Awards Season 2025: Independent Spirit Awards and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

More awards season nonsense took place over this past weekend, so here are the results from those two star-studded events.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

On Saturday 22nd February 2025 , the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards- recognising films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system- took place.

Here's a full list of film winners. 

Best Feature: Anora

Best Lead Performance: Mikey Madison (Anora)

Best Supporting Performance: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Maisy Stella (My Old Ass)

Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora)

Best Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) 

Best First Screenplay: Sean Wang (Didi)

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boyss

Best Editing: September 5

Best First Feature: Didi

Best International Film: Flow

Best Documentary: No Other Land

John Cassavetes Award: Girls Will Be Girls

Robert Altman Award: His Three Daughters

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1 million, whilst the Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast of the movie, its director, and its casting director(s). 

Anora was the big winner of the evening, with three awards. A Real Pain and Didi both won two. 

Anora is really starting to make strides; with its wins at both PGA and DGA, and Mikey Madison's surprise BAFTA win, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that there might be an "upset" come next Sunday. 

--------------

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

The 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards were held on Sunday 23rd February in a ceremony which streamed live on Netflix, hosted by Kristen Bell. 

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Conclave

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

The Fall Guy

Unlike last year's Oppenheimer sweep, this had a bit more of an "all shall have prizes" feel about it (which is pretty much the theme of this year's awards season; whilst the same performances might be getting recognised a lot, they're all coming from different places so it's good to have that variety). 

I'm really pleased to see Conclave win the Best Cast award, as it is a superb ensemble. Timothée Chalamet's win chucks a nice little curveball, although it feels unlikely that the Academy is going to follow suit (Adrien Brody's probably going to have another Little Naked Gold Man). Best Actress now feels like it's a two-horse race between Mikey Madison and Demi Moore, whilst I think we can safely say the supporting categories are as locked in as they can be. 

The stone-cold icon that is Jane Fonda was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and gave a barnstorming acceptance speech in which she said “Empathy is not weak or ‘woke.’ And, by the way, ‘woke’ just means you give a damn about other people”. Yassss, queen! 

Congratulations to all winners!

So, we are getting down to the sharp end of awards season 2025, with just the Razzies and the Oscars to go next weekend. 

Awards Season 2025: Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) and BAFTA Film Awards Winners

This past weekend has seen more awards nonsense, so let's get down to business and discuss the latest developments. 

WRITERS' GUILD AWARDS

The Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) were given out on Saturday 15th February. The film winners were:

Original Screenplay: Anora

Adapted Screenplay: Nickel Boys

Documentary Screenplay: Jim Henson: Idea Man

Both Anora and Nickel Boys are nominated in their respective categories at the Academy Awards, so these wins could bode well for their chances at the Oscars. 

That said, due to the WGA's eligibility criteria, several other Oscar-nominated screenplays weren't eligible for WGA consideration: this includes The Brutalist, September 5, and The Substance in the Original Screenplay category, and Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and Sing Sing in Adapted Screenplay.

Personally, Conclave might win Best Adapted Screenplay. But, as we've seen over the past few weeks, Anora seems to be gaining momentum in this awards season - so a Best Original Screenplay win wouldn't be too big a surprise. 

BAFTA FILM AWARDS

On Sunday 16th February 2025, the 78th British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony, hosted by David Tennant for the second time. 

Here's a full list of BAFTA winners.

Best Film: Conclave

Outstanding British Film: Conclave

Leading Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Leading Actress: Mikey Madison (Anora)

Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Director: Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Original Screenplay: A Real Pain

Adapted Screenplay: Conclave

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Rich Peppiatt (director/writer) (Kneecap)

Animated Film: Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Documentary: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Film Not In The English Language: Emilia Pérez

Cinematography: The Brutalist

Costume Design: Wicked

Editing: Conclave

Make Up And Hair: The Substance

Original Score: The Brutalist

Production Design: Wicked

Sound: Dune: Part Two

Special Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Casting: Anora

Short Animation: Wander To Wonder

Short Film: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Children's & Family Film: Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Rising Star: David Jonsson

Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema: MediCinema

BAFTA Fellowship: Warwick Davis

Conclave and The Brutalist were the big winners of the evening, with four BAFTAs each; Anora, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, A Real Pain, Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and Wicked all went home with two. 

Despite multiple nominations, A Complete Unknown, Nosferatu, The Apprentice, Blitz, Gladiator II, Sing Sing, The Wild Robot, and Hard Truths all went away with nothing. 

A couple of surprises here; the big one being Conclave winning Best Picture (which I'm personally overjoyed about, as it is one of my favourite films in contention in this awards season). Sadly, I don't think this is going to be repeated at the Oscars, so I'm going to enjoy this while I can. Mikey Madison's Best Actress win has also come as a bit of a curveball (I think a lot of people were expecting Demi Moore to take it for The Substance, Madison included as her off-the-cuff acceptance speech showed!). No surprises in the supporting categories, nor in the screenplays. I'm very chuffed to see two wins for Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, although- again- I don't see this being replicated in two weeks' time.

Congratulations to all winners!

We've got another busy weekend of awards stuff next weekend, as the Independent Spirit Awards get handed out on Saturday 22nd February, and the SAG Awards are on Sunday 23rd February. 

I'll update with the winners as soon as I can after they're announced.

Awards Season 2025: Producers Guild Awards (PGA), and Directors Guild Awards (DGA) Winners

It's a two-for-one on guild awards nonsense today, folks, and it means we are a bit closer to working out what might get Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars in just over three weeks' time. So let's get on with it!

DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

On Saturday 8th February 2025, the Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) were handed out. The film winners are:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Films: Sean Baker (Anora)

Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film: RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev (Porcelain War)

Cat, meet pigeons... this is a bit of a surprise for me, as- if you read the last post- you'll know I was fully expecting Brady Corbet to win for The Brutalist (following on from his Golden Globes win and cementing his place as frontrunner for the Little Naked Gold Man). Now this has made things a bit more interesting. Always fun when awards season feels more like a contest and less like a coronation. But surely that's where the surprises end, right?

--------------

PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

The 36th Producers Guild Awards (PGA) were also handed out on Saturday 8th February. The film winners are:

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: Anora

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: The Wild Robot

Wrong! For both major guilds, whose membership body aligns very closely with the voting members of the Academy, to pick Anora as their winner has shaken things up a bit. Whilst neither guild has a 100% record of going with the Academy's eventual winner, it's telling and gives a bit of pause to those prognosticators and psephologists who may have assumed this was all a done deal. It isn't over until the presenter says "And the Oscar goes to..."

Congratulations to all winners!

Up next this awards season, we have the Writers Guild Awards (WGA) next Saturday (15th February 2025) and the BAFTA Film Awards next Sunday (16th February 2025).  

Awards Season 2025: Academy Award Nominations

 

As reported earlier this afternoon, here are some of the official nominations for the 97th Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

A Complete Unknown

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

I'm Still Here

Nickel Boys

The Substance

Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)

BEST ACTOR

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)

BEST ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Mikey Madison (Anora) 

Demi Moore (The Substance) 

Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Yura Borisov (Anora) 

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

With regards to my predictions, I got 29/35 (83%).

Emilia Pérez leads the way with a whopping 13 nods. The Brutalist and Wicked are joint second with 10 apiece, and Conclave and A Complete Unknown in joint third with eight each.

A couple of interesting surprises here, with the inclusion of A Complete Unknown's Monica Barbaro for Best Supporting Actress and James Mangold for Best Director (although I was a little disappointed to see Edward Berger not get the nod for Conclave). Karla Sofía Gascón becomes the first openly trans actress to receive an acting nomination in Oscars history (Elliot Page announced his transition a few years after getting nominated for Juno). I'm frustrated at the inclusion of Sebastian Stan, only for the subject of the film and not for anything to do with him as an actor. The felon in the White House will no doubt have something to say about this. Considering he actively hated the film when it was released, the fickle and capricious shyster is probably going to change his tune and gloat about it. FFS. 

I was pleased to see Coralie Fargeat included in the Best Director category, and very pleased for the nomination for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl in the Animated Feature category. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday 2nd March 2025, at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, hosted this year by Conan O'Brien.

A brief pause in the awards season stuff now for a couple of weeks; we'll pick back up again on 8th February when both the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) and the Producers Guild Awards (PGA) will be handed out.

Awards Season 2025: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

On Thursday morning (23rd January 2025, 5:30AM PT/8:30AM ET/1:30PM GMT), the nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced. This year, the honour of announcing the nominations falls to Rachel Sennott (Bodies Bodies Bodies, Saturday Night, Bottoms) and Bowen Yang (Wicked, Saturday Night Live, Fire Island). 

Due to the Los Angeles wildfires, the nominations announcement had been postponed twice; originally due on Friday 17th January, they were moved to Sunday 19th January, then moved again to this Thursday. 

Since 2003, I have tried to predict who will be nominated in several of the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named. 

BEST PICTURE

A Complete Unknown

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

Nickel Boys

Sing Sing

The Substance

Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

BEST ACTOR

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

BEST ACTRESS

Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Mikey Madison (Anora) 

Demi Moore (The Substance) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Yura Borisov (Anora) 

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

As we now have 10 Best Picture nominees (in addition to the 20 for acting and 5 for directing), I will be happy with any score over 20. Last year, it was 29/35 (83%)

I'm confident with eight of my Best Picture choices. There's a chance that September 5 and/or A Real Pain could get a nomination; if that does happen, then it's Sing Sing and/or Nickel Boys which would lose out. 

With Best Director, I'm confident on four of my choices, with a question mark over Coralie Fargeat. The DGA threw a bit of a curveball nominating James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), and Denis Villeneuve has stayed in the conversation with his nominations for Dune: Part Two at both BAFTA and the Critics' Choice Awards. We all know the Academy's (perceived?) snobbishness towards genre films, specifically horror, so they may be reticent to award it to Fargeat. Hell, they might go completely left-field and nominate Jon M. Chu for Wicked and give us all a shock! 

With Best Actor, my only query would be Daniel Craig. He might lose out to either Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) or to Hugh Grant (Heretic). Of the two, I'd hope it would be Hugh Grant who gets the nod, not just for "Brit solidarity" but also because it would negate my need to have to see a film about the convicted felon who's currently taken up residence in the White House. I might end up having to see it anyway for Jeremy Strong's performance (if my predictions come true), but at least then I could skip any scenes he's not in. 

In my mind, there's a solid core of four actresses for Best Actress (Erivo, Gascón, Madison, and Moore) with a fifth place to be filled. I've gone with Pamela Anderson, given her nod at the SAG Awards - plus there's something quite poetically beautiful about having two major stars of the 1990s getting a return to the limelight despite having been previously dismissed as "popcorn actresses" and (slightly unfairly) derided at the Razzies - but it could easily be either Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Angelina Jolie (Maria) or Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here). 

In the run for Best Supporting Actor, I can safely tie on three nods (Borisov, Culkin, Norton). The rest of the field has been very fluid, so it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to see Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing), Denzel Washington (Gladiator II) or maybe even Jonathan Bailey (Wicked) getting nominated. 

For Best Supporting Actress, I'm only really confident about two nods: Ariana Grande-Butera and Zoe Saldaña. I loved Conclave, so I'm probably a bit biased but I'd love to see Isabella Rossellini get her first Oscar nod for playing the stoic Sister Agnes. I'm following SAG's nominations in my choices for Jamie Lee Curtis and Danielle Deadwyler, although they also pulled a wildcard by their nomination of Monica Barbaro for playing Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown. She may still get the Oscar nod, with Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), and Margaret Qualley (The Substance) all part of the conversation and all receiving multiple nominations from other awards bodies. 

We might be in for some "upsets", some "snubs" and some "shut-outs" on Thursday morning. But that's all part of the fun of awards season. Plus it's a nice little distraction from *gestures wildly" all of this. 

As usual, I'll get a post up as soon as I can on Thursday afternoon with the official nominations. 

But before we get there, there's a nifty little stop ahead and time for some puncturing of Hollywood egos (which may or may not be deserved) with the Razzie Award nominations due tomorrow (Wednesday 22nd January). 

Awards Season 2025: Critics' Choice Awards Nominations

This afternoon (Thursday 12th December), the film nominations for the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards were announced. 

Here are a selection of their nominees:

Best Picture

A Complete Unknown 

Anora 

The Brutalist 

Conclave 

Dune: Part Two 

Emilia Pérez 

Nickel Boys 

Sing Sing 

The Substance 

Wicked

Best Director

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Jon M. Chu (Wicked)

Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)

RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)

Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two)

Best Actor

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Hugh Grant (Heretic) 

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)

Angelina Jolie (Maria)

Mikey Madison (Anora)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Best Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov (Anora)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing) 

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Supporting Actress

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Margaret Qualley (The Substance)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

A full list of nominees can be found here. 

Conclave and Wicked lead the pack with 11 nominations apiece; Emilia Pérez and Dune: Part Two have 10, whilst The Brutalist gets nine. 

As is usual, there's a lot of the same names coming up in the various awards bodies. Of course, nothing's ever certain until the nominations are announced but you can definitely see the way the wind is blowing for this awards season. Still time for some interesting curveballs though before we get to the Oscar nominations. 

The 30th Critics' Choice Awards will be handed out on Sunday 12th January 2025. Broadcast on The CW, Chelsea Handler will return for hosting duties for the third year running. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

Awards nonsense pauses over the next couple of weeks so everyone can enjoy the holidays. We'll be getting back on the awards trail in early January, with the Golden Globes being handed out on 5th January 2025.