ryan Coogler & Zinzi Coogler & Sev Ohanian (Producers)

 Sorry, Baby (A24) -- Mark Ceryak & Barry Jenkins & Adele Romanski (Producers)

2.    Best Directing:

Danny Boyle, 28 Years Later

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour

Dea Kulumbegashvili, April

Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

3.    Best International Film:

April (Georgia / Italy / France) – Ilan Amouyal & Archil Gelovani & Luca Guadagnino & Francesco Melzi d’Eril & Alexandra Rossi & David Zerat (Producers)

Caught by the Tides [Feng liu yi dai] (China/ France / Japan) – Zhang Dong & Shôzô Ichiyama & Casper Liang Jiayan (Producers)

Grand Tour (Portugal / Italy / France / Germany) – Marta Donzelli & Gregorio Paonessa & Filipa Reis (Producers)

Misericordia [Miséricorde] (France / Spain / Portugal) – Charles Gillibert (Producer)

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Ireland / UK / Zambia) – Tim Cole & Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe (Producers)

4.    Best Animated Film:

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie – Antonio Canobbio & Howard Huxham & Ben Kalina & Alex Kirwan & Bernard Lajoie & Chris Prynoski & Shannon Prunoski (Producers)

Elio – Mary Alice Drumm (Producer)

KPOP: Demon Hunters – Michelle Wong (Producer)

5.     Best Non-Fiction Film **TIE**:

Afternoon of Solitude – Pierre-Olivier Bardet & Luis Ferrón & Marta Lacimo Ligero & Pedro Palacios & Richard Sales & Joaquim Sapinho & Albert Serra & Montse Triola & Marta Vieira Alves (Producers)

Deaf Presidents Now! – Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim & Michael Harte & Jonathan King & Amanda Rohlke (Producers)

The Encampments – Munir Atalla & Matthew Belen & Kei Pritsker & Michael T Workman (Producers)

From Ground Zero – Rashid Masharawi & Laura Nikolov (Producers)

Grand Theft Hamlet  -- Julia Ton & Rebecca Wolff (Producers)

Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) – Amit Dey & Derik Murray & Joseph Patel (Producers)

6.     Best Directorial Debut

Companion – Drew Hancock (Director); Zach Cregger & Roy Lee & J.D. Lifshitz & Raphael Margules (Producers)

Eephus – Carson Lund (Director-Producer); Michael Basta & David Entin & Tyler Taormina (Producers)

Friendship – Andrew DeYoung (Director); Johnny Holland & J.D. Lifshitz & Raphael Margules & Nick Weidenfield (Producers)

Sorry, Baby – Eva Victor (Director); Mark Ceryak & Barry Jenkins & Adele Romanski (Producers)

The Ugly Stepsister – Emilie Blichfeldt (Director); Maria Ekerhovd (Producer)

7.    Best Ensemble Cast:

Black Bag

Carmen Cuba (Casting Director); Marisa Abela, Kae Alexander, Cate Blanchett, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Burke, Daniel Dow, Michael Fassbender, ‘Naomie Harris, Dane Juler, Alex Magliaro, Regé-Jean Page, Gustaf Skarsgård (Cast) 

Mickey 17

Francine Maisler (Casting Director); Naomi Ackie, Cameron Britton, Toni Collette, Edward Davis, Patsy Ferran, Holliday Grainger, Hayden Gwynne,  Daniel Henshall, Bronwyn James,  Angus Imrie, Milo James, Tim Key, Anna Mouglalis, Michael Monroe, Stephen Park, Robert Pattinson, Ellen Robertson, Mark Ruffalo, Thomas Turgosse, Anamaria Vartolomei, Jamila Wingett, Steven Yeun (Cast)

Misericordia

Julie Allione & Laetitia Goffi (Casting Directors): David Ayala, Jacques Develay, Jan-Baptiste Durand, Sébastian Faglain, Catherine Frot, Félix Kysyl, Salomé Lopes, Elio Lunetta, Serge Richard, Tatiana Spivakova (Cast)

The Phoenician Scheme

Douglas Aibel (Casting Director); F. Murray Abraham, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Carment Maja Antoni, Richard Ayoade,   Hector Bateman-Harden, Michael Cera, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Hope Davis, Ogden Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Antonia Desplat, Jaime Ferkic, Freya Feyrouz,  Rupert Friend, Charlotte Gainsbourg,  Edward Hyland, Milo James, Alex Jennings, Scarlett Johansson, Benjamin Lake, Karl Markovics, Bill Murray, Steven Park, Kit Rakusen, Mohamad Momo Ramadan, Gabriel Ryan, Antonia Schröter, Scott Shepherd, Donald Sumpter, Gunes Taner, Mia Threapleton, Jason Watkins,  Jonathan Wirtz, Jeffrey Wright (Cast)

Sinners

Francine Maisler (Casting Director); Nathaniel Arcand, Gralen Bryant Banks, Nicoye Banks, Miles Caton, Peter Dreimanis, Emonie Ellison, Buddy Guy, Helena Hu, Michael B. Jordan, Lola Kirke, Li Jun Li, Jayme Lawson, Delroy Lindo, Dave Maldonado, Sam Malone, Omar Benson Miller, Wunmi Mosaku,  Jack O’Connell, Hailee Steinfeld, Saul Williams, Yao (Cast)

8.     Best Leading Actress:

Sally Hawkins, Bring Her Back

Amanda Seyfried, Seven Veils

Ia Sukhitashvili, April

Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

Zhao Tao, Caught By the Tides

9.    Best Leading Actor:

Vincent Cassel, The Shrouds

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Félix Kysyl, Misericordia

Robert Pattinson, Mickey 17

Tim Robinson, Friendship

10.    Best Supporting Actress:

Marisa Abela, Black Bag

Naomie Ackie, Sorry, Baby

Elizabeth Chisela,  On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Jodie Comer, 28 Weeks Later

Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners

11.    Best Supporting Actor   

Miles Caton, Sinners

Michael Cera, The Phoenician Scheme

Jacques Develay, Misericordia

Delroy Lindo, Sinners

Jack O’Connell, Sinners

12.    Best Acting Newcomer   

Miles Caton, Sinners

Susan Chardy, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Lea Myren, The Ugly Stepsister

Jonah Wren Phillips, Bring Her Back

Alfie Williams, 28 Years Later

13.     Best Choreography (Stunts, Dance or Other):

28 Years Later – Vanessa Coffrey (Intimacy Coordinator); Toby Sedwick (Movement Coach); Julian Spencer (Stunt Coordinator);

Ballerina – Jayson Dumenigo (Fire Specialist Sunt Coordinator); Stephen Dunlevy & Kyle Gardiner (Supervising Stunt Coordinators); Jeremy Marinas (Fight Coordinator – Fight Coordinator); Jan Petrina & Domonkos Párdányi & Jackson Spidell (Stunt Coordinators); Caleb Spillyards (Fight Coordinator);

Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Jonathan Cohen & Wade Eastwood (Stunt Coordinators); Ruda Vrba (Fight Coordinator)

Sinners – Aakomon Jones (Dance Choreographer); Eric Stratemeier (Fight Choreographer); Tim Bell & Andy Gill (Stunt Coordinators); Amanda Peek (Intimacy Coordinator)

Thunderbolts* -- Nick Benseman & Heidi Moneymaker & Noon Orsatti (Stunt Coordinators); Can Aydin & Micah Moore & Caleb Spillyards (Fight Coordinators)

14.    Best Screenplay:

Alain Guiraudie, Misericordia

David Koepp, Black Bag

Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

15.    Best Cinematography

Anthony Dod Mantle, 28 Weeks Later

Gui Liang & Sayombhu Mukdeeprom & Rui Poças,  Grand Tour

Bruno Delbonnel, The Phoenician Scheme

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners

Son Doan, Việt and Nam

16.    Best Editing:

Jon Harris, 28 Weeks Later

Mary Ann Bernard, Black Bag

Chao Yang & Matthew Laclau & Lin Xudong, Caught by the Tides

Stephen Mirrione & Patrick J. Smith,  F1

Michael P. Shawver, Sinners

17. Best Production Design:  

Grand Tour – Thales Junqueira & Marcos Pedroso (Production Designers); Luciano Cammerrieri & Babi Yargino (Set Decorators);

Mickey 17 – Fiona Crombie (Production Designer); Alice Felton (Set Decorator);

The Phoenician Scheme  -- Adam Stockhausen (Production Designer); Anna Pinnock (Set Decorator);

The Shrouds – Carol Spier (Production Designer); Peter Nicolakakos (Set Decorator):

Sinners – Hannah Beachlor (Production Designer); Monique Champagne (Set Decorator)

18.  Best Costume Design:

Sarah Bosshard & Ellen Mirojnick, Black Bag

Milena Canonero, The Phoenician Scheme

Jameelah Maury, Queens of Drama

Ruth E. Carter, Sinners

Manon Rasmussen, The Ugly Stepsister

19. Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

28 Years Later – Rebecca Cole (Hair & Makeup Supervisor); Flora Moody (Hair & Makeup Designer); Sam Ostwald (Animatronic Model Designer); Melanie Lenihan (Crowd Hair and Makeup Supervisor); John Nolan (Special Makeup Effects Creative Supervisor);  Louise Dupin & Alex Lawton (SMUFX Coordinators); Karen Puris (HOD Prosthetics); Henrik Svensson (HOD Prosthetics Painter)

Bring Her Back – Rebecca Buratto (Makeup & Hair Designer); Karen Gower (Hair & Makeup Supervisor); Paul Katte & Nick Nicolaou (Special Makeup Effects Designers and Creators); Larry Van Duynhoven (Prosthetic Designer)

The Phoenician Scheme – Maek Coulier (Prosthetic Designer); Heike Merker (Hair & Makeup Designer); Valeska Schitthelm (Makeup & Hair Supervisor)

Sinners – Ken Diaz (Makeup Departement Head); Michael Fontaine (Prosthetic Makeup Designer / Special Makeup Effects Designer); Cristina Patterson (Contact Lens Designer / Contact Lens Painter); Sian Richards (Makeup Designer); Elizabeth Robinson (Hair Department Head); Shunika Terry (Hair Designer)

The Ugly Stepsister – Thomas Foldberg (Prosthetic Makeup Designer); Anne Cathrine Sauerberg (Makeup  & Hair Designer)

20. Best Visual Effects **TIE**:

F1 – Nicholas Chevalier & Robert Harrington & Lev Kolobov & Eric Leven & Jo Plaete & Ryan Tudhope (Visual Effects Supervisors); Keith Dawson & Elia P. Popov & Glen Winchester (Special Effects Supervisors); Lauren Hillier (Special Effects Coordinator)

Final Destination: Bloodlines – Zena Bielewicz & Nathan Rahhali (Visual Effects Supervisors); Tom Blacklock Sr. & Tony Lazarowich (Special Effects Coordinators);

Mickey 17 – Bela Brozsek & Dan Glass & Audra Jaykar & Tim Leask & Marco van der Merwe & Owen E. Williams (Visal Effects Supervisors); Dominic Touhy (Production Special Effects Supervisor); Richard Chael (Special Effects Floor Supervisor);

Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Alex Wuttke (Visual Effects Supervisor); Ian Lowe (Special Effects Supervisor); Hugh Goodbody & Chris Howes (Senior Special Effects Designers)

Sinners – Nick Marshall & Michael Ralla (Visual Effects Supervisors); Matt Kutcher (Special Effects Supervisor); Donnie Dean (Special Effects Coordinator);

Thunderbolts* -- Nikos Kalaitzidis & Jake Morrison & Chad Wiebe (Visual Effects Supervisor); Adam Howarth (Special Effects Supervisor); Vicky Jay (Special Effects Supervisor – Malaysia)

21. Best Sound Mixing: 

28 Years Later – Johnnie Burn (Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer)

F1 – Juan Peralta & Gary A. Rizzo (Re-recording Mixer); Al Nelson (Sound Designer)

Mickey 17 – Choi Tae-young (Re-recording mixer); Eilam Hoffman (Sound Designer)

Sinners – Steve Boeddeker (Re-recording Mixer -- Sound Designer); Brandon Proctor (Re-recording Mixer)

Warfare – Howard Bargroff & Richard Spooner (Re-recording Mixers); Glenn Freemantle (Sound Designer)

22. Best Sound Effects Editing:

28 Years Later – Johnnie Burn (Supervising Sound Editor)

F1 – Al Nelson & Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (Supervising Sound Editors)

Mickey 17 – Choi Tae-young (Supervising Sound Editor)

Sinners – Benjamin A. Burtt (Supervising Sound Editor)

Warfare – Ben Barker & Glenn Freemantle (Supervising Sound Editors)

23. Best Original Score:

Alloysious Massaquoi & Kayus Bankole & Graham 'G' Hastings (As Young Fathers),  28 Years Later

David Holmes, Black Bag

Daniel Pemberton, Materialists

Alexandre Desplat,  The Phoenician Scheme  

Ludwig Göransson, Sinners

17. Best Use of Music

The Ballad of Wallis Island --Gary Welch (Music Supervisor); Tom Barden (Musician & Lyricist); Adem Ilhan (Music Producer);

Caught by the Tides – Jia Zhangke (Director-Writer)

KPOP: Demon Hunters – Spring Aspers & Ian Eisendrath (Executive Music Producers); Jenna Andrews & Danny Chung & Stephen Kirk Ejae Kim & KUSH & Michael Schulz & Mark Sonnenblick & Vince  (Musicians & Lyricists)

Queens of Drama – Germaine Izydorczyk & Schmooze (Music Supervisors); Pierre Desprats (Composer – Musician & Lyricist); Carlotta Coco &  Alexis Langlois  & Mona Soyoc & Rebeka Warrior  (Musicians & Lyricists)

Sinners – Serena Göransson (Music Supervisor / Executive Music Producer); Ludwig Göransson (Composer-Music Producer); Ngawang Smphel & Noah Gorelick (Music Programmers)

Nomination Summary:

Per Film:

Sinners --  21

28 Years Later—8

Black Bag – 7

Mickey 17 – 7

The Phoenician Scheme -- 7

Misericordia – 6

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl --  6

Grand Tour – 5

Sorry, Baby – 5

April – 4

Caught by the Tides – 4

F1 – 4

The Ugly Stepsister – 4

Bring Her Back -- 3

The Shrouds – 3

Friendship --2

KPOP: Demon Hunters –2

Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning – 2

Queens of Drama – 2

Thunderbolts* -- 2

Warfare – 2

The Ballad of Wallis Island – 1

Afternoon of Solitude – 1

Ballerina – 1

Companion -- 1

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Loony Tunes Movie -- 1

Deaf Presidents Now! – 1

Eephus -- 1

Elio -- 1

The Encampments – 1

Final Destination: Bloodlines -- 1

From Ground Zero -- 1

Grand Theft Hamlet  -- 1

Materialist – 1

Seven Veils – 1

Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) – 1

Việt and Nam – 1

Per Studio

Warner Bros. – 34

A24 -- 19

Focus Features -- 15

Janus Films – Sideshow – 13

Columbia Pictures – Sony Pictures –12

MUBI – 6

IFC Films -- 4

Metrograph Pictures – 4

Walt Disney Pictures – 3

Altered Innocence -- 2

Netflix – 2

Paramount Pictures – 2

Watermelon Pictures – 2

Apple Original Films – 1

Grasshopper Films – 1

HULU – 1

Ketchup Entertainment -- 1

Lionsgate – 1

Music Box Films – 1

Strand Releasing – 1

Variance Films – 1

 By Country:

USA – 81

Canada – 37

France -- 32

Australis – 26

UK – 20

Portugal – 12

Spain – 12

Italy -- 9

Germany --  7

South Korea – 7

Ireland – 6

Zambia – 6

China – 4

Denmark – 4

Georgia – 4

Japan – 4

Norway – 4

Poland –4

Romania –4

Belgium  -- 2

Finland –2

Hungar – 1

Occupied Palestinian Territory – 1

Philippines – 1

Qatar – 1

Singapore -- 1

United Arab Emirates – 1

Vietnam -1

The 2024 Gold Digger Awards Nominations

The Gold Diggers are back, honouring the cinematic achievements of 2024!!  As usual, our voting body membership is malleable, shifting and adapting year-to-year. Our voting body consists of film critics, film journalists, podcasters, festival programmers, film students and film professors. While selecting our panelists, we here at Gold Diggers prioritize diversity, and our panel represents a mixture of high-minded thinkers from diverse walks of life, with various tastes and identities.

This year, our voting body membership is as followed:

1.     Claudio Alves, Senior Columnist / Film Critic , The Film Experience / Magazine HD, International Cinema Society

2.     Alfie Amaya, Freelance Writer, High on Films

3.     Drew Choiniere, Cinephile

4.     The Cinescape, Freelance Film Critic

5.     Cameron Clark, Film Scholar , Fisk University

6.     Cyrus Cohen, Festival Worker, Tribeca Festival

7.     Scott Cole, Contributor, Music City Drive-In

8.     Harris Dang, Film Critic, The AU Review /Impulse Gamer /In the Own League

9.     Mat Daniel, PhD Graduate, University of Canterbury

10.  Seth Eelen, Editor-In-Chief. Of into:screens

11.  Victor Escobar, Associate Producer, Ancient Aliens

12.  Jorge Espinoza, Film Critic, La Estatuilla

13.  Conrado Falco, Cinephile / Podcaster

14.  John Lynn Fernandez, Freelance Critic, ICS Member

15.  The Film Mufti, Cinephile

16.  Eduardo Gomes, Cinephile

17.  Patrick Gratton, Editor-In-Chief, Gold Digger / Director’s Guild of Canada

18.  Joshua Gynther, Cinephile

19.  Samuel Haines, Vice-President, Goodwin & Associates

20.  Robert Hamer, Associated Writer, Awards Radar

21.  Julian Janssen, Film Critic, Obviously Reviews

22.  Ankit Jhunjhunwala, Freelance Critic.

23.  Adam Klay, Cinephile

24.  Shadan Larki, Writer, InSession Film

25.  Ray Lewis, Cinephile

26.  Keith MacDonald, Cinephile

27.  Kenny Miles, Writer, We Live Entertainment / Pollster, Cinemascore

28.  Kip Mooney, Staff Writer, College Movie Reviews

29.  Joey Moser, Writer, The Contenders

30.  Tyler Roberto Ortiz, Critic, Loud and Clear Reviews

31.  Josh Parham, Contributor, AwardsWatch / Next Best Picture

32.  Marc Rob, Podcaster, We Should Do This Again Sometime

33.  Róge Stack, Filmmaker

34.  Zita Short, Film Critic, In Session Film

35.  Ronaldo Sosa, Cinephile

36.  Amanda Spears, Freelance. Awards Radar / Gold Derby

37.  Nick Taylor, Contributor, The Film Experience

38.  Tomas Trussow, Creator, The Lonely Film Critic

39.  Mladen Vukčević, Film Writer

40.  Robin Write, Editor-In-Chief, Filmotomy 

(Please Note All Stats referred to in this summary, solely refer to the 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2024 Gold Digger Awards, and do not refer to our Mid-Year Awards.)

After a contentious and competitive race, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, the French female-led body horror film, following an aging aerobics star who creates a rejuvenate doppelganger using the titular substance, triumphed with eleven nominations. On one hand it’s a genre film, on another hand, it’s a provocative distillation on the trials of aging in Hollywood. Its nominations include Best Director for Fargeat, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations for its stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, Best Editing, Best Production Design, while also missing in Best Original Screenplay.

Brady Corbet’s third feature film, the 210+ minute epic The Brutalist, trails with ten nominations. The film follows Holocaust survivor Hungarian architect László Tóth who immigrated to America, rebuilding his life and career underneath the wings (and underneath the thump) of industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. Tóth embarks on a decade long struggle to erect a brutalist-style community center. Our voters were dazzled by the innovation of its 15 minute intermission, the VistaVision visuals and the heart pumping musical score. The Film, Corbet’s direction, the aforementioned cinematography and score were all nominated, as were Adrien Brody for Best Leading Actor as Tóth and Guy Pearce for Best Supporting Actor as Van Buren Sr.

The remaining eight nominated films nominated in our Best Feature Film Categories include a mixture of award season maintains and international titles. Oscar Winning Sean Baker’s Anora received five nominations, while Baker missed out in the Best Direction category and its Oscar winning star Mickey Madison just fell out of our Best Actress Lineup. RaMell’s Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Nickel received four nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Acting Newcomer for Brandon Wilson and Best Cinematography. 

Last summer’s Mid-Year Awards Best Feature Film winner Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast, an adaptation of Henry James’ The Beast In the Jungle, is attempting to reprise it’s success with six nomination, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Leading Actress for Léa Seydoux. Seydoux is competition against the aforementioned Demi Moore, her fellow Best Actress Oscar nominee Fernando Torres, for her performance as Eunice Paiva, the wife of a former Brazilian politician trying to save her family in a fascist military occupied Rio de Janeiro, in Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, Nicole Kidman, as a corporate CEO who explores her sexual desires through an affair with one of her interns, in Helina Reijn’s Babygirl and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Jean-Baptiste is the third of the five Best Actress nominees leading a Best Feature Film nominee. Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths is a domestic drama centered around the Deacon family and its ill-mannered matriarch Pansy in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. Pansy struggles to overcome her lifelong depression and multi-generational anger. The tight nit ensemble, featuring not only the Deacon clan but those caught within Pansy’s raging rampage, was nominated for Best Ensemble Film. Michele Austin, as Pansy’s sister Chantelle, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and Mike Leigh’s script was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.  

Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World received a sole Best Feature Film nomination. The Romanian film comedy satirizes the film and television industry as it follows production assistant Angela (Ilinca Manolache) as she spends her day driving around Bucharest doing odd jobs for her employer while also flooding social media with videos of her as her right winged alter ego Bobita, a caricature of Andrew Tate. The film reaches its climax with a forty-minute unbroken shot: Angela and her production company are hired by a trades company to film a safety video, where they coerce a family recently afflicted by a paralyzing at-work accident into relinquishing blame to  their employers for the poor work conditions. Radu Jude’s film is the second film ever to receive a sole Best Feature Film nominee after João Dumans and Affonso Uchoa’s Araby back in 2018. On the flip side, Dennis Villeneuve’s Science Fiction blockbuster sequel Dune: Part Two received the most nominations this year for a non-Best Feature Film nominee with eight nominations. The film dominated our group’s technical categories, including Production Design, Visual Effects and both of our Sound Categories, while also nabbing a Best Ensemble Cast and a Best Choreography nomination. 

Let’s say there was a venn diagram between our Best Feature Film and Best International Film, this year, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light is the film overlapping both circles, receiving nominations in both categories. The film is a romantic drama centering on two Indian nurses in Mumbai navigating their romantic desires in a culture that represses dreams. Ranabir Das’ luscious visuals gives the film its dreamlike quality, as the film follows hearts breaking, mending and finally meeting. The film managed to get a total of three nominations, with Kapadia also landing a Best Direction nomination.  The other nominees in the International Film category are Mati Diop’s Dahomey, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow and the aforementioned I’m Still Here. Other international titles, including Magnus von Horn’s The Girl With a Needle, Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell and Lois Patiño’s Samsara, managed to grab nominations elsewhere despite falling short on the International Film Ballot. 

2024 also marked a banner year for Trans Cinema and trans filmmakers. Jane Schoenbrun became the first trans woman to be nominated for Best Direction for I Saw the TV Glow, a trans 90s TV nostalgia-fest following Maddy and Owen, who grow up to realize that their favourite childhood television series resemble their lives. The film received six nominations, including Best Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay and a duo of Best Original Song nominations for Claw Machine and Starburned and Sunkissed.  Another trans filmmaker, the multi hyphenate director-actress-editor-screenwriter-songwriter Vera Drew, received dual nominations in both Best Directorial Debut and Best Acting Newcomer for her breakout hit The People’s Joker. The shoestring micro-budget indie, is a queer retelling of the Batman DC Comics mythos, through the prevue of a trans Joker coming of age in the indie standup comedy scene. Lastly, Josh Greenbaum’s Will & Harper, starring Saturday Night Live veteran Will Ferrell and former SNL writer Harper Steele as they embark on a cross country road trip, Harper’s first  post-transitioning, landed in our Best Non-Fiction Film Category. Other non-fiction films in this category include the aforementioned Dahomey, Angela Patton and Nathalie Rae’s Daughters, Yuval Abraham and Bassel Adra and Hamden Ballal and Rachel Star’s No Other Land and Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat. 

Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat is now the third non-fiction film to get an Best Editing nomination after Garett Bradley’s Time in 2020 and Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s De humani corporis fabrica in 2023. Last year’s Best Leading Actor winner Cillian Murphy, for his role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, is now the second actor to receive two individual acting nominations, for his performance in Tim Mielants’ Small Things Like These, an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novel about a coal merchant who slowly discovers the abuse at the hands of a local Magdalene asylum. He follows in Olivia Colman’s footsteps who got Lead Actress nominations for Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite in 2018 and Florian Zeller’s The Father in 2020. 

While completely snubbed by the Academy, Luca Guadagnino 2024 films Challengers and Queer received a combined total of eleven nominations, with Challengers getting seven and Queer getting four. Challengers’ Josh O’Connor won Best Leading Actor at our 2024 Mid-Year Awards, while strangely landing in the Best Supporting Actor field at our end of year awards. 

Sean Baker leads with the most nominations for an individual this year with four, for casting, editing, producer and screenwriting Anora.  Wes Anderson still holds the record for the most individual nominations in a single year when he got six nominations in 2023, Mr. Anderson has seven nominations total.  Emma Stone achieved a hat trick of sorts, getting three nominations this year for three separate films: producing Best Feature Film Nominee I Saw the TV Glow, and Best Directorial Debut nominee Julio Torres’ Problemista, and for taking part in the Ensemble Cast nominee Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness.. 

A total of sixty-eight films were nominated by the 2024 Gold Diggers voting body, with thirty-eight of those films garnering only one nomination. US-backed cinema received the most nominations of any country, though a total of thirty-eight countries produced films that received at least one nomination. Films by A24 collectively earned thirty-nine  nominations, while Janus Films and MUBI each got fifteen citations for their catalogues.

Our winners will be announced on Tuesday March 26th . Our full nominations are as follows:

1.     Best Feature Film:

All We Imagine As Light (Janus Films / Sideshow) – Julien Graff & Thomas Hakim (Producers)

Anora (Neon) – Sean Baker & Alex Coco & Samantha Quan (Producers)

The Beast (Janus Films / Sideshow) -- Bertrand Bonello & Justin Taurand (Producers)

The Brutalist (A24) – Brady Corbet & Nick Gordon & D.J. Gugenheim & Andrew Lauren & Trevor Matthews & Andrew Morrison & Brian Young (Producers)

Challengers (MGM / United Artists) – Luca Guadagnino & Rachel O’ Connor & Amy Pascal & Zendeya (Producers)

Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (MUBI) – Radu Jude & Adrian Sitaru & Ada Solomon (Producers)

Hard Truths (Bleecker Street Media) – Georgina Lowe (Producer)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24) -- Ali Herting & Luca Intill & David McCary & Emma Stone & Sarah Winshall  (Producers) 

Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM Studios) – Joslyn Barnes & Dede Gardner & Jeremy Kleiner & David Levine (Producer)

The Substance (MUBI)  -- Tim Bevan & Coralie Fargeat & Eric Fellner (Producers)

2.    Best Body of Work

Hong Sangsoo, Cinematographer-Composer-Director-Editor-Producer-Screenwriter, In Our Day &  A Traveler’s Needs

Nicholas Hoult, Actor, The Garfield Movie  & Juror #2 & Nosferatu &  The Order

George MacKay, Actor, The Beast & The End & Femme

Jason Schwartzman, Actor-Executive Producer, Between the Temples & The Last Showgirl & Megalopolis & Queer

Tilda Swinton, Actor-Producer,  The End & Problemista & The Room Next Door

3.    Best Directing

Bertrand Bonello, The Beast

Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Paval Kapaldia, All We Imagine As Light

Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow

4.    Best International Film

All We Imagine As Light [പ്രഭയായ് നിനച്ചതെല്ലാം]  (France / India / Netherlands / Luxembourg / Italy / Switzerland) – Julien Graff & Thomas Hakim (Producers)

Dahomey (France / Senegal / Benin /Singapore) -- – Mati Diop & Judith Lou Lévy & Eve Robin (Producers)

Evil Does Not Exist [Aku wa sonzai shinai] (Japan)  -- Satoshi Takada (Producer)

Flow [Straume]  (Latvia / Belgium / France) -- Ron Dyens & Matiss Kaza & Gregory Zalcman & Gints Zilbalodis (Producers)

I’m Still Here [Ainda Estou Aqui]  (Brazil / France) – Maria Carlota Bruno & Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre & Rodrigo Teixeira (Producers)

5.    Best Animated Film:

 Flow – Ron Dyens & Matiss Kaza & Gregory Zalcman & Gints Zilbalodis (Producers)

Mars Express – Marc Jousset & Guillaume Natas & Florent Steiner (Co-Producers)

Memoir of a Snail – Adam Elliott & Liz Kearney (Producers)

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – Richard Beek (Producer)

The Wild Robot   -- Jeff Hermann (Producer)

6.    Best Non-Fiction Film:

Dahomey – Mati Diop & Judith Lou Lévy & Eve Robin (Producers)

Daughters – Justin Benoliel & Sam Bisbee & Laura Choi & James Cunningham & Kathryn Everett & Mindy Goldberg & Victor Kamwendo & Lisa Mazzotta (Producers)

No Other Land – Yuval Abraham & Basel Adra & Hamden Ballal & Fabien Greenberg & Bård Kjøge Rønning & Rachel Szor (Producers)

Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat  -- Rémi Grellety & Daan Millius & Sara Skrodzka (Producers)

Will & Harper  -- Jessica Elbaum & Will Ferrell & Josh Greenbaum & Chris Leggett & Rafael Marmor (Producers)

7.    Best Short Film  

Chime – Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Director); Misaki Kawamura & Hideyuki Okamoto & Miyuki Tanaka (Producers)

I’m Not a Robot – Victoria Warmerdam (Director); Trent (Producer)

In the Shadow of the Cypress – Hossein Molayemi & Shirin Sohani (Directors-Producers)

Incident – Bill Morrison (Director-Producer); Jamie Kalven (Producer)

ME -- Don Hertzfeldt (Director-Producer)

8.    Best Directorial Debut

The First Omen – Arkasha Stevensen (Director); David S. Goyer & Keith Levine (Producers)

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell -- Phạm Thiên Ân (Director);  Jeremy Chua & Tran Van Thi (Producers)

Janet Planet – Annie Baker (Director-Producer);  Andrew Goldman & Dan Janvey & Derrick Tseng (Producers) 

The People’s Joker – Vera Drew (Director); Joey Lyons (Producer)

Problemista --  Julio Torres (Director-Producer); Ali Herting & David McCary & Emma Stone (Producers) 

9.    Best Ensemble Cast:

Anora

Sean Baker (Casting Director); Anton Bitter,  Yura Borisov, Darya Ekamasova, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mickey Madison, Vlad Mamai,  Luna Sofía Miranda, Lindsay Normington,  Brittney Rodriguez, Ella Rubin, Aleksey Serebryakov, Maria Tichinskaya, Vache Tovmasyan, Atyyom Trubnikov,  Emily Weider, Paul Weisman (Cast)

Dune Part Two

Francine Maisler (Casting Director); Javier Bardem, David Baustista, Tara Breathnach, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Imola Gáspár, Alison Halsttead, Akiko Hitomi, Giusi Merli, Babs Olusanmokun, Florence Pugh, Charlotte Rampling, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy,  Kait Tenison, Christopher Walken, Souhheila Yacoub,  Zendeya (Cast)

Hard Truths

Nina Gold (Casting Director); Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Michele Austin, Alice Bailey Johnson, Tuwaine Barrett, Gary Beadle, Ruby Bentall, Sophia Brown,   Diveen Henry, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jonathan Livingstone, Syrus Lowe. Jo Martin, Bryony Miller, Ashna Rabhery, Samantha Spiro, Hiral Versani,  David Webber, Diana Yekinni (Cast

Kinds of Kindness

Dixie Chassey (Casting Director); Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Tessa Bourgeois, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Ja’Quan Monroe-Henderson, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Hunter Schafer, Emma Stone (Cast)

Sing Sing

Brent Buell, Pedro Cotto, Colman Domingo, Mosi Eagle, David Giraudy, Patrick Griffin, Sean Dino Johnson, Clarence Maclin, Dario Peña, Paul Raci, Sean San Jose, Johnny Simmons, Miguel Valentin, Jon-Adrien Velazquez, Sharon Washington, John Divine G. Whitfield,  James Williams (Cast)

10. Best Leading Actress 

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths

Nicole Kidman, Babygirl

Demi Moore, The Substance

Léa Seydoux, The Beast

Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

11.  Best Leading Actor

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Daniel Craig, Queer

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Cillian Murphy, Small Things Like These

Sebastian Stan, A Different Man

12. Best Supporting Actress

Michele Austin, Hard Truths

Joan Chen, Dìdi

Felicity Jones, The Brutalist

Sophie Okonedo, Janet Planet

Margaret Qualley, The Substance

13. Best Supporting Actor  

Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing

Josh O’Connor, Challengers

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist

Adam Pearson, A Different Man

Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

14. Best Vocal Performance  

Kevin Durand, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Maya Hawke, Inside Out 2

Lupita Nyong’o, The Wild Robot

Sarah Snook, Memoir of a Snail

Jonno Davies & Robbie Williams, Better Man

15. Best Acting Newcomer

Lily Colias, Good One

Vera Drew, The People’s Joker

Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing

Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys

Zoe Ziegler, Janet Planet

16. Best Choreography

Better Man  -- Ashley Wallen (Dance Choreographer); Amy Cater (Intimacy Coordinator); Nicholas Daines & Isaac Hamon & Slavisa Ivanovic & Chris Weir (Stunt Coordinators); Tim Wong (Fight Coordinator)

Dune Part Two – Joseph Baddelem & Henry King Jr. & Domonkos Pardanyi (Stunt Coordinators); Roger Yuan (Stunt Coordinators - Fight Coordinator); Vi-Dan Tran (Fight Coordinator); Jenefer Odell (Intimacy Coordinator); Benjamin Millepied (Sandwalk Choreographer)

The Fall Guy – Keir Beck (Stunt Coordinator); Jonathan Eusebio & Sunny Sun (Fight Coordinators); Caroline Kaspar (Intimacy Coordinator);

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga -- Guy Norris & Mark Teale & Tim Wong (Stunt Coordinators); Yasca Sinigaglia & Jacob Tomuri & Karl Van Moorsel (Stunt Sequence Coordinators); Richard Norton (Fight Choreographer- Fight Coordinator); Caroline Kaspar (Intimacy Coordinator);

Wicked: Part 1 – Christopher Scott (Dance Choreographer); Wayne Cilento (Stage Choreographer); & Peter Francis (Choreography Coordinator); Yarit Dor (Lead Intimacy Coordinator); Jo McLaren (Stunt Coordinator)

17. Best Original Screenplay

Sean Baker, Anora

Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist

Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers

Mike Leigh, Hard Truths

Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow

18. Best Adapted Screenplay 

Bertrand Bonello, The Beast, adapted from the short story The Beast In the Jungle by Henry James

Peter Straughan, Conclave, adapted from the novel of the same name by Robert Harris

Joslyn Barnes & RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys, adapted from the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Justin Kuritzkes, Queer, adapted from the Novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs

Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing, adapted from the magazine article The Sing Sing Follies by John H. Richardson & adapted from the play Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code by Brent Buell.

19. Best Cinematography

Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu

Lol Crawley, The Brutalist

Michal Dymek, The Girl with the Needle

Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Queer

20. Best Editing

Sean Baker, Anora

Dávid Jancsó, The Brutalist

Marco Costa, Challengers

Rik Chaubet, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Jerome Eltabet & Coralie Fargeat & Valentin Féron, The Substance

21. Best Production Design

The Brutalist -- Judy Becker (Production Designer); Patricia Cuccia & Mercédesz Nagyváradi (Set Decorators)

Dune: Part Two -- Patrice Vermette (Production Designers); Zsuzsanna Sipos & Shane Vieau (Set Decorators);

Nosferatu – Craig Lathrop (Production Designer); Beatrice Brentnerova (Set Decorator)

The Substance -- Stanislas Reydellet (Production Designer); Cécilia Blom & Marion De Villechabrolle & Pierre Strub (Set Decorators)

Wicked: Part 1 – Nathan Crowley (Production Designer); Lee Sabdales (Set Decorator)

22. Best Costume Design 

Pauline Jacquard, The Beast

Linda Muir, Nosferatu

Michael O’ Connor, Firebrand

Paul Tazewell, Wicked: Part 1

Jacqueline West, Dune: Part Two

23. Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

 The Apprentice – Jason Collins (Makeup Designer for Sebastian Stan); Michelle Côté (Hair Department Head); Colin Penman (Makeup Department Head)

A Different Man -- Aaron Saucer (Hair Department Head);  Sarah Graalman (Makeup Department Head); Michael Marino(Makeup Designer for Sebastian Stan); 

Dune: Part Two -- Love Larson & Eva Von Bahir (Prosthetics Designers); Megan Norris (Key Hairstylist); Ruth Haney (Key Makeup Artists); Kata Huszár (Crowd Hair & Makeup Supervisor)

Nosferatu  -- Suzanne Stokes-Munton (Hair Designer); David White (Prosthetic Makeup Effects Designer); Traci Loader (Makeup Designer)

The Substance -- Pierre Olivier Persin (SPFX Makeup Designer / Supervisor); Marilyn Scarselli (Key Hair Artists); Stephan Guillon (Key Makeup)

24. Best Visual Effects

Better Man – Keith Herft & Will Manning & Luke Millar (Visual Effects Supervisors); Scott MacIntyre & Peter Stubbs (Special Effects Supervisors)

Dune: Part Two  – Arnaud Brisebois & Michael Grobe & Stephen James & Paul Lambert &  Rhys Salcombe (Visual Effects Supervisors); Franco Galiano & Gerd Nefzer (Special Effects Supervisors)

Hundreds of Beavers – Mike Cheslik (Visual Effects); Brandon Kirkman (Puppet Builder)

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes   – Art Bagdasaryan & Mark Gee & Stephen Unterfrantz & Sean Noel Walker & Erik Winquist (Visual Effects Supervisors); Rodney Burke (Special Effects Supervisor)

The Substance – Bryan Jones & Guillaume Le Gouez & Chevin Shafaghi (Visual Effects Supervisors); Paul Descoings & Pierre Hugueny & Jean Miel & Lola Roiné (Special Effects Supervisor)

25. Best Sound Mixing

Civil War -- Howard Bargroff & Adam Scrivener & Mark Timms (Re-recording Mixers) Glenn Freemantle (Sound Designer)

A Complete Unknown – David Giammarco (Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer); Paul Massey (Re-recording Mixer)

Dune Part Two – Doug Hemphill (Re-recording Mixer); Richard King & Dave Whitehead (Sound Designers)

Samsara – Xabier Erkizia (Sound Designer)

The Substance -- Valérie Deloof & Victor Fleurant (Sound Designers)

26. Best Sound Effects Editing

Civil War – Glenn Freemantle (Supervising Sound Editor)

Dune: Part Two – Richard King (Supervising Sound Editor)

Flow -- Gurwal Coïc-Gallas (Supervising Sound Editor)

Love Lies Bleeding  -- Paul Davies (Supervising Sound Editor)

The Substance  -- Valérie Deloof & Victor Fleurant (Sound Editors)

27. Best Original Score

Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Challengers

Eiko Ishibashi, Evil Does Not Exist

Richards Zalupe & Gints Zilbalodis, Flow

Raffertie, The Substance

28. Best Original Song

Challengers “Compress/Repress” –Music & Lyrics by Luca Guadagnino & Trent Resnor & Atticus Ross

I Saw the TV Glow “Claw Machine” – Music & Lyrics by Haley Dahl

I Saw the TV Glow “Starburned and Unkissed” – Music & Lyrics by Caroline Polachek & Alexander Guy Cook

Kneecap “Sick In the Head” – Music & Lyrics by Móglaí Bap & Mo Chara & DJ Próvai & Adrian Louis Richard Mcleod & Toddla T

The Wild Robot “Kiss the Sky” – Music & Lyrics by  Delaney & Jordan Johnson & Stefan Johnson & Maren Morris & Michael Pollack & Ali Tamposi

29. Best Use of Music

Anora – Matthew Hearon-Smith (Music Supervisor)

Babygirl – Meghan Currier (Music Supervisor)

Better Man – Jordan Carroll (Music Supervisor / Executive Music Producer); Justin Goldner & Hal Rosenfeld (Music Arrangers); Jason Hill & Chris Read & Dan Romer & Freddy Scott (Music Producers); Robbie Williams (Executive Producer); Batu Sener (Music Composer)

Challengers -- Robin Urdang (Music Supervisor); Jacob Moreno (Score Engineer)

I Saw the TV Glow ---- Jessica Berndt & Chris Swanson (Music Supervisors)

Nomination Summary:

Per Film:

The Substance – 11

The Brutalist– 10

Dune: Part Two – 8

Challengers --7

The Beast – 6

I Saw the TV Glow – 6

Anora --  5

Hard Truths – 5

Nosferatu --  5

Sing Sing – 5

Flow – 4

Nickel Boys – 4

Queer – 4 

All We Imagine as Light –3

A Different Man – 3

Janet Planet -- 3

Wicked: Part 1 —3

The Wild Robot – 3

The Apprentice -- 2

Babygirl – 2

Civil War – 2

Dahomey -- 2

The End – 2

Evil Does Not Exist – 2

I’m Still Here – 2

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – 2

Memoirs of a Snail – 2

The People’s Joker – 2

Problemista – 2

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat – 2

Between the Temples – 1

A Complete Unknown – 1

Chime – 1

Conclave –1

Daughters – 1

Dìdi – 1

Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World – 1

The Fall Guy -- 1

Femme – 1

Firebrand – 1

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – 1

The First Omen – 1

The Garfield Movie – 1

The Girl With a Needle –1

Good One – 1

Hundreds of Beavers – 1

I’m Not a Robot – 1 

In Our Day – 1

In the Shadow of the Cypress – 1

Incident – 1

Inside Out 2 – 1

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell – 1

Juror #2 – 1

Kinds of Kindness – 1

Kneecap – 1

Love Lies Bleeding – 1 

The Last Showgirl – 1

Mars Express – 1

ME – 1

Megalopolis – 1

No Other Land—1 

The Order – 1

The Room Next Door – 1

Samsara – 1

Small Things Like These – 1

A Traveler’s Needs – 1

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – 1

 Will & Harper—1

Per Distributor:

 A24 – 39

Janus Films / Sideshow --  15

MUBI – 15

Amazon MGM Studios – 11

Warner Bros. – 10

Neon – 7

United Artists  --7

Universal Pictures -- 7

Focus Features – 6

Bleeker Street Media – 5

Sony Pictures Classics – 5

Walt Disney Studios – 4

Netflix – 3

Altered Innocence – 2

Briarcliff Entertainment -- 2

The Cinema Guild – 2

IFC Films – 2

Kino Lorber – 2

Lionsgate – 2

Roadside Attractions – 2

Searchlight Pictures -- 2

Utopia – 2

FilmHub  -- 1

GKIDS – 1

Metrograph Pictures – 1

The New Yorker – 1

Sony Pictures Releasing –1

Vertical Entertainment –1

Per Country:

 USA – 115

UK -- 57

Italy --34

France – 26

Canada -- 24

Hungary – 15

Japan – 10

Belgium – 9

Netherlands – 8

Spain – 8

United Arab Emirates – 8

Ireland – 7

Denmark -- 6

Australia – 4

Iceland – 4

Latvia – 4

Luxembourg – 4

India – 3

Signapore  -- 3 

Switzerland – 3

Finland – 2

Benin – 2

Brazil  -- 2

Germany -- 2

Senegal – 2

South Korea – 2

Croatia – 1

Greece – 1

Hong Kong –1

Iran – 1

Poland – 1

Romania – 1

Norway –1

Occupied Palestinian Territory – 1

Serbia – 1

Sweden – 1

Vietnam—1